The significance of digital marketing impacts many industries, including healthcare. Because more patients are actively seeking health-related information online, the need for medical practice to have a strong digital presence is on the rise. Providers look to innovative methods such as Google Ads advertising. But is it worth adding this expense to your line items? Does Google pay–per-click (PPC) work? This blog shares the benefits of paid search marketing to help you decide if it’s right for your medical practice.
The Vital Role of Digital Marketing in Healthcare
Consumers are well-acclimated to the convenience of digital commerce. For products and services, they reach for their laptops, tablets, or mobile devices to see what they can accomplish online before venturing out into the physical world. Digital marketers have come to realize that the consumer behaviors of patients influence their approach to obtaining medical services.
To effectively reach potential customers, healthcare providers are increasingly focusing on developing robust PPC campaigns. By selecting relevant keywords and crafting compelling ad copy, they can significantly enhance their visibility in search results. This strategic approach not only improves brand awareness but also drives qualified traffic to their websites.
Significant shifts in patient behavior demand a response from healthcare providers. To be competitive in the current landscape, medical practices ought to look into digital means to grow their patient base. For many medical practices, digital marketing strategies – such as PPC – are an effective way to remain competitive in the market. This leads many medical practice managers to ask, “Does Google pay–per–click work?”
Importance of Google PPC Advertising in Healthcare
Do digital ads work in healthcare marketing? A growing majority of patients prefer to find healthcare services on their own by going online to consider what options they have. Medical practices that are not found in online searches will not be considered during this stage of the care journey.
One key aspect of Google PPC is where the ads appear in online searches. Google places these ads in a hard-to-miss part of the search engine results page (SERP). This means that those medical practices that invest in PPC advertising are more likely to be seen by patients who are searching for care online.
Being seen by patients in online searches is only part of the goal. Medical practices need to drive patients to a landing page that converts them into new patients to make the advertising expense worth it. With the right strategy, healthcare PPC can pay off.
Why Is PPC is Effective in Healthcare Marketing?
Like many other services, consumers access healthcare online. To reach patients who depend on digital convenience, medical practices need a strong online presence. PPC can be highly effective toward that aim in its ability to target specific audiences, provide measurable results, offer cost-efficiency, and ensure flexibility – all aspects that would suggest that Google pay–per–click does work.
Incorporating ad copy tailored to potential customers, these PPC campaigns can appear in search results, display ads, and even on social media platforms, enhancing brand awareness. By setting a maximum bid and focusing on a quality score through keyword research, medical practices can identify relevant keywords and specific keywords that resonate with their audience..
Targeting Specific Audiences
Through paid search, medical practices can specifically target patient demographics on a granular level. Utilizing match types such as broad match, phrase match, and exact match, healthcare providers can launch their first campaign with a set of keywords that ensure the relevance of their ad to the intended audience. This feature is particularly beneficial for practices looking to attract local patients. Through precise targeting, PPC connects you to those most likely to be seeking the services you provide in the market you serve.
Moreover, using platforms like Google Display Network and social media, medical practices can employ various types of ads such as video ads, image ads, and mobile app ads to engage new customers. The inclusion of ad extensions can further enhance the visibility and relevance of your ad, potentially increasing user clicks.
Measurable Results and Analytics
Compared to traditional advertising, digital marketing generates the data needed to track the performance of campaigns. By leveraging tools like Google Analytics, healthcare marketers can assess the average cost, ad rank, and conversion rate of their PPC campaigns. With the right reporting framework in place, healthcare digital marketers can make pivotal decisions, in real time, based on key data insights. The goal of analytics is to gauge whether campaigns are on track to get the best return on investment (ROI).
Cost-Efficiency of Digital Advertising
PPC can be cost-effective for medical practices, but outcomes rely on sharp strategies built upon due diligence. A bidding strategy that considers various factors like the daily budget, bidding system, and the actual amount spent ensures cost-efficiency. The key is to stick to a budget and optimize how it is spent so that you get the most results for your investment. On the flip side of the coin, PPC costs can incur exorbitant costs, but with a disciplined approach to ad campaigns, you can avoid such setbacks.
By employing smart bidding and adhering to PPC best practices, healthcare marketers can effectively manage the amount of money spent on each ad group, while ensuring the ad format and placement align with the website owner’s goals. This strategic approach contributes to generating qualified traffic and improving the overall user experience, aligning with the principles of search engine marketing and Google AdSense.
Flexibility of Digital Marketing Strategies
Google Ads provides a robust advertising platform that allows you to place keyword bids, make adjustments, or stop campaigns instantly. You also have access to many customizations for how your ads appear and who they reach. This gives advertisers plenty of control over PPC projects. You can fine-tune your campaigns according to changing patient preferences and shifting market demands.
To better illustrate PPC flexibility, you can compare it to search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is organic, or unpaid search, that depends on the performance of your website. It can take weeks to diagnose website performance problems, implement changes, and see the results of those adjustments. The outcomes of changes in your PPC can be seen within days, if not on the same day.
To answer, “Does Google pay-per-click work?” all depends on a medical practice’s capacity to manage the spectrum of campaign factors.
How Do Healthcare Google Ads Work?
Medical practices that turn to Google PPC as a digital marketing solution will first need to set up a Google Ads account. From there, you identify the target audience and what keywords your potential patients are more likely to search.
Then you bid on those keywords. Since Google cannot give everyone space at the top of the results page, it gives paid search placements to advertisers who bid the highest for in-demand keywords. When the keywords you want to target are unattainable within your budget, you can look to other keyword phrases that will also be effective in reaching your patients.
How is Digital Advertising Different for Healthcare?
Aspects of medical practice operations are subject to rules and regulations, and running ads are also. To protect consumers, Google Ads has several guidelines in place regarding healthcare ads. So, when asking, “Does Google pay-per-click work?” healthcare brands will need to determine if they can feasibly market products or services based on the rules of the Google Ads platform.
Advertisers are also obligated to ensure that none of their digital marketing activities go against what is outlined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). For this reason, many medical practices have moved away from marketing tactics that rely on “cookies” such as ad retargeting.
Summary: Do Digital Ads Work In Healthcare Marketing?
For medical practices that are looking to recover from waning patient loyalty or are trying to cope with an influx of new competitive entrants to the local market, pay-per-click (PPC) can work but it must be carried out with foresight.
Does Google pay-per-click work? It can prosper when it aligns with your healthcare business goals and capacity for ongoing support. Tips on how medical practices can reap the benefits of paid search are:
- Know your target audience. If you can confirm that enough consumers in your market are using Google search to find healthcare services, you will know it’s a viable option.
- Know what you can spend. Overspending is a common pitfall of PPC advertising. Your medical practice is better off working with what you can afford versus going into “the red” with no offset from incoming revenue.
- Be aware of your responsibilities. Healthcare providers are subject to rules in the digital world just like they are in the physical world. Medical practice digital marketing activity must comply with Google Ads rules and government regulations like HIPAA.
- Monitor your performance and make adjustments as needed. One of the key advantages of PPC is its ability to make pivotal decisions based on data insights. You can get more value for what you spend on PPC by continually optimizing your campaigns.
- Partner with an agency that will do the thinking for you. To be honest, PPC usually requires expertise, thoughtful planning, regulatory considerations, and continual improvements to be successful. For medical practices focused on more pertinent matters in healthcare operations, it can be difficult to find the time to manage digital marketing, but agencies dedicated to medical practices are ready to step in and help.
Reap the Benefits of Google PPC for Your Medical Practice with iHealthSpot
When patient volumes are dropping and new competitors are closing in, turn to digital marketing services to recover. Paid ads on Google are one of many strategies to keep your medical practice going year after year. Lean on iHealthSpot’s PPC expertise to not only run campaigns that get a return on your investment in digital marketing but also steer clear of the consequences of rules and regulations violations. Contact us today to learn more about the power of Google PPC for medical practices.
