Let’s explore Google Ads for Healthcare. We’ll give you practical tips to help you find your audience and create your ad campaign. Google Ads can deliver over 180 million impressions per month. Many healthcare marketers use Google advertising to reach more people and promote their medical services.
However, like any marketing platform, Google Ads has its own set of challenges. It’s essential to address these challenges to maximize its potential in the healthcare industry.
Learn about the five main problems people have when using Google Ads in the healthcare industry. Learn how to overcome the problems and make sure your Google Ad campaign is successful!
Many patients start looking for medical services on the Internet. Google Ads for doctors is a tool that helps medical practices connect with new patients directly through Google’s search results.
Google Ads is an excellent way to reach the right audience and bring more people to your website. It’s an important part of any marketing plan for a software as a service (Saas) business. However, many healthcare tech companies find the platform’s ad restrictions frustrating and confusing.
If you suddenly noticed that your campaign was no longer getting views and clicks, you’re not the only one. The good news is that there is some information available. You can solve problems with healthcare marketing by understanding restrictions on digital advertising for healthcare.
Want to make your business more competitive? Learn how to improve your Google Ad campaigns and attract more consumers who are ready to buy. Using Google PPC ads you can increase appointments, improve your practice’s visibility, and connect with potential patients seeking care
What are Google’s rules about advertising for healthcare campaigns?
Google Ads has several restrictions. The most impactful ones for the healthcare industry are those related to privacy and protected health information (PHI). For example, brands can’t use protected health information (PHI) to create healthcare marketing campaigns.
Google is also worried about protecting its users’ private healthcare information, and for good reason. With stricter privacy laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), misuse of PHI could lead to legal issues for the company. This is why it has made its privacy controls better so that users’ health data won’t be accidentally shown in ads that might hurt their privacy.
Healthcare software companies have a big problem with Google. The search engine combines all healthcare-related information and imposes broad restrictions. Sometimes Google even combines consumer and B2B marketing. The system then uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify any terms that suggest that an advertisement may promote healthcare products or services, and it blocks that advertisement.
Unfortunately, the AI isn’t very smart. It often shows ads for healthcare software for clinicians and providers. The net is too wide. It blocks ads related to healthcare software, even though those ads don’t target patients at all. “Once an ad is blocked, it’s hard to get approved again.”
How Google’s advertising rules affect healthcare campaigns.
We’ve run several healthcare software advertising campaigns without any problems, but sometimes the restrictions cause problems, even in the middle of a successful campaign. Even for an experienced digital advertiser, it can be very hard to predict when problems will happen.
Some of my campaigns didn’t succeed right from the start. I’ve seen some blogs go from getting thousands of views a day to just a few dozen. The first time this happened to my campaigns, it took a while and a lot of phone calls to figure it out. When you’ve seen it as much as we have, you can immediately see the problem.
Google often changes its restrictions. You might be doing a campaign for a long time and it’s working fine, but then suddenly it stops. If you look closely at their policies, you’ll see that the “health in personal advertising” clause is the problem.
How to succeed with Google Ads for healthcare marketing
It’s best to work with someone who has experience in advertising in this area. They can check your work and make sure you have set up the campaign correctly. Also, track your analytics and look for messages that indicate potential problems. You can appeal these messages, but be prepared to ‘lose your case’ a few times before escalating the problem.
The whole process can be frustrating, but it’s well worth the effort. If your appeal is successful, Google will flag your account so that the problem doesn’t happen again. The process can be tedious. The advantage of working with a healthcare advertising agency like Spot On is that we have seen it all. We have the confidence to look at the metrics, identify what’s going on and call support immediately to fix things.
How Businesses Can Bypass Google Ads Healthcare Limits
Google’s AI casts a wide net, looking for all health-related words, such as medical, healthcare and drug names. We’d rather have advertisers appeal to get an ad approved than risk something slipping through and violating privacy laws in different states and countries. It has also scaled back what advertisers can track to identify a user online.
You can refine target keywords and ad copy to prevent your ads from being blocked. For example, make it clear that you’re promoting technology for healthcare providers. Google’s AI also analyses ad images. They’re more likely to block an ad with photos of patients and doctors. So it’s best to use images related to software and technology.
Think about how your words can be interpreted. Are they too generic? Can you add the word software to make it clearer? Make the copy as obvious as possible to the AI programme. But also strike a balance so that a human audience can understand who the product is for and what it’s about.
Why doctors and medical professionals should advertise on Google.
PPC advertising lets you reach patients on popular search engines. People often turn to Google when they have health problems or need a specialist. It’s easy to see the advantages of pay-per-click advertising, especially when you consider that there are 70,000 health-related searches on Google every minute.
Google Ads for Doctors helps your medical practice stand out and be seen at the top of Google’s search results. It helps people who are ready to book a consultation or seek urgent care find your business. This is different from social media, where people might see an ad when they’re scrolling. Online advertising helps connect people to solutions for their health needs.
Ads can target patients based on their location, age, and any specific medical needs. Geographic targeting ensures that your ads appear to patients in your area. Each time a patient clicks on your ad, it is more likely they will make an appointment.
Interest-based targeting means ads are shown to people who are searching for certain conditions or treatments, like “physiatry for knee pain” or “paediatricians near me.” This is what we mean by precision. This means that the ads are shown to the right customers.
Google Ads for Doctors is different from traditional advertising. With Google Ads, you can control how much you spend and track your return on investment. You’ll see the number of clicks, calls, and appointments that your ads are bringing in. You can use this information to improve your ads.
What are the challenges with Google Ads for Healthcare?
There are rules about promoting products and services.
People who advertise healthcare products and services on Google often have problems. If you want to advertise on this platform, there are some rules you need to follow. This includes any medical services or offers you are advertising.
If you want to promote medicine, pharmaceuticals, or other healthcare products on your website, you must check the restrictions in the Google Advertising Guidelines. This will help you avoid getting banned.
Here’s how you can fix it:
If you want to correct this, you need to finish the certification process. This means showing that you follow Google’s rules and have the right documents and information.
Also, search engines like Google usually require healthcare advertisers to provide accurate and verifiable information about how well their products or services work, how safe they are, and their benefits. Any claims you make must be supported by either scientific evidence or a recognized certification.
Sensitive health issues are not allowed.
People are searching online for information about mental health, reproductive health, and other issues. Companies that work in healthcare and deal with these conditions need to be very careful with the ads they show people.
How to solve this:
To make sure your advertising campaign is successful, you need to check the message or content of your advertising copy and make sure it follows the rules for sensitive health conditions. Make sure you take out any language that is explicit or sensitive and that goes against the rules Google has for healthcare ads. Focus on talking about the good things about your healthcare services. Don’t talk about any specific health problems that could be sensitive.
Another solution is to make educational content about health topics that people don’t usually talk about. Instead of directly advertising, share informative blog posts, articles or videos on your mental and reproductive health services. This approach lets you connect with your audience and show your expertise without worrying about sensitive health policies.
There is a lot of competition in healthcare marketing.
Many healthcare companies are competing with each other in Google Ads. These companies are trying to increase their marketing budgets for paid advertising. They are also talking to digital marketing experts to convert more patients. If you want to stay competitive, here are some solutions we suggest.
Here’s what you can do:
The first step is to do your homework by studying the market, understanding your competitors, and learning about what they’re offering and how they promote their products. You need to know what they are good at and what they struggle with. You also need to know who their audience is and what they want to learn. This information can help you improve your current marketing strategy and come up with a special offer that your brand can use to stand out.
Talking about creating a unique offer, ask your team this question: What makes our healthcare brand different from the competition?
Point out the things that make your business stand out, like special knowledge, advanced technology, great customer service, or easy-to-reach locations. You need to explain the good things about choosing your medical services over others.
Finally, define your target audience. You have the option to organize the information in various ways. You can sort them by demographics, interests, medical conditions, or geographic location. This helps you personalize your messages and ads to better connect with your target audience, making your ads more appealing.
Retargeting isn’t an option.
Retargeting, also called remarketing, is a digital marketing strategy. With retargeting, businesses try to get people who have previously visited their websites or apps to make a purchase again. The goal is to reconnect with people who have shown interest in your brand or products but have not yet bought them.
When you click on an ad, you’re doing something called retargeting. This lets the company show the ad again and again. Hospitals, healthcare facilities, and medical practices are not allowed to use display advertising. This type of advertising appears on other websites. They are not allowed to use display advertising to retarget potential patients. Google wants to protect any potential privacy concerns that patients might have.
Here’s how to resolve the issue:
Use the targeting options on Google to reach people interested in your healthcare services. You can pause, resume, or remove your retargeting ads.
Some healthcare brands are allowed to retarget ads, as long as their ads are not intended for people who are very concerned about their health.
Be careful with negative keywords!
The last challenge is using keywords that are misleading or deceptive. When it comes to healthcare and medicine, it’s important to make sure that everything you post on your website is accurate.
You can’t use keywords that make false claims or promises in Google Health ads. Examples of these keywords include “miracle cure,” “guaranteed results,” and “instant weight loss.”
Here’s how to solve the problem:
If your keywords break Google Ads’ rules, the best approach is to change or remove them from your campaigns. Replace these keywords with other terms that are also acceptable and that will still effectively convey the message of your ads without making promises to your audience.
Improve your Google Ads for Healthcare Campaign.
Google Ads for healthcare can help you attract more patients and grow your business, but it also presents unique challenges.
If you can understand and deal with these problems directly, you can make your Google Ad campaigns more efficient. What other problems have you had running your Google Ad campaigns?
The team at The ABA Agency can help you grow your business. We help create healthcare ads for specific medical services. We help you compete in a very competitive healthcare industry.
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