Google Ads for doctors

Google Ads for doctors: paying for the patient who's searching right now

For a private doctor or consultant practice, Google Ads is the most direct marketing that exists: someone types "private GP appointment today" or "knee specialist" with your city attached, and your practice can be the answer within the hour. It's also the easiest channel to waste money on, because health searches are expensive and generic agencies burn budget learning what a practice manager already knows.

A doctor at work in a private practice
Why search suits medicine

Nothing to interrupt, nothing to convince

Patients searching for a doctor aren't browsing. They have a symptom, a referral letter, or a wait they've given up on, and the intent is immediate. Search campaigns capture that moment: being present, credible and bookable when the need is already there. That's why we lead with Search rather than display or video for medical practices. Intent is the whole advantage, and everything else dilutes it.

The actual work

What running Google Ads well involves

Structure by specialty and location

Not one generic "private doctor" campaign. A cardiology enquiry and a private GP enquiry cost different amounts and convert differently, so the structure has to know that from day one.

Negative keywords doing real work

NHS searches, job searches and symptom-only research, excluded deliberately. Clicks that can never become a booking are pure waste, and they're most of an unmanaged account.

Compliant copy

Medical advertising has rules and the ad platforms layer their own health policies on top. Copy is checked before it runs, not after something gets flagged and the account goes quiet.

Landing pages that book

An ad that works sends people to a page with one obvious action. If your site can't do that yet, we'll tell you before you spend rather than after the first flat month.

Everything gets tracked to enquiries rather than clicks: calls, forms and bookings tied back to the keyword that produced them, reported monthly in plain English.

Spend, honestly

We take no percentage of it, so we have no reason to inflate it

Ad spend goes direct to Google. What a workable budget looks like depends on your specialty's click costs and your area, which is exactly what we'll look at on the call, with real numbers for your market rather than a figure lifted from a webpage.

Fit

Private doctors, consultants and medical practices with a team

Private GPs, specialist and consultant-led clinics, and new private practices building a patient base. Especially strong for consultants setting up in private practice, where a well-built campaign is often the fastest route to the first steady month of enquiries.

Not a fit: NHS-funded services, and practices that aren't ready to take on more patients. We'd rather establish that on a call than after a month of spend.

Honest answers

Common questions about Google Ads for medical practices

How quickly do Google Ads produce patient enquiries?

Often within the first weeks, because you're reaching people already searching. On a marketing retainer the promise is that if we don't make you more than we cost you, you don't pay our fee until we do, assessed quarterly against an agreed enquiry value.

Aren't medical clicks expensive?

Some are, and that's precisely why structure matters. An expensive click that books a consultation is cheap; a cheap click from someone looking for NHS care is money gone. We manage to cost per enquiry, not cost per click.

Can you advertise every medical service?

No. Google restricts some health categories, and we'll tell you plainly if yours is affected before anything is spent.

Who owns the ad account?

Your practice does, from day one, including the history and the data. If we ever part ways you keep everything the account has learned.

Do you also do the SEO side?

Yes. Ads capture today's demand, while SEO and AI search visibility build the layer that keeps paying when ads pause. Most practices end up wanting both, in whichever order urgency dictates.

Find out what a patient enquiry would cost you.

One 30-minute call, with real numbers for your specialty and area. No pitch.

Book a discovery call
Book a discovery call