How is Google Ads transforming the medical industry in 2023? 

Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) provides health care practitioners with a fast, scalable and cost-effective way to reach potential patients. 

More than 80% of medium sized businesses today use Google Ads.

How can Google Ads help my practice? 

Google Ads allows medical marketers such as DigiMed to pinpoint and target specific audiences based on their geographic region, interests and digital behaviors.

This means you can reach the right people at the right time (when they are actively seeking information on a health condition). 

What else is factored in when it comes to a practice’s “conversion” strength? 

Google Ads might be good at getting your patient’s “foot in the door”, but if your website is slow, says the site is not secure (SSL certificate), lacking in content or doesn’t have an appealing design, it won’t always convert to an appointment. 

What’s key to really drive Ad conversions is 

• Landing page copy that answers key questions  
• A user friendly website layout 
• A website that loads fast and is mobile optimized 
• Professional looking images 
• Educational videos 
• Information such as location, pricing, how to find, what to bring 
• Copy that is AHPRA friendly and user friendly, rather than copy that is gimmicky 

How do I know if Google Ads is working? 

Google Ads provides sophisticated and robust data analytics to help you understand the performance of your campaigns.

DigiMed’s signature strategy is working with your practice manager to make sure Google’s stats and your stats line up.

This helps make future decisions on budget spend in relation to conditions and procedures you wish to target, ultimately providing a better bang for buck when it comes to reach and visibility. 

What is the difference between medical Search Ads and medical Display Ads?

Search ads appear when users search for a specific medical term or treatment. These ads are an effective way for healthcare providers to reach potential patients who are actively seeking information.

Display ads are more subtle and can be placed on apps, websites, and videos relevant to the audience. 

These ads reach people when they are engaged in other digital activities, such as reading an online article or watching a video. 

What is Google Ads Remarketing? 

Google Ads provides healthcare providers with the ability to reach users who have already interacted with their website or ads with targeted remarketing campaigns. 

This type of advertising is an effective way to keep the healthcare provider top of mind with potential patients who have already shown an interest in their services.

How much does DigiMed charge for Google Ads? 

• Our minimum monthly management fee base rate is $800 plus GST for minimum adspend of $1500. 
• For larger campaigns, the management fee is the standard 22% of the Google AdSpend, for instance if the spend was $5000 the total management fee would be $1100 plus GST.
• If the spend was somewhere in the middle, say $2000, the management fee would be the base rate of $800 plus 22% of the extra $500 spend. 

Our Google Ads campaigns also include –

• A one hour meeting with client/copywriter and digital Ads marketer to establish keywords and target activity 
• Monitoring of your ad’s performance and allows us to tweak and update ads weekly (often multiple times a week)
• Experienced Google Ads marketer 
• Current Google Ads clients include cosmetic physicians, vascular and orthopaedic. 
• A commitment to high click through rates and low conversion costs.
• We will track and compare to previous campaigns and optimise accordingly. 

What is pay-per-click in Google Ads and how does it work?  

• With Google Ads, the user only ever pays for actual, measurable results, such as impressions (ad views)  website clicks (clicks ad) and business calls when a user searches for instance “‘vascular surgeon Strathfield” or “Orthopaedic surgery Newtown” and then makes a call, or books a consult. 
• This structure is known as a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. 
• You can set a monthly Google Ads campaign spend cap that Google will automatically follow, and you can choose to make your target audience global or local.
• You can also choose to drop or increase budget and can also move amounts from one area to another, if you have multiple rooms.
• DigiMed’s CTR (Click Through Rate) is generally well above the industry benchmark for healthcare of  3.21%*2
• One regional cosmetic physicians click through rates for January 2023 was 9.24%, based on a monthly spend of $1000, and a Sydney vascular surgeon was 11.93% based on a monthly spend of $2130.

SOURCE –  *2SEO Journal, Average Click Through Rates of 3.21% 

How fast can I get my medical practice to #1 on Google quickly with Google Ads? 

• For people who require fast results Google Ads can bring clicks to a website often within 7 days, while organic SEO typically takes three to six months to rank well from the launch of an SEO campaign.  

What claims should I avoid using in Google Ads and are Google Ads better than SEO?

• At DigiMed we stay away from any claims such “”best surgeon” “# rank no 1 on Google” and “most five star reviews”. 
• Instead our focus is to combine ethically written Ads with organic SEO strategies based on the recommendations from Google. 
• This can be very helpful when it comes to establishing a medical practice as a key opinion leader source, and one that answers the question relevant to the patient’s keyword search. 
• To put this in medical terms, there’s not much point a customer having an excellent surgical procedure if the doctor doesn’t have a follow up appointment, or the patient has a terrible experience with a rude practice receptionist. 
• Therefore it is equally important in the customer equation – especially if you engage in Ads – that your website is relevant and fast to load. It should also be mobile optimised and regularly updated with fresh videos, news, updates and content.

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