Healthcare PPC

PPC for Healthcare

HIPAA-compliant Google Ads management engineered for healthcare organizations. We drive new patient appointments through technically precise paid search campaigns that navigate healthcare advertising policies, compliance requirements, and high-CPC competitive landscapes.

Healthcare marketing team analyzing PPC campaign performance data
The Challenge

Why Healthcare PPC Requires Specialized Management

Healthcare advertising on Google operates under restrictions that do not apply to other industries. Generic PPC agencies waste budgets, trigger ad disapprovals, and create compliance exposure.

Fill Your Appointment Book Starting This Week

When a patient searches "urgent care near me" or "orthopedic surgeon accepting new patients," they are ready to book. Healthcare PPC puts your practice at the top of Google at the exact moment these high-intent patients are making decisions.

But healthcare advertising is not like other industries. Google restricts ads for certain conditions, limits personalized targeting for health topics, and prohibits remarketing based on health data. One misconfigured campaign can trigger account-level suspensions that halt all your advertising overnight.

Generic PPC agencies treat healthcare campaigns the same way they treat ecommerce or SaaS. They bid on broad match keywords, write generic ad copy, and send traffic to your homepage. The result is wasted budgets, ad disapprovals, and HIPAA compliance exposure that puts your practice at risk.

Doctor reviewing patient appointment schedule on tablet

Google Policy Restrictions

Google restricts advertising for certain healthcare conditions, limits personalized ads for health-related topics, and prohibits remarketing to users based on health conditions. One misconfigured campaign can trigger account-level suspensions that halt all your advertising overnight.

HIPAA-Compliant Infrastructure

Patient form submissions, call recordings, and IP-based tracking can create HIPAA exposure. Your landing pages, form handling, call tracking, and conversion tracking must all be configured within HIPAA guidelines, an afterthought for most PPC agencies, a foundation for us.

Premium CPC Economics

Healthcare keywords command premium CPCs, "plastic surgeon near me" can exceed $30 per click. Without precise targeting, aggressive negative keyword management, and quality score optimization, budgets evaporate on non-patient clicks from job seekers, students, and insurance inquiries.

Client Testimonials

Hear It From Our Clients

"They have done such an amazing job. I have so many leads I can barely service the business."

Eric Vernsten
Divorce & Family Law Attorney

"In just 3 months, we jumped to the number one organic spot. Phone calls and form leads exploded."

Zachary Gold
Managing Attorney, Immigration Law

"Our immigration practice has seen incredible growth since partnering with Three Stripes Digital."

Wisconsin Immigration Law Group
Immigration Law, Wisconsin
Case Study Coming Soon
Our Approach

A Proven Methodology for Healthcare Google Ads

A four-phase system designed to minimize wasted spend and maximize patient appointments from your PPC investment.

From Audit to Booked Appointments

We deploy multiple campaign strategies to capture patients across different stages of their healthcare decision journey. Service-specific search campaigns target patients actively seeking care. Condition and symptom campaigns bridge patient needs to your services. Geographic and near-me campaigns use proximity bid adjustments to reach patients closest to your facilities.

We build campaigns structured by service line, specialty, and geography. Each ad group contains tightly themed keywords with dedicated ad copy and HIPAA-compliant landing pages. This structure delivers Quality Scores above 8, reducing your cost-per-click by 20-40% compared to loosely organized accounts.

Campaigns launch with conservative budgets and precise geo-targeting. During the first 30 days, we optimize bids hourly, add negative keywords daily, and A/B test ad variations. Once cost-per-patient targets are hit, we scale budget into winning campaigns while continuously pruning underperformers.

Marketing analytics dashboard showing campaign performance
01

Strategy & Setup

We analyze your patient demographics, service line economics, geographic reach, and competitive landscape. We identify which services deliver the highest patient lifetime value and structure campaigns to prioritize those highest-ROI opportunities first.

02

Campaign Build

Tightly structured campaigns by service line: dedicated ad groups for each procedure or specialty, custom HIPAA-compliant landing pages, conversion tracking for calls and forms, and comprehensive negative keyword lists that eliminate non-patient traffic from the start.

03

Launch & Optimize

We launch with conservative bids, monitor search term reports daily, refine keyword targeting, A/B test ad copy, and optimize landing pages. Within 30-60 days, we have baseline performance data and begin scaling what works while eliminating what does not.

04

Scale & Report

Once we establish a profitable cost-per-patient, we scale budget toward the highest-performing campaigns, expand geographic targeting, add service lines, and implement advanced strategies. Monthly reports track patient appointments attributed to PPC with full ROI analysis.

Stop Wasting Ad Spend

Get a Free PPC Audit For Your Healthcare Practice

We will analyze your current campaigns, identify wasted spend, and show you exactly where the opportunities are. No obligation, no pressure.

Book Your Free PPC Audit
Deliverables

What Is Included in Our Healthcare PPC Management

Every engagement includes the full stack of PPC management services. No hidden fees. No a la carte upsells.

Full-Funnel Campaign Management

We handle everything from keyword research and ad copy to HIPAA-compliant landing page optimization and patient attribution tracking. Complete campaign architecture organized by service line and specialty, with keyword research across 200-500 terms and negative keyword lists of 1,000+ irrelevant terms.

Healthcare-specific ad copy that communicates expertise, availability, and differentiators within Google's character limits and healthcare advertising policies. Multiple variations per ad group with continuous testing of headlines, descriptions, and calls-to-action. Responsive search ads, sitelink extensions, callout extensions, and call extensions with tracked phone numbers.

Healthcare professional reviewing digital marketing analytics on tablet
Campaign Setup

Google Ads Campaign Management

Complete campaign architecture organized by service line and specialty. Includes healthcare keyword research, competitor gap analysis, geo-targeted configuration, and full conversion tracking with HIPAA-compliant call tracking setup.

  • Service line-specific keyword research
  • Competitor keyword gap analysis
  • Geo-targeted campaign configuration
  • Conversion tracking & call tracking setup
Compliance

HIPAA-Compliant Landing Pages

Custom landing pages for each service line with secure form handling, encrypted data transmission, mobile-optimized design, click-to-call integration, and continuous A/B testing for conversion rate optimization.

  • Encrypted form handling with BAA coverage
  • Service line-specific landing pages
  • Mobile-optimized with click-to-call
  • Heatmap analysis and CRO testing
Tracking

Patient Attribution Tracking

HIPAA-compliant call tracking with BAA agreements, form submission tracking with source attribution, GA4 integration with conversion events, and cost-per-patient-acquisition reporting by service line.

  • HIPAA-compliant call tracking with BAA
  • Form submission source attribution
  • GA4 integration with conversion events
  • Cost-per-patient reporting by service line
Ongoing

Performance Reporting

Monthly performance reports with appointment-level attribution, ROI analysis by service line and campaign, competitor ad intelligence, and quarterly strategy reviews with budget recommendations.

  • Monthly appointment-level attribution reports
  • ROI analysis by service line and campaign
  • Competitor ad intelligence monitoring
  • Quarterly strategy reviews with budget recs
Compliance

HIPAA Compliance Built In

Healthcare advertising requires HIPAA compliance at every touchpoint. Violations can result in fines up to $50,000 per incident. We build compliance into every campaign from the start.

Every landing page, form submission process, and tracking implementation undergoes a HIPAA compliance review before launch. We ensure that no Protected Health Information (PHI) is transmitted through ad platforms, stored in non-compliant systems, or exposed through tracking pixels. Our call tracking providers maintain signed Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), and all form data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

Google Ads itself does not handle PHI, but the infrastructure connecting your ads to patient intake absolutely can. Landing page forms that capture health conditions, appointment schedulers that transmit patient details, and call recordings that contain medical information all fall under HIPAA requirements. Most PPC agencies ignore these touchpoints entirely.

We also navigate Google's healthcare-specific advertising policies: restrictions on personalized ads for health topics, LegitScript certification requirements for addiction treatment advertising, prohibitions on remarketing based on health conditions, and category-specific rules for medical devices and procedures. Our compliance process does not slow down campaign launches. We maintain pre-approved templates that allow us to launch compliant campaigns within 5-7 business days of onboarding.

Average Cost-Per-Click by Specialty

Primary Care: $8 - $25/click
Dermatology: $15 - $40/click
Orthopedics: $20 - $50/click
Dental: $10 - $35/click
Plastic Surgery: $25 - $60/click
Mental Health: $12 - $30/click
Related Services

Complete Digital Marketing for Healthcare

PPC works best as part of a comprehensive digital strategy. Explore our other services for healthcare organizations.

Let's Talk Growth

Book Your Free PPC Audit

Schedule a 45-minute call where we analyze your current Google Ads campaigns, identify wasted spend, and map out a strategy to lower your cost-per-patient. No obligation, no pressure.

We only take on a limited number of clients per vertical to maintain quality. Check if your market is still available.

Common Questions

Healthcare PPC FAQ

Google Ads itself is a platform tool, HIPAA compliance depends on how you implement it. The ads themselves do not transmit PHI, but the landing pages, form submissions, and call tracking connected to your ads must be HIPAA-compliant. We implement encrypted form handling, use HIPAA-compliant call tracking providers with signed BAAs, ensure conversion tracking does not capture PHI, and configure Google Analytics with appropriate data processing agreements.

PPC can generate patient appointments within the first week of launching campaigns. Unlike SEO, which builds over months, PPC delivers immediate visibility for high-intent searches. During the first 2-4 weeks, we focus on optimizing targeting and reducing wasted spend. By month two, most campaigns have established a stable cost-per-acquisition. The speed of results makes PPC an excellent complement to healthcare SEO, which delivers long-term growth.

Cost-per-patient varies significantly by specialty. Primary care and urgent care typically achieve lower acquisition costs while surgical specialties with higher patient values may have higher CPAs but still deliver strong ROI given patient lifetime values. The key metric is not CPA in isolation but CPA relative to patient lifetime value. We help you calculate and optimize this ratio for each service line in your practice.

Multi-location healthcare PPC is one of our core competencies. We build location-specific campaigns with geographic targeting that directs patients to their nearest facility, create location-specific landing pages with unique phone numbers and addresses, and provide consolidated reporting that shows performance by location alongside portfolio-level metrics.

The strongest patient acquisition strategy uses both channels. PPC delivers immediate patient flow. You can start receiving appointments within days of launch. Healthcare SEO builds a long-term asset that generates patients at near-zero marginal cost, but takes 3-6 months to ramp up. We typically recommend launching PPC immediately while building the SEO foundation concurrently. As organic rankings grow, your cost-per-patient drops because organic leads supplement and eventually exceed paid leads.

Google restricts advertising for certain healthcare conditions, limits personalized ads for health-related topics, and prohibits remarketing to users based on health conditions. Pharmacies must be certified, addiction treatment ads require LegitScript certification, and certain medical devices and procedures face category-specific rules. We navigate these policies daily, structuring campaigns that comply fully while still reaching your target patients effectively.