Drive More Elective Surgeries with Google Ads
We recently wrote a blog, How to Reach Locals Looking for Elective Surgeries, and the one thing we got the most feedback about was the brief section about Google Ads. Why? Because it’s some of the most cost effective advertising money can buy…and it works.
It’s true, by using Google Ads you have the opportunity to expand your practice’s reach and get found sooner by your ideal patients when they’re searching Google for your services. Let’s explore some strategies and best practices for effectively marketing elective surgeries using Google Ads, and help you connect with the right patients and achieve your practice goals.
Understanding Google Ads for Ophthalmology
Google is not a search engine. Or rather, just a search engine. It’s a marketing company. Google Ads is their online advertising platform that allows businesses (including eye care practices) to create and manage ads displayed on Google's search engine results pages (SERPs) and across its extensive network of partner websites. They provide a wide range of targeting options and ad formats, making it the ideal tool for promoting elective surgeries to a highly relevant audience–if you know what you’re doing.
Before reaching for the top of local SERPs with Google Ads, you first need to establish clear marketing goals for your elective surgeries campaigns. Are you looking to get more website visitors, book more LASIK appointments, or enhance brand awareness? Knowing your goals will help you shape your ad format, targeting, and messaging.
Keyword Research for Your Services
To set up Google Ads, you’ll need keywords, which are the bedrock of any successful campaign. It may sound difficult, but don’t over-think it. You know your practice and the patients you service better than anyone…what keywords and search terms do you think they’re using when they’re searching for your services? Not sure? You can always ask them.
Google Ads and other third party apps can help with that as well, allowing you to find the right keywords with the highest search volume (aka number of searches). By selecting relevant keywords with a significant search volume and incorporating them into your ads, you exponentially increase your chances of reaching the right audience.
Once you have the right keywords to target locals looking for the elective surgeries you offer, it’s time to incorporate them into compelling ad copy. Highlight the unique benefits of your elective surgeries, such as improved vision outcomes, reduced recovery time, or the use of innovative techniques. Use persuasive language to help them envision healthy eyesight, and use a clear call-to-action to encourage users to click on your ads and visit your website.
Utilize Ad Extensions & Targeting
Now that your ads are almost done, it’s time to incorporate ad extensions. Extensions are additional pieces of information or calls-to-action that you can add to your campaigns to get more visibility and clicks. They include sitelinks, callouts of key messages, call extensions and location extensions. Extensions are effective because they can provide extra details about your practice, including testimonials, special offers, or appointment booking options. Most importantly, utilizing ad extensions can get you found sooner and improve your click-through rates for your ideal patients.
Speaking of which, Google Ads makes it easy to hone in on your ideal patient for elective surgeries by filtering who sees your ads by location and demographic characteristics. Are you the only MD that offers Oculoplastics surgeries in town? Or within 50 miles? Choose your targeting based on the location data you know, and further focus your efforts by demographic characteristics like different age groups, gender, or household income levels. Precise targeting takes some work, but it addresses your ROI by only showing your ads to those you feel will click.
Utilize Ad Extensions & Targeting
Now that your ads are almost done, it’s time to incorporate ad extensions. Extensions are additional pieces of information or calls-to-action that you can add to your campaigns to get more visibility and clicks. They include sitelinks, callouts of key messages, call extensions and location extensions. Extensions are effective because they can provide extra details about your practice, including testimonials, special offers, or appointment booking options. Most importantly, utilizing ad extensions can get you found sooner and improve your click-through rates for your ideal patients.
Speaking of which, Google Ads makes it easy to hone in on your ideal patient for elective surgeries by filtering who sees your ads by location and demographic characteristics. Are you the only MD that offers Oculoplastics surgeries in town? Or within 50 miles? Choose your targeting based on the location data you know, and further focus your efforts by demographic characteristics like different age groups, gender, or household income levels. Precise targeting takes some work, but it addresses your ROI by only showing your ads to those you feel will click.
Follow Them with Remarketing
Your initial ads are complete and approved, what’s next? Remarketing (or if you’re fancy, retargeting). Remarketing allows you to target users who have previously visited your website but didn't book an appointment. Have you ever looked up some golf gear, and you keep seeing ads for it all over the internet? Same concept. By placing a tracking code on your website, you can show targeted ads to these potential patients as they browse other websites or use Google's search engine. Stats show that remarketing can increase ad engagement by 400%–and like all Google Ads, it’s cost effective.
The last thing you need to do is the same thing to do at that end of any marketing campaign: track and measure. Regularly monitoring the performance of your Google Ads campaigns is vital to ensure you're getting the best ROI. Analyze key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-acquisition to see what’s working and what needs improvement. Google gives you all the data you need, so continuously test different ad variations, keywords, and targeting options to optimize your campaigns and meet your goals.
Or Just Hire An Expert
If you’ve made it this far and realized you don’t want to start creating campaigns, we get it. EyeMDPro’s eye care marketing experts have been doing this for almost two decades, and while Google Ads are relatively intuitive, it helps to have thousands of hours of experience. Our services are contract-free, so all you have to do is tell us your goals, and we’ll do the work tailoring a plan to meet them. What surgeries do you need patients for?