Leveraging online marketing strategies is one of the best ways for healthcare practices to stay competitive and reach new customers. However, since businesses like clinics, med spas, and dentist offices rely on in-person visits from patients, it’s essential to tailor your online marketing strategy to reach local patients rather than those located all over the world.
While there are many ways to go about this, one effective tool for healthcare practices to leverage is Google Local Services Ads (LSAs). These specialized ads allow you to create online ad campaigns that are specifically targeted to potential customers in your area, and mastering how to use these ads can result in a lot of new business. To help you get started, we’ll go over everything you need to know about Google Local Services Ads for healthcare practices, including how these ads work, the benefits of healthcare advertising on Google, and the best practices you can use to optimize your LSA campaigns.
What Are Google Local Services Ads?
Google Local Services Ads are pay-per-lead advertisements designed to help local businesses appear at the top of search results when potential customers are looking for relevant services in their area. While commonly used in industries like home services and legal practices, Google has expanded LSAs to include healthcare providers, meaning that these ads now offer a unique opportunity to connect with patients in your area.
Unlike traditional Google Ads, which operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, LSAs charge businesses only for valid leads—defined as calls or messages from potential patients. This often allows healthcare practices to create ad campaigns with a much higher ROI than those that charge for every single click.
When you create an LSA campaign, it means that your ad will be displayed at the top of the search results when people search on Google in your area for the exact services your practice offers. For example, when a user searches for services like “family doctor near me” or “pediatrician in [City]”, your LSA will be displayed at the top of the page even above organic listings and traditional Google Ads. These ads typically show key details such as the business name, rating, and a Google Screened or Google Guaranteed badge, which helps establish trust.
How Do Google Local Services Ads Work for Healthcare Practices?
While LSAs offer a lot of benefits, they’re a bit more complicated to set up than other types of local advertising and local SEO for doctors. To participate in LSAs, healthcare practices must go through an eligibility and verification process in addition to creating and optimizing their LSA profile. Here’s a quick breakdown of all the steps involved and important things to know:
1. Eligibility and Verification
Google only allows practices in certain medical fields to use LSAs, including:
- Dentists
- Dermatologists
- Chiropractors
- Pediatricians
- Primary care physicians
To ensure eligibility, practices must complete a verification process that includes background checks, license verification, and insurance validation. Once this process is complete, a “Google Screened” badge will be awarded to your practice and displayed on your LSA ads, which helps establish credibility and build trust when potential patients view your ad.
2. Creating and Optimizing Your LSA Profile
Once you’ve passed Google’s verification process, the next step is to create a compelling and fully optimized LSA profile. This profile serves as the foundation of your ad campaign and will have a big impact on how well your ad performs.
When setting up your profile, be sure to accurately list your services, business hours, and contact details. Since Google uses this information to match your practice with relevant searches, providing detailed and up-to-date information can significantly improve your ad’s visibility. You’ll want to also include high-quality images and a compelling business description to make your profile more appealing to potential patients.
3. Understanding the Pay-Per-Lead Model
We’ve already mentioned how the pay-per-lead model of LSA ads differs from pay-per-click ads, but it’s worth taking a closer look at how this model works so you can understand what to expect.
With pay-per-lead ads, you only pay when a potential patient contacts your practice through the ad, either via a phone call or message. This pricing structure ensures that your budget is spent on actual leads rather than just clicks, making it a cost-effective option for healthcare advertising on Google. However, it’s important to monitor the quality of leads to ensure you’re attracting potential patients rather than irrelevant inquiries.
4. Understanding LSA Ranking Factors
Google determines the ranking of LSAs based on several factors, including:
- Proximity to the searcher: Ads from practices closer to the user’s location are more likely to appear at the top.
- Business hours: Active ads during business hours have higher visibility.
- Response rate: Quickly responding to inquiries can improve your ranking.
- Google reviews and ratings: Higher-rated practices with more reviews are prioritized.
By optimizing for these ranking factors, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in search results and attracting more patients.
Setting Up and Optimizing LSAs for Maximum Results
Local Services Ads for doctors are even more effective when you take the time to fine-tune and optimize your LSAs. Here are a few key practices for best results:
1. Maintain an Up-to-Date Profile
Your LSA profile should always reflect the latest information about your practice. Keep your services, business hours, and contact details accurate to ensure potential patients receive reliable information. If your practice offers seasonal services or new treatments, you should update your profile accordingly.
2. Encourage and Manage Reviews
Google reviews play a crucial role in LSA rankings. Practices with higher ratings and a larger number of positive reviews are more likely to have their LSAs displayed at the top of the search results. Of course, having lots of positive reviews also makes your practice more attractive to potential patients who see your ad, so it’s a double-edged sword when it comes to the benefits of patient reviews.
By encouraging patients to leave reviews for your practice on Google, you can generate more positive reviews and improve how well your LSAs perform. Be sure to also respond to all feedback—both positive and negative. Addressing concerns professionally will reflect positively on your practice when other potential patients see your reviews.
3. Respond to Leads Promptly
Since LSAs prioritize businesses that engage with potential patients quickly, responding to inquiries in a timely manner can boost your ranking. It can also help you convert more of the leads you attract into paying patients since your leads will appreciate prompt responses as well.
To ensure that you’re responding to leads in a timely manner, it helps to set up notifications for incoming leads so you’re always aware of new inquiries. Be sure to also spend some time training your staff on how to handle patient inquiries efficiently.
4. Use Google Business Profile Alongside LSAs
Combining LSAs with a well-optimized Google Business profile will strengthen your practice’s online presence. Your profile will provide potential patients with a lot of helpful information about your practice, enhancing your credibility. Having a well-optimized profile also boosts local SEO for doctors, allowing you to reach more potential patients organically in addition to reaching them via pay-per-lead ads.
5. Monitor Performance and Adjust Your Strategy
You should regularly review your LSA campaign performance to identify areas for improvement. Analyze metrics such as lead volume, response rate, and conversion rates to find insights on how well your ads are performing. From there, you can adjust your bidding strategies, profile details, and patient engagement methods as needed to maximize ROI.
Reach More Local Patients With Surefire Local
Google Local Services Ads present a unique opportunity for healthcare practices to generate leads and drive more business through their doors. From allowing you to precisely target local patients to ensuring that you only pay for actual leads, these ads offer a lot of benefits compared to traditional Google ads. And when you combine LSAs with a more comprehensive local SEO strategy, the results tend to be even better.
If you’d like to start executing a comprehensive local SEO strategy for your healthcare practice, Surefire Local can help! As an all-in-one marketing platform designed specifically for businesses that rely on local customers, Surefire Local gives you all the tools you need to reach patients in your area, manage leads, and more. To see how Surefire Local can help you take your practice’s local marketing efforts to new heights, be sure to sign up for a free demo today!