Google Ads can fill appointment gaps and bring in patients for the treatments your practice wants to grow. It works best when the targeting follows how patients actually search.
Health ads also sit under two sets of rules: Google’s healthcare policies and the Ahpra advertising guidelines. Both shape what you can say and how you can target.
This page covers the practical settings. For the wider picture, see our health and dental marketing page and our health and dental marketing guide.
What to target
Split campaigns by service. Urgent care, routine care and high-value treatments behave very differently.
- Urgent: “emergency dentist Perth”, “toothache dentist open Saturday”, “after hours GP Midland”
- Routine: “dentist Scarborough”, “bulk billing GP Rockingham”, “physio Cannington”
- Planned treatment: “dental implants Perth”, “clear aligners Perth”, “sleep study Perth”
- Allied health: “paediatric speech pathologist Perth”, “occupational therapist NDIS Perth”
Suburb targeting works well for routine care, where most patients want a clinic within a short drive. For planned treatments, patients will often travel further, so a wider radius makes sense.
What to exclude
- Jobs and study: “jobs”, “salary”, “course”, “degree”, “nurse”, “receptionist”
- Free or public services you do not offer: “public hospital”, “free dental”, “government dental”
- Information only: “symptoms”, “causes”, “pictures”, “Wikipedia”
- DIY: “home remedy”, “at home kit”, “DIY”
- Other locations and providers you do not compete with
- Services you do not provide, such as “bulk billing” if you do not bulk bill
Check the search terms report every week at first. Health searches throw up a lot of unexpected variations.
Location and schedule
Set a radius or suburb list that matches where your patients come from. Your practice software can show you which postcodes book most often.
Use location settings that target people in your area, not people interested in it.
Run urgent care ads when someone can answer the phone or the booking system has slots. Running ads for emergency dental at 9pm makes sense only if a patient can actually book for the morning.
Ad wording and the landing page
Keep ad text factual. Opening hours, location, online booking, health fund rebates, HICAPS and parking are all useful details.
Avoid claims that create unreasonable expectations, such as “pain-free” or “perfect smile”. Do not use patient testimonials in ads. If you mention an offer, the terms and conditions must be stated clearly, and the offer must not encourage unnecessary treatment.
Only use “specialist” if the practitioner holds specialist registration.
Send each ad group to a matching service page with a booking button above the fold. The page should explain the treatment, show the practitioner’s qualifications and list fees or billing information where you can.
Call and booking tracking
- Track calls from ads using call assets
- Track calls from the website with phone click tracking or a dynamic number
- Track completed bookings from platforms such as HotDoc, HealthEngine or Nookal, where the platform allows it
- Track completed contact forms
Keep privacy front of mind. Conversion tracking should record that a booking happened, not what it was for. Do not pass health information to Google.
Budget thinking
Think about the value of a new patient over time, not just the first visit. A family that joins a dental practice may stay for years.
For high-value treatments, judge results on consultations booked and treatment accepted, not just clicks. For routine care, the question is often how many empty appointment slots the ads help fill.
Spend more where you have capacity. If a practitioner is booked out for weeks, more ads for their service will only frustrate people.
Give new campaigns a few months before judging them. Planned treatments in particular can take weeks to move from first click to booked consultation.
Common mistakes for clinics
- One campaign for every service, sending all traffic to the home page
- Ad copy that implies guaranteed outcomes
- Remarketing lists built from health-related pages
- Counting booking page visits as bookings
- Copying competitor wording without checking it against the Ahpra guidelines
- Running offers without stating the terms
Google’s healthcare policies
Google restricts healthcare advertising in several ways. Prescription medicines cannot be promoted in ads in Australia, and some services, such as addiction treatment, may need Google certification.
Google also limits personalised advertising based on health. That affects remarketing and audience targeting, and it is a reason to build audiences carefully.
Policies change, so check Google’s current healthcare and personalised advertising policy pages before launching.
Ahpra and the TGA
Ads are advertising under the National Law, so the Ahpra and National Board guidelines apply in full. Cosmetic procedures have stricter rules again.
The TGA’s Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code also applies when ads mention medicines or devices. Our Ahpra advertising checklist covers the main points.
Our Google Ads management service handles setup, tracking and policy checks for Perth practices.
If you’d like help with Google Ads for your clinic, SLINKY has worked with Perth businesses since 1998. You’ll deal directly with senior people, with no lock-in contracts. Get in touch.
