Healthcare / clinics
Healthcare Clinic Appointment Case Study (Search + Local)
Quick answer
Clinic campaigns are constrained by health advertising policy, so results come from precise keyword intent, radius control and appointment-level tracking rather than aggressive claims. Optimising to booked-and-attended appointments instead of form fills is the change that matters most.
The brief
A multi-speciality clinic or dental/dermatology practice wanting booked appointments from a defined catchment area, operating under health advertising restrictions.
The challenges
- Health and personalised-advertising policy limits targeting and copy
- High-intent keywords are expensive and competitive
- Enquiries arrive but a large share never show up for the appointment
- Reviews and profile quality strongly influence conversion, and were neglected
Account structure
- One campaign per speciality with tight exact-match keyword sets
- Brand campaign kept separate so performance is not flattered by brand traffic
- Radius targeting matched to realistic travel time, not an arbitrary distance
- Competitor and symptom keywords isolated so their higher cost is visible
Tracking setup
- Call tracking with a minimum duration and business-hours segmentation
- Booking-system confirmation page as the primary conversion
- Attended-appointment status imported as an offline conversion where the practice management system allows
- Google Business Profile insights reviewed alongside ad data
Creative angles
- Reassurance and credentials rather than outcome promises, to stay policy-compliant
- Practical logistics in the copy: same-day slots, parking, insurance accepted, timings
- Review count and rating as social proof in extensions
- Speciality-specific landing pages instead of a single generic contact page
Optimisation levers
1Intent laddering
Separate 'symptom' searches from 'book a [speciality] near me' searches. The latter converts far better and deserves the budget priority.
2Radius realism
Cut the radius to the distance patients actually travel. Wide radii inflate impressions and waste budget on people who will never attend.
3No-show reduction
Automated reminder messages and easy rescheduling raise attended-appointment rate, which lowers true cost per patient without any ad change.
4Profile and reviews
A well-maintained Google Business Profile with recent reviews lifts both organic map visibility and paid conversion rate.
5Landing page per speciality
Matching the page to the search term raises Quality Score and conversion rate simultaneously.
Worked example: how the maths moves
Illustrative model, not a specific client's reported result.
| Monthly spend | ₹60,000 |
|---|---|
| Average CPC | ₹45 |
| Clicks | 1,333 |
| Enquiry rate | 5% → 8% (speciality landing pages) |
| Enquiries | 67 → 107 |
| Show-up rate | 55% → 78% (reminders) |
| Cost per attended appointment | ₹1,630 → ₹719 |
Half the improvement came from outside the ad account entirely — reminders and page relevance, not bids.
What this teaches
- In healthcare the meaningful conversion is an attended appointment, not a form submission.
- Policy constraints reward precision in targeting rather than persuasion in copy.
- Operations and marketing share the same funnel; reminders are a performance lever.
- Local organic presence and paid search compound each other.
FAQs
Can clinics advertise on Google Ads in India?
Yes, within Google's healthcare and medicines policy. Certain treatments and claims are restricted, and personalised advertising based on health conditions is not permitted, so copy and targeting must stay factual and general.
What should a clinic measure instead of leads?
Booked appointments and, where the practice management system allows, attended appointments. Optimising to raw enquiries rewards volume that never walks through the door.
How large should the targeting radius be?
Match it to how far patients realistically travel for that speciality — often 5–10 km in a metro. Widen only when data shows conversions from further out.
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