Now more than ever, plastic surgeons around the world are using pay-per-click advertising (PPC for short) to bring prospective patients to their practices. In 2023, for example, more than 95,000 people searched for “rhinoplasty” every month in Latin America and Spain alone. With numbers like that, aesthetic professionals have a real opportunity to attract patients through paid search on Google Ads.
Unlike social media, which can take months to build a following, or search engine optimization (SEO), which can take months to rank a website at the top of the results, PPC starts working in the same month you launch it.
As a marketing agency for plastic surgeons and aesthetic clinics, we have worked with Google search campaigns across many types of procedures over the years, and we have gathered valuable information that we are going to pass on to you here. In this article we will cover the basics you need to know about advertising on Google Ads, plus our main tips for optimizing a PPC strategy built around plastic surgery.
How does PPC work for plastic surgery?
Pay per click (PPC) is the advertising model that platforms like Google Ads use to charge advertisers every time someone clicks their ad. As the name says, if someone clicks your ad, Google charges you. That simple. You have probably seen these ads before, since they usually appear at the very top of the search results.
Let’s take an example.
Start with a basic search like “rhinoplasty in Madrid”. In most searches of this kind, you can expect the first results to be ads. You will know because of the word “Sponsored” above them.
Below the ads come the organic results, where SEO plays its part.
By comparison, ranking a page organically for a plastic surgeon can take between 4 and 12 months to reach the top results for certain keywords, and the first position can never really be guaranteed given how hard the competition is.
Now let’s go deeper into how Google Ads works.
The bidding process in Google Ads
If you have never used Google ads, the idea of having to bid for your ads may come as a surprise. One of the most common misconceptions about Google ads is that all you have to do to show up in the top positions is pay the highest possible amount. The amount you are willing to pay is an important factor, but it is not the only thing Google Ads considers before serving your ad.
The Google support center has an excellent explanation of how the Google ad auction works if you want to read more.
How does Google determine ad positions?
Google takes a number of metrics into account when determining your ad’s position (we will cover them in detail further on). That position, also called Ad Rank, is determined by the following factors:
- Competition
- Bid
- Quality score
- Landing page experience
- Ad relevance
- Expected click-through rate
- Context / keywords
How much do Google Ads campaigns cost for plastic surgeons?
There is no exact budget to hold to when working out the “cost” of a Google Ads campaign for plastic surgeons and aesthetic clinics, but geography and competition have to be taken into account. A campaign run in Spain will necessarily be more expensive than the same campaign in Colombia or Mexico. We encourage clinics to set a budget they are comfortable with, and we build the strategy from there.
When most people start with Google ads, the first thing they think about is the cost of each click, but focusing on cost per click (CPC) is a mistake. What matters is cost per acquisition (CPA).
Ultimately: how much does it cost to book a consultation with a prospective patient? That is your cost per acquisition.
Instead of focusing on CPC, we base our strategy on cost per acquisition. This metric is significantly better for determining whether your campaign is succeeding or not. It will also give you a much clearer picture of your return on ad spend.
Common problems in Google Ads campaigns for plastic surgery
Promoting plastic surgery or aesthetic procedures is by far the vertical with the most obstacles when building campaigns. Google’s policies specifically tend to cause the most trouble when launching and managing an effective campaign. Some of the most common problems are:
- In some countries (the United States among them), if your website offers any kind of cosmetic filler such as Botox, Google Ads will not let you send prospective patients there, since it is a registered medication and you will need to obtain a license.
- Retargeting visitors is not allowed for most “health-related” ads, plastic surgery included.
What is retargeting? Have you ever bought something on Amazon and shortly afterward seen it in an ad on another website? That is retargeting. Google prohibits retargeting for anything health-related. That said, there are ways around this using custom audiences, which we will discuss further on.
- In some countries (as happens in Arab or Muslim countries) you cannot speak explicitly about breast implants or gluteal augmentation, and you have to work around certain words to avoid violating the policies.
Google recently implemented a suspension system for advertising accounts, which means that if your account is flagged for too many policy violations, your clinic could be banned from advertising on Google Ads.
What are the typical results of a Google Ads campaign for plastic surgery?
Based on our own campaigns, we can give some approximate cost-per-click figures for Latin America (in US dollars):
- Rhinoplasty – ~$1.80 (recently, experimenting with Smart Campaigns, we have been able to cut this to less than half, ~$0.35).
- Abdominoplasty – ~$6.54
- Liposuction – ~$4.75
Note: these figures are subject to change depending on region and targeting.
Types of PPC ads Google offers
Traditional paid search (Search Network)
Search ads are the most common campaign type in use today. They are the ads you see at the top of the search results. Compared with the campaign types below, search campaigns give you the most control and customization.
Display Network
Google Ads campaigns on the Display Network let you show ads across a vast network of sites that partner with Google, including web pages, blogs and other digital formats such as videos and apps.
This network reaches roughly 90% of internet users. The ads can be text, images, video or even interactive formats. This option is excellent for building brand awareness and retargeting, though for plastic surgery it is not one of the best choices if what you want is new patients.
Smart Campaigns
Smart Campaigns are a relatively new campaign type in Google Ads, and they have produced good results in some scenarios. Smart Campaigns can appear across all Google properties (Search, Gmail, YouTube and Maps) as well as on Google partner sites (Display). In our experience, these campaigns tend to run on autopilot, and without good configuration they could burn through your entire budget without producing results.
Performance Max
Performance Max is Google’s most recent PPC campaign type. These campaigns can appear across all of Google’s extended ad networks, including YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Search, Display and Discovery, all from a single campaign.
The main appeal of this campaign type is its generally lower cost per click, on top of its reach. Using custom audiences, which we discuss in more detail in our optimization section, you can effectively target users who have made specific searches such as “rhinoplasty surgeon near me” and the like.
YouTube ads
Although retargeting is prohibited for plastic surgery campaigns on Google, YouTube ads can still be a viable option for some medical specialties. YouTube ads run before a video and usually last between 7 and 15 seconds before the user gets the chance to skip.
Which Google campaign types are best for plastic surgeons?
Realistically, there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to a Google strategy. Our practice has been to split test campaigns to determine which works best in each case.
We generally use a combination of Search Network and Performance Max ads for each procedure our client wants to promote, taking the available budget into account.
How do you optimize a Google campaign for plastic surgeons?
Below you will find our main recommendations for optimizing Google Ads for your plastic surgery campaigns.
If you would like to book a free call with our team to learn about our Patient Acquisition System, or to request an audit of your campaigns, click here.
Structure your campaigns and ad groups around keywords
As we said earlier, getting an excellent “ad quality” score is essential if you want your ads shown as often as possible. The best way to get there is to organize your campaigns and ad groups around similar keywords to increase their relevance.
For example, a liposculpture campaign should have an ad group for:
- Standard liposculpture
- Liposculpture with fat transfer to the buttocks
- MELA (or mini lipo)
- Submental lipo, and so on.
Each of them has keywords unique to that ad group’s line of searches. This is worth doing because when someone searches for a specific procedure, they get an ad tailored to it rather than a generic one. The result is a higher ad relevance score and better overall performance.
Review your search terms report and build a negative keyword list
You should regularly review the search terms report for your Google Ads campaigns. We recommend checking it at least twice a month, and what you will find is a large number of searches that are irrelevant to the service you are advertising. For example:
- What is liposculpture
- Liposculpture.pdf
- Liposculpture surgical technique
- Free liposculpture
- Lipo without surgery
These search phrases do not indicate any particular interest in having surgery, in the short or long term, but a click on your ad still costs you money.
For our clients we also tend to build a negative keyword list that includes celebrity names. That stops our plastic surgeons from paying for clicks after searches like “did Kim Kardashian get a facelift?”
Use audiences to see who is most likely to convert
When running search campaigns, building audiences is an excellent way to get additional insight into how your ads perform. Google Ads offers audience segments for a wide variety of people, broken into the following categories:
- Who they are
- What they are interested in
- What they are searching for
When running plastic surgery campaigns we typically see audiences interested in “health and beauty” or “luxury shoppers”. We have found that if these users are more likely to convert, we can apply a bid adjustment so our ads have a better chance of being shown to the group Google defines that way.
You can also create custom audience segments to target people based on their searches. This is normally used for display campaigns, but lately it is being used more with Performance Max. We will typically target searches like:
- Rhinoplasty surgeon near me
- Best rhinoplasty surgeon (city)
- Nose surgery (city)
A/B testing for landing pages
Landing pages are essential for promoting plastic surgery. Building these dedicated pages gives you more control over elements like images and calls to action. Using a testing tool, you can easily test your landing pages to see what works and what does not. Sometimes something as simple as moving the contact form higher up the page can produce an increase in leads.
Use as many extensions as possible
Extensions are a great way to tailor the ad experience to the end user by making it easier for them to reach the information they need to become a prospective lead. These extensions include:
- Phone: gives the end user an easy button to call your practice.
- Sitelink: provides an instant link to another part of your website someone may be interested in, such as testimonials or a surgeon’s bio.
- Location: puts your address in the ad to show users exactly where you are.
- Callout: these let you highlight your practice’s selling points. They work best for features like “free consultations” or “accredited facility”.
- Price: highlights three services you offer and lets the searcher see what they cost.
- Structured snippet: simply a list of the services you offer.
- Image: image extensions are only available for verified accounts more than 3 months old, but if they are available to you, use them.
Adjust bids by location using geographic targeting
Geographic targeting is essential in Google Ads campaigns for plastic surgeons. When it comes to location targeting, our two most important tips are these:
- Target in detail: push on the areas near your clinic instead of targeting large regions or an entire country. Select the areas you want by city, district or neighborhood.
- Set your location setting to “presence” rather than “presence or interest”. That way you will only target people who are actually in those areas, not people who are merely interested in them.
Maximize ad strength when building responsive search ads
As noted above, “ad quality” plays a very large role in getting your ad shown more and, in some cases, more cheaply. Maximizing ad strength is a crucial part of raising your quality score. Ads with a higher quality score tend to be shown more and generally have a lower cost per click.
How can I improve the quality score of my Google Ads?
To get an “excellent” ad strength rating, you will want to follow these steps:
- Write ad copy that is visually appealing, compelling and unique, and that communicates the service being advertised along with its value proposition.
- The ad copy you use should also include popular keywords in the headlines. That is, if your keyword is “rhinoplasty in Madrid”, you want it in the headline wherever possible.
- Use dynamic keyword insertion in your headlines: when writing an ad headline you can open braces { } and add a default keyword. For example, if you use {Rhinoplasty in Bogotá}, that keyword will be swapped for the keyword that triggered the ad, creating far greater relevance and improving your ad’s overall rating. If the keyword cannot be shown, the default “Rhinoplasty in Bogotá” is used instead.
Looking for a marketing agency specialized in plastic surgeons and aesthetic clinics?
At South Labs we are a digital marketing agency specialized in plastic surgery. Over the years we have refined a Patient Acquisition System built on effective Google Ads and social media strategies with remarketing techniques. Our experience working with independent surgeons and large clinics lets us offer a proven system that consistently attracts high-quality patients for our clients.
