When medical practices are considering running Google Ads campaigns, one of the biggest questions we hear is what kinds of keywords they should be bidding on.
That can vary depending on a practice’s goals with the campaign, budget, competition, and search volumes of particular keywords. Sometimes, a practice may also consider running paid search ads for searches where they already “own” the organic results. Often, there are questions on whether or not that is a smart way to spend marketing dollars.
There are different schools of thought on whether or not it makes sense for a medical practice to bid on keywords when they already rank well organically. That said, over the years, we have definitely seen situations where it was beneficial for a practice to run ads for keywords that they “own” organically.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why a practice might want to bid on certain keywords when they’re already ranking well.
1. A competitor is bidding on those keywords, too.
This is one of the most common reasons why medical practices have opted to run ads even when they rank well organically. Organic results can position you well, but when there are ads running on the page too, they will show up ahead of your organic results. If those ads are being run by a major competitor of yours, they are likely getting at least some of those patients that may have otherwise gone to you.
We’ve even seen instances where competitor ads ran for branded terms like searches for a practice’s name, which then pushed the practice’s organic results down. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the Google Ads terms of service to prevent this, so competitors are allowed to run ads for keywords related to your practice’s name or physicians’ names if they want.
Strategy-wise, they may not skim off as many of your patients as they would bidding on a non-branded keyword, but it’s still something to keep in mind. If you run ads for your own brand terms, you will most always outrank your competitors’ ads because your content is more relevant to the searcher’s intent.
2. SERP features push your organic results down the page.
These days, there are a number of different things you might see on a search engine results page (SERP) besides just the regular search results. You might see map results for local businesses, or “knowledge boxes” that answer specific questions directly in search results. Depending on how many SERP features there are, people may have to scroll down to even see your organic result.
If the keywords used for those searches are high-value to your practice, it may make sense to run ads to get your search result back up at the top of the page. Ads will typically show up at the very top, before any other SERP features, so this could be a way to help regain any traffic that may have been lost with the addition of SERP features. If your map listing is not in the map pack, in some cases you can run ads in the map listings to push yours to the top (though we also recommend optimizing your map listings and focusing on reviews so you can get into the map pack organically).
3. The searches you are targeting are highly profitable for your practice.
If you are already ranking well for a particular procedure or service, but it’s a highly profitable one for your practice, there may be merit to buying ads. Organic rankings can fluctuate over time due to a number of factors.
For example, if a search engine changes its algorithm, you could potentially lose your top ranking almost overnight. By running ads for those same keywords and continuing to monitor and optimize them, you can ensure that you maintain the top spot regardless of what is happening with organic search. This can also help to protect your visibility for the procedure or service should a competitor decide to run ads for those searches in the future.
Even if you aren’t trying to fight off competitors’ ads for key procedures and services, there is still potential benefit to bidding on those keywords. According to Wordstream, when you run ads for keywords where you already rank organically, 89% of the traffic from those ads is totally new traffic beyond what you would have gotten with organic search alone.
4. You are concerned about brand preservation.
There is a lot of debate on whether or not businesses, including medical practices, should run paid search ads for “branded” terms; i.e., searches that include your practice name, doctors’ names, etc. While we don’t think it makes sense to do this in every case, there are some situations where your practice might consider it:
- You have a major competitor, like a hospital group, coming into your market and you want to protect your practice’s reputation and online traffic.
- Your name or branding is similar to other practices in the area, and you want to make sure you differentiate yourself.
- A new physician previously associated with a different practice just joined your group, and you want to establish brand association between them and your practice.
- There are search results (such as news items) showing up for your brand terms that are pushing down the links to your practice’s website.
In cases like these, ads can give you more control over what is showing up at the top of search results and help you weather any changes that may arise in your local market.
Ultimately, it’s up to your practice to decide when it’s worth it to run ads if you already rank organically. If you are already happy with the results you are getting from organic search, you may not need to run ads at all. That said, if you feel that there is room for improvement, paid search ads are a tool that you can use to get more of the marketing results you want.
As the P3 Marketing Manager, Ashley ensures that our clients’ marketing strategies are put into action. This includes content writing, SEO, online advertising, analytics, and interfacing with the tools, systems, and team members needed to help our medical practice clients accomplish their marketing goals.
Scott Zeitzer
Scott has been in the healthcare industry for his entire adult life. Prior to launching P3, he earned a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and spent 10 years selling medical devices (total hips, total knees, trauma devices, and CMF devices) to orthopedists and neurosurgeons.
