HMDG’s Top 5 Tips for Google Ads
Google Ads can either bring patients through the door or burn thousands without a result. Campaigns only work if they are structured properly, tracked to booked patients, and optimised constantly. This article is part of our Complete Guide to Marketing for Clinics. Below are five rules we use at HMDG to make Google Ads deliver measurable outcomes.
1. Campaign structure matters
If you throw physio, sports massage, Pilates, and shockwave all into one campaign, you will never know what works. Proper campaigns separate services into different ad groups. This improves Google’s Quality Score, gives you clarity on results, and lets you control budgets properly. Blended campaigns are the quickest way to hide performance and waste money.
2. Keywords need constant pruning
Google’s default is to waste your money. Without negative keywords, you will pay for clicks from people looking for jobs, courses, or free exercises. Review your search terms every week and prune aggressively. Add negatives like “job,” “degree,” “training,” “free.” Without pruning, half your budget vanishes into junk. Targeted spend beats scattergun every single time.
3. Landing pages beat homepages
Sending ad traffic to your homepage is lazy. People click expecting a service specific answer. A homepage is too generic and will make them bounce. Build landing pages tailored to the ad: back pain, sports injury, shockwave. Each with clear messaging, social proof, and a booking button. Relevant landing pages convert more and cost less.
4. Measure cost per booked patient
Forget clicks, impressions, and CTR. None of that pays your bills. What matters is cost per booked patient. If you spend £200 and get five new patients worth £1,000, that is a result. If you cannot see this number, you are running ads blind. Agencies love to hide it because it makes their results look worse. Do not let them.
5. Test relentlessly
Ads burn out. Headlines stop working, calls to action lose their punch. You need to constantly rotate copy, test new ideas, and drop what does not work. Even small changes can double results. If you are running the same ads month after month, you are being lazy and you are wasting money.
Ads only work if campaigns are structured, keywords are pruned, landing pages match intent, and results are measured by booked patients. Anything else is waste. For the full marketing strategy, return to our Complete Guide to Marketing for Clinics. Or move on to the next chapter: Social Media for Clinics.
