How Much Does Google Ads Cost for a Private Clinic? What Three Real Accounts Show
There's no single price, but there are real numbers. Here's what cost per enquiry looked like across three clinic accounts, and how to work out a budget from your own figures.
The short answer. Across the three clinic accounts below, cost per enquiry ran from £25.64 to $61.79, depending on the specialty, the area and how the account was built. Most private practices start with £1,000 to £3,000 a month in ad spend plus management, because that's enough to collect a readable number of enquiries within three months.
Two numbers people mix up
When clinic owners ask what Google Ads costs, they usually mean one of two things. The first is cost per click: what Google charges each time someone clicks your ad. The second is cost per enquiry: what you pay, on average, for each phone call or form submission that comes from those clicks.
The second number is the one that matters, because a cheap click that never calls is just a cost. Cost per click also varies hugely by treatment and location, so it's a poor basis for a budget. Cost per enquiry already includes how well your ad, landing page and tracking turn clicks into contact, which is why the figures below use it.
Three clinic accounts, side by side
| Account | Tracked conversions | Cost per enquiry | Ad spend | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General healthcare clinic | 388 | £25.64 | £9.95K | Continuous for 15 months (Mar 2022 to Jun 2023) |
| Physical therapy clinic | 277 | $61.79 | $17.1K | Built around higher-value programmes |
| Healthcare account rebuild | 92 | $45.61 | Not published | Rebuilt from a flat account (Oct 2022 to May 2023) |
Figures come from the ad accounts and count tracked conversions (phone calls and form submissions), not confirmed bookings. Two of the three accounts run in US dollars, so the cost figures aren't directly comparable. Treat these as examples of what happened, not benchmarks.
What pushes cost per enquiry up or down
- Treatment value. Clinics chasing high-value programmes, such as post-surgical rehab or sports injury plans, compete harder in the auction than clinics selling one-off appointments, and usually pay more per enquiry. The physical therapy account above accepted a higher cost per enquiry on purpose, because each committed case is worth more.
- Location and competition. A crowded city centre costs more than a smaller town, because more practices are bidding on the same searches.
- How patients search. Condition searches ("sciatica treatment") and "near me" searches behave differently and need separate campaigns and landing pages. Mixing them hides what's working.
- The landing page. The same click costs the same. A page that matches the search turns more of those clicks into enquiries, which lowers cost per enquiry without touching a bid.
- Tracking calls as well as forms. If phone calls aren't tracked, the account looks far more expensive than it is, and Google optimises towards the wrong thing.
- Wasted clicks. Without negative keywords, budget leaks to job-seekers, students and people looking for NHS-only care.
Why the cheapest enquiry isn't the goal
A £20 enquiry that never books costs more than a £60 enquiry that becomes a full course of treatment. The right target is a cost per booked patient that your own numbers can support, which is why account structure should follow treatment value, not just volume.
How to work out your own budget
- Put a value on a new patient. Average revenue across a course of treatment, minus direct costs.
- Find your enquiry-to-booking rate. Of the people who call or submit a form, what share actually book? Your front desk will know roughly.
- Multiply the two. That's the most you can pay per enquiry before it stops making sense.
- Compare it with the ranges above and the competition in your specialty and area, to judge whether it's workable.
- Fund at least three months. A reliable read on cost per enquiry takes two to three months while the account gathers data and wasted spend is cut.
Illustrative example, with made-up numbers: if a new patient is worth £400 over their treatment and one in three enquiries books, you can afford up to about £133 per enquiry before breaking even. Use your own figures, not these.
What a sensible monthly budget looks like
Most private practices I work with start at £1,000 to £3,000 a month in ad spend, plus a management fee scoped to the work involved. Below roughly £500 a month there usually isn't enough data to optimise properly.
For a sense of scale, using only the figures above: £1,000 at a £25.64 cost per enquiry would buy about 39 enquiries, and $1,000 at a $61.79 cost per enquiry would buy about 16. That's simple division, not a forecast. Real results depend on your specialty, area and how the account is built.
Common questions
How much should a physio clinic spend on Google Ads each month?
Most private practices start at £1,000 to £3,000 a month in ad spend, plus management. Below about £500 a month there usually isn't enough data to optimise properly.
How long before a clinic sees enquiries?
Enquiries usually start in the first couple of weeks. A steady, plannable flow builds over two to three months.
Is Google Ads or Meta Ads better for a clinic?
If patients already search for your treatment, start with Google Ads. Meta earns its place when you want to build awareness beyond people already searching. See Google Ads for healthcare and Meta Ads for healthcare.
Keep reading
- Google Ads for healthcare providers
- What you can and can't say in healthcare ads
- Healthcare case studies
- Healthcare lead generation overview
I manage Google Ads for private clinics hands-on at Edward Eaton Marketing, with call and form tracking set up so every enquiry is accounted for.