Paid Ads for Healthcare Providers: A Careful Guide
Healthcare is a restricted advertising category. Here is how private providers can still fill the diary, safely.
The short answer. Paid ads for private healthcare providers work best with Google Search campaigns on condition and service searches, a landing page per major condition, wording that describes the service and not the person's condition, careful Meta campaigns written to health policy, and call and form tracking through to booked appointments. Real clinic accounts reached £25.64 per conversion over 15 months and £18.23 on another.
The restrictions
Google and Meta restrict health claims, personal-attribute wording and some targeting. In the UK the ASA's CAP Code also applies. Ads that imply knowledge of a person's condition or promise cures are the usual cause of rejection. See the healthcare ad policy guide.
Google: where patients start
Most new patients search for a condition, a symptom or a service near them. Each major condition deserves its own page and ad group, and phone calls matter as much as forms.
Meta: careful and supporting
Meta works for education and practitioner trust, within its health standards. For acute conditions Search is usually the engine.
Real costs
| Account | Conversions | Cost per conversion |
|---|---|---|
| Clinic, 15 months | 388 | £25.64 |
| Clinic | 282 | £18.23 |
| Higher-value rehab programme | 277 | $61.79 |
Different areas, treatments and currencies, so treat these as examples, not a forecast.
Track to the appointment
Call tracking plus a way to mark which enquiries booked and attended. Without it, the account looks worse or better than it is.
Common questions
Can private clinics advertise on Google and Meta?
Yes, within each platform's health policy and the CAP Code.
What does an enquiry cost for a clinic?
Real accounts ranged from about £18 to about £26. Yours depends on area and condition.
Is this legal advice?
No. Check platform policies and your regulator.
Should I use before and after images?
They are restricted on Meta and risky elsewhere in cosmetic categories.
