Using Google's Pay-Per-Click Ads for Physical Therapy Private Practice

Physical therapy private practice owners are constantly on the lookout for methods to market their practices. As part of your marketing strategy, you may want to consider using Google Pay-per-Click Ads. In this article, we’ll address what Google Pay Per Click ads are, and what PT private practice owners should know to effectively use them to attract new patients.

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What are Pay-Per-Click Ads?

Pay-per-click ads (PPC) are an internet advertising model that drives traffic to your website with digital advertisements.

The advertiser then pays a publisher, in this case, Google, when the ad is clicked. Pay-per-click ads are shown to users based on the keywords and phrases they are searching. For PT practice owners, these keywords might include terms like “physical therapy near me” or “shoulder injury rehab”. After someone searches for these terms or phrases, Google displays the results that relate to those keywords. PPC ads then appear at the top of the page which means your ad could be the first thing a potential patient sees when searching these terms.

Choosing Key Words

Selecting appropriate keywords for PPC ads is crucial for bringing you the consumers you want. Relevant keywords will help you connect with your ideal patient when they are searching for products and services you offer. PPC ads are only as effective as the keywords used to target. To find keywords for your practice:

1. Make a list of words that align with your business. 
2. List all the services and products your practice offers. 
3. Use an online keyword research tool, like this one offered by Google: https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
4. Target Keywords that people search for in high volume and then localize it. Like, ‘physical therapy’, then add your city to it, ‘physical therapy city name’.
5. Use words and phrases that are symptoms patients search for. Like, ‘balance treatment’, or ‘dizziness treatment’. 

Physical Therapist's Need to Target Target their Pay-Per-Click Ads for Maximum Returns

Think about your ideal patient, you want to make your ads as specific to your consumer as possible. 

As a brick-and-mortar business, pay special attention to geography. Google allows you to choose country, state, zip code, radius, designated market area, city, and metro as location parameters for where your ads will appear. Don’t waste your advertising dollars promoting yourself beyond the area you practice in. 

Create Landing Pages Specific to the Ad a Prospect Clicked

Part of a well thought out PPC strategy is sending those who click on your ads to the information that your ad focused on. Many practice owners simply direct their ad clicks to the homepage of their practice website, but this is a missed opportunity! Instead, create a page that offers information relevant to the ad they clicked. For example, if the ad was about shoulder injury rehabilitation, you might consider bringing them to a page that offers information on how you assess and treat this condition at your practice. Most importantly, include a call to action! A call to action is key to turning this interested consumer into a paying patient. This can be as simple as a button that says ‘Request Appointment’ at the end of the page. Include your relevant contact information so they can easily reach you and take the next step to become a patient at your practice. 

PPC Results Take Time

Don’t quit! PPC ads take time to fine-tune. Just like any approach to marketing you will need to test your ads, review your results, make minor adjustments, and test again. PT practice owners should: 

• Start with 4-5 ads for different keyword sets and see how they perform, make adjustments and try again. 
• Include an offer, this can be a great incentive for consumers to click your ad. 
• Monitor which ads and keywords bring in the most referrals and then create additional ads that also use those words. 

Finding effective ways to reach your ideal patient is what brings new consumers to your practice. PPC ads are listed at the top of the page, even before organic search results, and this means your prospects will see PPC ads first in their search queries. Ultimately with PPC ads, you have a higher probability of bringing your ideal consumer to your page first and that gets them closer to becoming your new patient.