Where your healthcare practice lands on the search engine results page (SERP) matters.

You want your practice to appear as high on the page as possible. With Google Ads, you can claim the best real estate at the top, placing your clinic or practice above the competition and making it more visible to potential patients.

The first place many consumers and potential patients go to research is a search engine.

Even if you have great search engine optimization (SEO) putting your practice near the top of the SERP, Google allows some paid ads to appear above the organic (free) results.

Especially if there’s high competition in your area for the services you offer patients, Google Ads could help your healthcare business break through the organic search results.

Our search engine marketing (SEM) team at 9 Clouds structures our Google Ads benchmarks around measurable data collected directly from Google.

For this post, we looked at three Google Ads benchmarks set by a third-party company, WordStream, which works with more than $14 billion in Google advertising spend each year:

• Cost per Click (Avg. CPC)
• Click-Through Rate
• Conversion Rate

We’ll talk through each of these and see how your healthcare practice’s Google Search Ad strategy stacks up!

Healthcare Cost per Click (CPC): $2.62

With Google’s click algorithm, your practice’s cost per click (CPC) can fluctuate based on several factors, such as:

• Quality score
• Competition
• How much you’re willing to bid

Because Google Ads are a pay-per-click system, your business will pay only when someone actually clicks on the ad — which will show up when Google deems it relevant to the search.

Healthcare Click-Through Rate (CTR): 3.27%

The health and medical industry sits near the top of the pack when it comes to average click-through rate (CTR) on Google Search Ads (just behind the travel, automotive, and dating industries).

CTR is an important metric to watch when measuring your Google Ads success. This metric is measured by taking the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions that the campaign received.

Google pulls CTR, along with several other metrics, into its bidding system that computes CPC. That’s why it’s important to maintain a strong CTR — which we do at 9 Clouds by writing highly relevant ad copy that speaks to the searcher.

If you’re using a templated ad copy that isn’t representative of your own practice’s voice, consider crafting a unique message that will better engage a potential patient.

Healthcare Conversion Rate: 3.36%

The third benchmark to watch for Google Ads success is your conversion rate. This is the percentage of goal conversions that were completed from the number of clicks the campaign received.

You can set up the specific goal conversions that are best for your practice in both Google Ads and Google Analytics. These goals may be a service page view, a call to your clinic, or a form submission.

Help More People Find Your Healthcare Services

Google Ads increase reach, conversions, and appointments for healthcare organizations big and small. 

If you’re not sure where to start, we can help you find a good point of reference. Check out how we’ve helped healthcare professionals online, and see what services may work best for your practice.

Grow Your Healthcare Practice With 9 Clouds »

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CPC, CTR, and conversion data courtesy of WordStream