Choosing a medical practice SEO advertising company

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How to read a combined SEO and advertising proposal

1. Split the retainer from the media spend. Ask for the management fee and the advertising budget as separate lines, and ask whether the fee is fixed or a percentage of spend. A percentage fee rewards a company for spending more of your money, which is workable but should be a decision rather than a discovery.
2. Check the healthcare advertising gates first. Google's advertising policies for healthcare and medicines restrict what may be promoted and require certification for some categories of healthcare advertiser. Confirm your service lines can be advertised at all before you plan a campaign around them, not after the disapprovals arrive.
3. Name who reviews clinical claims. The FTC's health products compliance guidance expects health-related advertising claims to rest on competent and reliable scientific evidence. Put a clinician in the approval path for ad copy and landing pages, and give the company a written turnaround time so review does not become the bottleneck.
4. Map where patient data goes. Forms, call tracking and chat can carry identifiable health information into analytics and ad platforms that were never scoped for it. Ask for a written list of every system a patient enquiry touches, and what each stores, before a single tracking script is added.

What each half of the budget actually does

Paid search buys position now and is the right tool for a new location, an underused service line or a seasonal push. It is also the honest way to test whether a query converts before committing to a year of content aimed at it. Organic search compounds and is the right tool for the questions patients ask repeatedly and for the reputation searches that follow a referral. Google's SEO Starter Guide is clear that some changes take effect within hours while others can take several months, so an organic programme judged at week six will always look like a failure.

The most common structural mistake is running both against a single blended cost per enquiry, which hides the fact that the paid half is renting demand and the organic half is building an asset. Report them separately, then decide the split deliberately each quarter.

What to verify about the company itself

Google's hiring guidance for SEO applies here as a vetting script: ask for examples of previous work and success stories, ask what results are expected and in what timeframe, and be sceptical of unsolicited pitches, of anyone claiming a special relationship with Google, and of anyone unwilling to explain their methods. Google states that nobody can guarantee a number one ranking, so a guarantee tells you something about the seller.

Then verify ownership. The practice, not the company, should own the ad account, the analytics property, the Google Business Profile and the domain, with the company granted access. This costs nothing to arrange at the start of a relationship and is expensive to unwind at the end of one. The index records which companies publish their prices and terms in public, with the page and the date each figure was read from.

Questions people actually ask

Should a medical practice run ads or invest in SEO first?

Run ads when you need enquiries this month or want to test whether a query converts; invest in organic when you want the enquiries to keep arriving after the budget stops. Most practices do both, with the split reviewed quarterly and reported separately rather than blended.

Are there restrictions on advertising medical services online?

Yes. Google's advertising policies for healthcare and medicines restrict certain content and require certification for some categories of healthcare advertiser, and the FTC's health products compliance guidance expects health claims to be supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. Check both before planning campaigns. This is general information, not legal advice.

Who should own the ad and analytics accounts?

The practice. Create the accounts under practice ownership and grant the company access, so a change of provider does not cost you your history, your conversion data or your Business Profile. Any company that resists this arrangement is telling you what leaving will look like.

How is the management fee usually charged?

Either a fixed monthly fee or a percentage of media spend, and occasionally a hybrid with a floor. Ask which, ask what happens when spend changes, and compare companies on the total of fee plus expected spend rather than on the fee alone.

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