Paid advertising can deliver patient enquiries and bookings, but it is easy to spend money without seeing results. Avoid these frequent mistakes across Google, Meta, and other platforms.
Paid advertising offers a direct way to reach potential patients and clients. However, many local businesses find themselves spending money with little to show for it. This isn't always because paid ads don't work for their business type; often, it is due to a few common mistakes that occur across different platforms, from Google Ads to Meta (Facebook and Instagram).
Targeting Too Broadly or Too Narrowly
Effective targeting is fundamental to paid ad success. If your targeting is too broad, you will show your ads to people who are not interested in your services, wasting budget on irrelevant clicks or impressions. Conversely, targeting too narrowly can severely limit your reach, meaning you miss out on potential customers who would genuinely benefit from your service.
- **Broad Targeting:** For a local dentist, targeting 'people interested in health' across an entire state is too broad. This will reach people nowhere near your clinic, or those looking for general health information, not a dental appointment.
- **Narrow Targeting:** Targeting only 'people who searched for emergency dental in Fitzroy between 3 AM and 5 AM last Tuesday' might be too specific, excluding many potential patients. Most platforms need a larger audience pool to optimise delivery.
- **Location Mismatch:** Advertising a Melbourne-based physiotherapy service to an audience across Australia will result in wasted ad spend. Ensure your geographical targeting matches your service area.
Ignoring Negative Keywords or Exclusions
For search-based platforms like Google and Bing Ads, neglecting negative keywords is a major budget drain. Negative keywords tell the platform which search terms you *do not* want your ads to show for. Similarly, on social platforms, regularly reviewing and excluding irrelevant audiences or placements can save significant spend.
Even the best-optimised ad creative will underperform if it is shown to the wrong people, or for the wrong search query.
- A veterinary clinic advertising for 'dog grooming' might receive clicks from people looking for DIY dog grooming tips rather than a professional service. Adding 'DIY', 'how to', or 'at home' as negative keywords would prevent this.
- A pharmacy advertising 'flu shots' could appear for searches like 'flu shot side effects' or 'where to get free flu shots'. While some of these might be relevant, others might not lead to a booking.
- On Meta, if you are a clinic seeking new patients, you might want to exclude existing patients or employees from seeing your acquisition campaigns, to focus budget on new leads.
Poor Messaging and Landing Page Experience
Your ad's message needs to be clear, concise, and directly relevant to the service you offer. Once someone clicks your ad, their experience on your website (known as the landing page) is crucial. A mismatch between the ad's promise and the landing page's content, or a confusing website, will lead to people leaving without converting.
- An ad promoting 'new patient dental check-up special' should lead directly to a page detailing that special, with a clear booking option, not just the general clinic homepage.
- Ensure your website loads quickly. Data from Google indicates that as page load time increases from one second to three seconds, the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing increases by 32%.
- Source: Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-au/consumer-insights/consumer-journey/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/
Review your ad copy, targeting, negative keywords, and landing page experience regularly. Making these adjustments can significantly improve your paid ad performance and ensure your budget is spent on attracting genuinely interested patients and clients.
