SEO or Google Ads? Which is right for your practice?

Google Ads puts you at the top of the page straight away, but you pay for every click and it stops the moment you stop paying. SEO gets you into Google's free results and the map listings. It takes longer to build, but you don't pay per click and the results keep working.

I do SEO. For most independent pharmacies and clinics it's the better value over a year. Ads have their place though, and I'll tell you honestly when they make sense.

You choose the searches you want to appear for and bid against other practices for each click. Every time someone clicks your ad, you pay Google. If you use an agency, you also pay them a monthly fee to manage it, so there are two bills: the agency's fee and the ad budget itself.

Clicks for valuable treatments can be expensive because lots of practices want them, and when the budget runs out or you pause the account, the ads disappear the same day.

SEO is the work of getting your practice to show up in the free results and the map pack. I do that by improving your website and service pages, sorting out your Google Business Profile, fixing technical problems and earning links from trusted websites.

You pay me a monthly fee, but there's no cost per click. A page that ranks for "ear wax removal near me" keeps bringing in visitors whether one person clicks or a hundred.

• Cost: Google Ads is a management fee plus every click. SEO is a monthly fee with no cost per click.
• Speed: Ads can bring visits within days. SEO usually takes a few months to build up.
• When you stop: ads vanish the same day. SEO rankings fade slowly, if at all.
• Trust: lots of people skip the sponsored results and click the free ones and the map listings.
• Rules: healthcare ads face extra checks from Google, and prescription medicines can't be advertised at all.
• Long term: SEO builds something you own. Ads rent attention for as long as you pay.

• A brand new clinic that needs bookings before its rankings build up.
• Seasonal services with a short window, like travel vaccines before the summer.
• Testing demand for a new treatment before investing in pages for it.
• Very competitive areas where ranking organically will take a long time.

Health is one of the most restricted areas in Google Ads. Prescription-only medicines can't be advertised to the public in the UK, online pharmacies need Google's healthcare certification before they can advertise, and some treatment terms are restricted. It can be done properly, but it needs care, and that care takes time to set up.

SEO pages have to follow the advertising rules too, so I write everything with the CAP Code in mind and you approve the clinical wording. There's no extra certification needed to rank.

Yes, and sometimes it's the smart move: ads for quick bookings while the SEO builds up, then less ad spend as the free rankings take over. If you already work with me on SEO, I can also run Google Ads for you. That's quoted separately, and the ad budget is paid straight to Google, so you always see exactly what the clicks cost.

Questions practices ask