Key facts
- Google's Healthcare and medicines advertising policy governs medical clinic ads in most regions, and in some countries requires the advertiser to complete a certification process before healthcare ads can run, which is separate from the standard Google Ads account setup.
- In the US, any marketing that touches patient information has to respect HIPAA, and in Canada the equivalent constraints come from PIPEDA and provincial legislation such as PHIPA in Ontario, which affects everything from testimonial use to how a contact form on the website is built and where the data lands.
- A multi-provider clinic or a group with several locations needs marketing reporting that separates provider or location performance, since a single blended number hides whether new patients are actually reaching the providers who have capacity for them.
- Urgent care and walk-in clinics compete on immediacy, wait time, and hours, which are the details patients search for directly, while a family practice or specialist group competes more on accepting new patients, insurance networks, and specific conditions treated, and a marketing plan should reflect which situation applies.
- A clinic's booking or patient portal software, whether a simple online scheduler or a full practice management system, determines what a marketing vendor can realistically track, and a vendor proposing conversion tracking with no plan for connecting to that system is measuring the wrong thing.
Scope boundaries
Name the channels in scope, website, local SEO, Google Ads, and whether the clinic is a single-provider practice, a multi-provider group, or a multi-location operation. State the specific services or conditions to feature, since a general family practice and a specialist group have different pages and different search terms to target.
Out of scope unless separately priced: any campaign type requiring a healthcare advertising certification the vendor has not completed, and any content implying a specific medical outcome, which risks both ad policy violations and, depending on the claim, other regulatory scrutiny. Confirm the vendor has reviewed the relevant advertising policy before scoping ad campaigns.
What the vendor must be given
Manager-level access to the clinic's Google Business Profile, Google Ads, and analytics account, short of transferring ownership. A defined data-sharing plan with the clinic's booking or practice management system that respects patient privacy law, since the vendor should never receive raw patient health information as part of standard marketing reporting.
A current list of which providers are accepting new patients and which insurance networks the clinic participates in, since this changes constantly and directly affects which campaigns should be running. A compliance contact on the clinic's side who can review ad copy before it launches.
Ownership and exit clauses
State that the clinic owns its Google Business Profile, Google Ads account, website, domain, and analytics outright, with the vendor added as a manager. This is worth stating explicitly for group practices where a founding provider may retire or a location may be sold, since the marketing accounts need to survive that transition cleanly.
On exit, require full handover within a set number of days, and confirm no patient-related data has been retained by the vendor beyond what standard marketing analytics require, consistent with the clinic's privacy obligations.
Milestones and acceptance tests
Compliance review of the account setup against the relevant healthcare advertising policy before any campaign launches. Reporting structure separated by provider or location within 30 days if the clinic has more than one. A defined process for keeping the accepting-new-patients list current across campaigns.
Acceptance test at 90 days: can the vendor show new-patient bookings, not just leads, tied back to the booking or practice management system, broken out by provider or location where relevant, with confirmation that no campaign promoted a provider who was not accepting new patients during that period.
Scoring rubric
Weight bidders toward compliance and category fit.
Understanding of healthcare advertising policy and patient privacy law, 25 percent.
Ability to report by provider or location, 20 percent.
Integration with booking or practice management software, 20 percent.
Price and contract terms, 20 percent.
References from other medical clinics, called directly, 15 percent.
A bidder who cannot describe how they will keep the accepting-new-patients list current should not advance regardless of the rest of their proposal.
Questions every bidder must answer
Get these in writing.
Have you completed any required healthcare advertising certification, and for how many medical clinic clients?
How do you keep campaigns aligned with which providers are actually accepting new patients?
What is your data-sharing plan with our booking system, and how does it respect patient privacy law?
How do you report performance across multiple providers or locations?
Who holds ownership of the Google Ads account, the Business Profile, and the website after we sign?
What happens to our accounts and any patient-adjacent data if we switch agencies?
Related questions
In many regions, yes. Google's Healthcare and medicines advertising policy covers medical clinic ads, and in some countries the advertiser has to complete a certification process before these ads are allowed to run at all. Ask any bidder directly whether they have completed it for other clinic clients.
It limits what data a marketing vendor can access and how testimonials or patient stories can be used. In the US, HIPAA applies; in Canada, PIPEDA and provincial legislation such as PHIPA apply. A vendor should have a clear, written plan for keeping marketing analytics separate from actual patient health information.
No, particularly around new-patient capacity. Campaigns should reflect which providers are actually accepting new patients right now, since promoting a provider who is not taking new patients wastes spend and frustrates the person who called expecting an appointment.
Urgent care competes on immediacy: wait times, hours, and walk-in availability are what patients search for. A family practice or specialist group competes more on accepting new patients, insurance networks, and specific conditions treated. The website and campaigns should be built around whichever situation actually applies.
Tie results back to actual new-patient bookings in your scheduling or practice management system, not just leads or form fills, and break it out by provider or location if you have more than one. A vendor reporting only lead volume has not shown you whether the clinic is actually filling appointment slots.
SearchPod is a vendor for this kind of work and would answer this RFP; the acceptance tests here are the ones we agree to.
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