Facebook vs. Google Ads: Which Are Better for Healthcare Advertising?

Whether you run a local urgent care or a multi-location healthcare business, getting the word out about the quality of your services is essential to building and sustaining a steady flow of clients.

Content marketing will build brand awareness and generate leads. However, paid ads on major platforms like Google and Facebook are essential for scaling.

Facebook and Google are two powerful digital advertising platforms. Facebook dominates social media advertising. Google is the top search ad platform. But which one is more worthwhile for healthcare advertising?

In this article, we compare Facebook and Google Ads for healthcare advertising. We also share tips on optimizing your paid ads strategy.

Understanding Facebook Ads in Healthcare Advertising

Facebook ads (aka Meta ads) are a type of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. You create an ad to promote your business. You also decide who to target. Then, Facebook runs your ad on its platforms, and you pay for every click.

So, why do businesses advertise on Facebook?

Massive Reach

This social media platform offers incredible reach, giving you access to a vast market.

To put the power of Facebook in perspective, look at these stats:

At the start of 2024, there were nearly 336 million people in the United States.
People aged 15 and older account for about 276 million.
There are an estimated 250.2 million Facebook users in the U.S. today. That means over 90% of American teens and adults are on Facebook.
People spend 33 minutes a day, on average, scrolling. That means that every day on Facebook is another opportunity to reach new clients.

Facebook advertising also keeps your healthcare business relevant. You can use Facebook ads to continually promote your dental practice, urgent care center, home health services, hospital, or other healthcare business as the best option for your market.

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Granular Targeting

It’s not just size that makes Facebook so valuable to healthcare advertisers. It’s also the targeting capabilities.

Facebook offers granular targeting. You can target by:

Demographic
Location
Profile information

This in-depth targeting allows you to direct ads to the people who are most likely to be interested. For instance, if you offer home health services in Western Maryland, you can target:

Older adults who might be looking for services for a family member
People near one of your locations
The income level of your ideal client

Because Facebook collects user information, its algorithms can also factor in scrolling history, interests, and preferences to reach the right people with the right message.

Customizable Visual Ads

In healthcare, emotions matter—a lot. Your ads can’t just show off your amazing products and services. They have to convey multiple things that a client needs in order to trust a business with something as important as their (or their loved one’s) health.

You need to communicate:

Professionalism
Expertise
Empathy
Understanding
Experience

Facebook allows you to do just that. You can tell compelling stories with your ads because of the visual customization capabilities. You can also share videos of patient testimonials.

Carousel ads are great for displaying the quality of your services. And high-quality visual content boosts engagement.

Doctor in scrubs tends to elderly patient

Understanding Google Ads in Healthcare Advertising

Google Ads is similar to advertising on Facebook in that ads are paid and targeted to your ideal clients. However, there are a few key ways advertising on Google stands out, making it an important part of a comprehensive healthcare advertising strategy.

First, the way Google works is a little different. With Google Ads, you can choose different types of ads:

Paid search ads—text-only ads that appear on Google’s results pages.
Display ads—banner ads that appear throughout the Google Display Network (GDN). This network consists of over 2 million websites, videos, and apps.
Video ads—also appear throughout the GDN.

They also follow a pay-per-click model. However, with Google Ads, the cost-per-click is more nuanced. It depends on multiple factors, including:

Keyword competitiveness
Ad quality
Bidding strategy

What is the advantage of Google Ads for healthcare?

Large and Local Reach

As with Facebook, Google Ads offers massive reach. In fact, that’s one of the reasons people choose Google over Facebook for paid ads. Google’s reach is bigger.

There are 5.9 million Google searches every minute. That comes out to 8.5 billion searches a day.

Google is also a must-have for local healthcare businesses. Local intent accounts for 46% of Google searches.

Intent-Driven Targeting

Google Ads also offers another way to target your audience. Search ads are intent-driven.

Here’s how that works:

Someone enters a keyword. For example, a person searching for services for their elderly parent might search for:

Home health care near me
Senior care help
Respite care for the elderly

If you have a search ad for that term, it will appear on the first page of Google’s search results under the “sponsored” heading. These intent-based ads allow you to direct people looking for your specific services to your website.

Revealing Performance Metrics

Another benefit is the performance metrics. PPC advertising platforms generally offer metrics analysis to help you evaluate your campaigns.

You can review:

Click-through rates
Conversion rates
Ad spend

But Google digs deeper. You’ll have access to metrics that help you better understand the performance of individual ads, engagement levels, and ad ROI. These include the number of impressions, Quality Score, and Ad Rank.

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In home nurse helps patient fill out paperwork

Facebook vs. Google Ads in Healthcare: A Quick Overview

So, which ad platform is better? Here’s a quick comparison of Facebook versus Google Ads.

Reach and Visibility

Facebook has a smaller reach. It only puts you in front of Facebook users. Depending on your demographic, this might limit your ability to reach your target.

For instance, if you’re targeting the 55 and older age group, Facebook might not be that effective. Only 13.6% of Facebook users are 55 or older.

Google, on the other hand, gives you access to everyone on the internet. If visibility is your main goal, go with Google Ads.

Cost

Certainly, the audience is larger, but Google Ads is more expensive than advertising on Facebook. If you want access to a wider audience and millions of searches a day, you’ll pay more.

Engagement

Facebook wins here. You can hone in on the exact audience you want to target. You can also better customize visual ads. These advantages can help boost your ad’s cost-effectiveness and engagement.

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Choosing the Right Platform: Facebook or Google?

When deciding what to use, there are a few aspects of your marketing plan to account for. Here’s what you can do:

Evaluate your goals. Google is better for building brand awareness. Facebook helps you build brand trust.
Consider your budget. Facebook might give you more bang for your buck. That’s because you can target your ads so that only people likely to use your services will see your ads. You won’t pay for useless clicks.
Analyze your campaign metrics. No matter which approach you take, track your performance. See which platform gets better conversion rates. Also, compare your ROI. That will tell you which one to continue focusing on.

3 Tips to Use to Optimize Your Facebook and Google Ads for Healthcare

Ready to grow your healthcare business with Facebook and Google Ads? Here are three tips to help you maximize your ROI.

Have a strategy for evaluating ad metrics. Just tracking numbers won’t help you get results. Know which metrics apply to your advertising goals. Focus on those. Then, refine your ad campaigns accordingly.

Use A/B testing. Test your ads with your target audiences. Use what you learn to continually improve your ads.

Integrate Facebook and Google Ads. You’ll generate the best results if your Facebook and Google Ads campaigns complement one another. With a holistic, consistent strategy developed by PPC experts, you can build a powerful story that compels your audience and sets your healthcare business apart.

If you’re ready to incorporate PPC into your healthcare marketing strategies, schedule your demo with Socius today.