Tools & Checklists · Free checklist
Google Ads launch checklist for doctors
A 67-point Google Ads checklist for healthcare launches: policy, tracking, settings, negatives, compliant ads, landing pages and week one.
Free download
Get the checklist
Enter your email and confirm it. The download link arrives in your inbox straight after.
- Confirm your email from the message I send.
- Your welcome email carries the download link, plus links to every other tool here.
You’re joining an occasional newsletter on hospital growth, digital and AI. Unsubscribe from any email in one click. See the privacy policy.
Why it exists
The problem it solves
I have inherited more hospital Google Ads accounts than I can count, and the problems are rarely clever. Ads running across the whole state for a clinic with one location. Display network switched on. No conversion tracking, so the only report is clicks. A call number nobody answers after 6 pm.
This Google Ads checklist for healthcare is the list I run before any doctor or hospital campaign goes live. It covers policy and compliance, account ownership, conversion tracking, campaign settings, keywords and negatives, compliant ad copy, landing pages, launch day and the first four weeks.
Inside
What you get
- 67 launch checks in ten sections, each written as a tick-box item
- Policy checks for Google’s Healthcare and medicines rules in India and personalised advertising limits on health
- A conversion tracking section covering forms, calls, WhatsApp and offline import from your CRM or HIS
- Campaign setting checks for networks, location options, schedule, budget, bidding and AI Max
- Keyword, negative keyword, ad copy and asset checks written for compliant healthcare advertising
- Launch day tests and a four-week review routine, plus governance and reporting checks
Audience
Who it’s for
Doctors in private practice, clinic owners, hospital digital teams and agencies in India preparing to launch or relaunch Google Search campaigns.
Method
How to use it
- Work through the first three sections before you create any campaign; they decide whether you are ready to spend at all.
- Build the campaign with the settings, keyword and ads sections open beside you, ticking as you go.
- Run every launch day test yourself, including a real phone call and a WhatsApp message.
- Put the four-week review items into your calendar as recurring tasks on launch day.
- Keep the completed checklist with your launch note so an auditor or new agency can see what was set and why.
Related reading
Read alongside it
Workbook · Excel
Specialty negative keyword lists
Starter negative keywords for healthcare Google Ads: a universal list and 13 specialty lists, with match types and reasons to review.
Get the workbook →Calculator · Excel
Healthcare PPC budget and CPL calculator
A healthcare PPC calculator in Excel: model leads, appointments, CPL and cost per treated patient by specialty, then back-calculate budget.
Get the calculator →Checklist · PDF
OPD growth checklist
The digital, brand, referral, CRM and contact-centre levers that grow outpatient demand, in order.
Get the checklist →Checklist · PDF
Hospital launch checklist
A demand-generation checklist from twelve months before opening to the first ninety days after.
Get the checklist →FAQ
Questions about this checklist
Enter your email in the form on this page and confirm it from the email I send you. Your welcome email then includes the download link for this checklist and for every other tool on the Tools & Checklists page. It is free.
Healthcare-specific policy (Google’s Healthcare and medicines rules for India and the limits on health audiences), Indian advertising law and professional conduct rules, call desk readiness, WhatsApp tracking and offline import of appointments. Generic checklists stop at the click. This one follows the enquiry to the appointment, because that is where most hospital campaigns lose their money.
Health is a sensitive interest category under Google’s personalised advertising policy, and advertisers in sensitive categories cannot use advertiser-curated audiences such as remarketing lists or Customer Match for that targeting. Plan campaigns around search intent instead. Check the current policy before building any audience, since Google updates these rules.
Not because they are bad, but because a new healthcare account needs a clean baseline. Expanded matching and auto-generated text can surface queries and claims you have not reviewed for clinical accuracy and compliance. Once conversion tracking is reliable, test AI Max as a controlled experiment and judge it on appointments, not clicks.
Give it about four weeks of stable settings, then look at cost per appointment and cost per treated patient from your CRM, not cost per click. Small clinics with low volume may need longer. Resist major structural or bidding changes in the first fortnight; frequent changes reset learning and make the results impossible to read.
No. A doctor or clinic manager comfortable with the Google Ads interface can follow most of it, with help from a developer for tag installation and from your legal and clinical reviewers for compliance. If you do use an agency, give them this list and ask them to confirm each item in writing before launch.