You’re a healthcare professional trying to grow your practice, and everyone’s telling you to advertise online. But here’s the million-dollar question—literally, if you’re spending that much on marketing, should you invest in Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare, or do you need both? The answer isn’t as simple as picking one platform and calling it a day, because these two advertising giants serve fundamentally different purposes in your patient acquisition strategy. Google Ads captures people actively searching for medical care right now—such as “cardiologist near me,” “knee replacement cost,” or “urgent care open Sunday.” Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) reach people scrolling through their feeds who aren’t necessarily thinking about healthcare at that moment but might need your services eventually. The ROI story gets even more complicated when you factor in recent Meta policy changes that have severely limited healthcare targeting, conversion tracking challenges that make measuring true patient acquisition costs tricky, and the reality that most healthcare decisions involve longer consideration cycles than, say, ordering pizza. This comprehensive guide breaks down exactly how Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare perform in real-world scenarios, which platform delivers better bang for your buck based on actual healthcare marketing data, and how smart practices use both strategically rather than choosing sides in a false either-or debate.

Understanding the Fundamental Difference in Patient Intent

Before diving into ROI comparisons of Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare, you need to understand the critical difference in user intent that drives everything else.

Google: The “I Need a Doctor NOW” Platform

When someone types “pediatric ENT specialist Delhi” or “fertility clinic consultation” into Google, they’re not casually browsing. They have a problem, symptom, or need, and they’re actively seeking a solution. This high intent is Google’s superpower for healthcare advertising.

These searchers are already in decision mode. They’re comparing options, checking locations, reading reviews, and are ready to book appointments. Your Google Ad doesn’t need to convince them they need medical care—they’ve already decided that. It just needs to convince them to choose your practice over competitors appearing in the same search results.

This intent-driven traffic consistently converts at significantly higher rates. Healthcare marketing data shows that roughly 31% of new patient inquiries from Google PPC actually convert into booked appointments and treated patients. That’s nearly one in three leads becoming actual revenue, which is exceptional by any marketing standard.

Meta: The “I Didn’t Know I Needed This” Platform

Meta Ads work completely differently. Users scrolling Instagram or Facebook aren’t searching for healthcare. They’re looking at friends’ vacation photos, watching cooking videos, or reading the news. Your ad interrupts this browsing with health information, brand awareness, or educational content.

This doesn’t mean Meta ads are ineffective—it means they serve a different function. They’re building awareness, educating potential patients about conditions they might not know they have, or keeping your practice top-of-mind for when healthcare needs eventually arise. But that “eventually” is the key word.

The immediate conversion rates are lower because you’re creating demand rather than capturing existing demand. Someone who sees your ad about diabetes management while scrolling Instagram might not book an appointment that day, but three months later, when their doctor diagnoses pre-diabetes, they might remember your practice. That delayed conversion makes ROI measurement far trickier.

The Intent Gap’s Impact on ROI

This intent difference creates the fundamental ROI dynamic in Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare: Google typically delivers higher cost-per-click (CPC) but converts those expensive clicks into actual patients at much higher rates. Meta delivers cheaper clicks and impressions, but converts a smaller percentage into immediate bookings.

When you calculate cost per acquired patient—the metric that actually matters for ROI—Google often wins despite higher CPCs because conversion efficiency matters more than click cost. Paying $5 per click that converts 30% of the time beats paying $2 per click that converts 5% of the time.

The Real ROI Story: Data from Healthcare Campaigns

Let’s get into the actual numbers that determine Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare ROI in practice.

Conversion Rate Reality

Here’s what healthcare marketing agencies consistently see across campaigns:

• Google Search Ads: Converting approximately 25-35% of clicks into form submissions, phone calls, or appointment requests. Of those inquiries, roughly 50-70% actually schedule and attend appointments, depending on the specialty and follow-up processes.
• Do the math: If 100 people click your Google Ad, about 30 submit inquiries, and roughly 18-21 become actual patients. That’s an 18-21% click-to-patient conversion rate.
• Meta Ads: Converting approximately 5-15% of clicks into inquiries or engagement actions. Of those, maybe 20-40% actually schedule appointments because the intent level was lower to begin with.
• Same math: 100 Meta Ad clicks might generate 10 inquiries, with 2-4 becoming actual patients. That’s a 2-4% click-to-patient conversion rate.

These aren’t theoretical—these patterns appear consistently across thousands of healthcare campaigns in multiple specialties and geographies.

Cost Per Acquisition Breakdown

Let’s run realistic scenarios for a specialty clinic:

Google Search Campaign:

• Average CPC: $8 (competitive healthcare keywords are expensive)
• Click-to-patient conversion: 20%
• Cost per acquired patient: $40 ($8 ÷ 0.20)
• If patient lifetime value is $2,000, ROI is 5000%

Meta Campaign:

• Average CPC: $2 (much cheaper clicks)
• Click-to-patient conversion: 3%
• Cost per acquired patient: $67 ($2 ÷ 0.03)
• Same $2,000 patient lifetime value, ROI is 2985%

Google delivers better ROI in this scenario despite clicks costing 4x more. The conversion efficiency overwhelms the cost difference.

Lead Quality Variations

Beyond conversion rates, lead quality differs substantially between platforms:

Google leads tend to be:

• Treatment-ready or urgently seeking care
• Local to your service area (thanks to geo-targeting)
• Researching specific procedures or specialists
• Less price-sensitive (they need care now)
• Easier for staff to convert during follow-up

Meta leads tend to be:

• Earlier in the consideration journey
• More geographically dispersed
• Generally curious rather than urgently seeking care
• More price-conscious (since they’re not desperate)
• Requiring more nurturing and education

This quality difference means even when you get similar numbers of inquiries from both platforms, your staff will spend more time qualifying and nurturing Meta leads, many of whom won’t convert. That labor cost rarely gets factored into ROI calculations but significantly impacts true profitability.

social media marketing for healthcare

Platform-Specific Strengths: When Each Wins

Understanding Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare ROI requires knowing which scenarios favor each platform.

Google Ads Dominates For:

• High-intent, urgent services: Emergency care, urgent care, same-day appointments, acute symptoms. When someone searches “chest pain clinic near me” or “broken bone urgent care,” they need help immediately. Google captures this moment perfectly.
• Specialty procedures with active search demand: Cardiology, orthopedics, IVF, bariatric surgery, diagnostics. People researching these specialties are already qualified leads—they know they need a specialist, they’re just choosing which one.
• Local patient acquisition: The “near me” searches, location-specific queries, and Google’s integration with Maps make it unbeatable for practices that serve defined geographic areas. Someone searching “pediatrician Bangalore” is infinitely more valuable than someone across the country seeing your Facebook ad.
• High-value procedures: For expensive treatments where acquiring even one patient generates substantial revenue (fertility treatments, major surgeries, specialized diagnostics), Google’s higher cost per click becomes negligible compared to the patient lifetime value.
• New practices needing patients quickly: When you’ve just opened and need to fill your schedule fast, Google’s intent-driven traffic delivers immediate results that Meta’s awareness-building approach can’t match.

Meta Ads Excels For:

• Brand building and differentiation: Showcasing your facility, introducing doctors with personality, sharing patient success stories (with proper consent), and building emotional connections. Meta’s visual, video-friendly format tells stories that search ads can’t.
• Long-cycle, elective procedures: Cosmetic surgery, weight-loss procedures, fertility treatments, wellness programs. These decisions involve months of consideration. Meta’s repeated exposure over time keeps you visible throughout that journey.
• Educational content marketing: Explaining conditions, debunking myths, providing health tips. Meta rewards engaging content that educates audiences, gradually positioning you as the trusted expert they’ll choose when they need care.
• Demographic-specific outreach: While recent policy changes limit targeting, Meta still allows age and location-based campaigns for general health topics. Targeting women 25-35 in your city with fertility awareness content, for example, builds your audience over time.
• Community health initiatives: Screening programs, health camps, awareness campaigns, and preventive care education. When the goal is reach and engagement rather than immediate bookings, Meta’s cost-efficient impressions win.

For healthcare professionals struggling to navigate these complex platform dynamics while managing their practice, partnering with the best social media marketing agency that specializes in medical advertising ensures your campaigns comply with healthcare regulations, target the right audiences within platform limitations, and optimize spending across both Google and Meta to maximize patient acquisition. Expert agencies understand the nuances of healthcare marketing that generic digital firms miss, from HIPAA-compliant tracking to crafting messaging that builds trust without making unsubstantiated medical claims.

The Meta Policy Changes Healthcare Marketers Can’t Ignore

Recent developments have significantly shifted the Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare equation in Google’s favor.

Health Data Restrictions

• Meta recently reclassified health and wellness as “sensitive” categories, implementing restrictions that fundamentally change how healthcare advertising works on their platforms:
• Condition-specific targeting eliminated: You can no longer target people based on health conditions, interests in specific treatments, or medical keywords. The granular audience building that made Meta effective for healthcare has been severely restricted.
• Conversion tracking limitations: Meta now limits tracking of appointment bookings, form submissions on health-related pages, and patient actions. This makes measuring true ROI nearly impossible using Meta’s own attribution tools.
• Retargeting restrictions: Can’t retarget people who visited specific treatment pages or showed interest in particular procedures. This eliminates one of Meta’s most powerful conversion tactics.
• Lower-funnel optimization disabled: The conversion optimization that previously helped Meta’s algorithm find ready-to-book patients no longer works for most healthcare campaigns.

These aren’t minor tweaks—they’re fundamental changes that push healthcare advertisers toward using Meta primarily for awareness rather than direct patient acquisition.

The Compliance Complexity

Meta’s health restrictions are ostensibly about privacy protection, but they create significant challenges:

• Measurement gaps: Without proper conversion tracking, you’re essentially running campaigns blind, hoping people book appointments but unable to definitively attribute them to specific ads or audiences.
• Optimization difficulties: Meta’s algorithm learns from conversions to improve targeting. When you can’t track conversions, the algorithm can’t optimize, resulting in wasted spend on audiences that will never convert.
• Reporting limitations: Demonstrating ROI to hospital administrators or practice partners becomes nearly impossible when the platform itself won’t report on the actions that matter most.

Google, by contrast, maintains more straightforward healthcare advertising policies focused on keyword intent and compliant landing pages. The regulatory alignment is simply clearer, making compliance easier and measurement more reliable.

Cost Dynamics: The Real Investment Required

Beyond just CPC differences, understanding the total investment required for Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare impacts ROI calculations.

Google’s Higher Floor but Clearer Ceiling

• Minimum viable budgets: To test Google Ads effectively for healthcare, you typically need $2,000-5,000 monthly. Competitive keywords in urban markets demand a serious budget to generate sufficient data for optimization.
• Predictable scaling: Once you identify profitable keywords and campaigns, scaling is relatively linear. Double your budget on working campaigns, roughly double your results (until you saturate local demand).
• Diminishing returns point: Eventually, you’ve captured all the search volume for your relevant keywords in your geographic area. At that point, Google’s ROI plateaus—you’ve maxed out the available demand.

Meta’s Lower Entry but Uncertain Scaling

• Lower testing threshold: You can test Meta campaigns with $1,000-2,000 monthly and get meaningful data on engagement and awareness metrics.
• Non-linear scaling: Increasing the Meta budget doesn’t predictably increase quality leads. You might reach more people, but if they’re not in-market for healthcare, conversion doesn’t improve proportionally.
• Optimization challenges: The algorithm needs conversion data to improve. With healthcare tracking restrictions, optimization becomes more art than science, making budget efficiency unpredictable.

The Hidden Costs

Both platforms carry costs beyond advertising spend:

• Staff time for follow-up: Meta leads require significantly more nurturing. If your front desk spends 15 minutes per lead trying to convert casual inquiries versus 5 minutes for Google’s ready-to-book patients, that labor cost impacts ROI.
• Creative production: Meta demands fresh video, images, and creative content constantly. Google search ads are primarily text-based and need less frequent refresh.
• Landing page development: Both platforms require optimized landing pages, but Google particularly rewards tight keyword-to-landing-page alignment, potentially meaning more pages to develop and maintain.
• Analytics and attribution tools: Properly tracking patient journeys across platforms requires sophisticated analytics setups that most practices don’t have natively.

The Integrated Strategy: Why You Probably Need Both

Here’s the truth about Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare: the question isn’t really which one has better ROI—it’s how to use both strategically for maximum combined impact.

The 70/30 Budget Allocation

For most healthcare practices, the optimal approach is approximately:

70-80% to Google Search: This is your performance engine, capturing high-intent searches and driving immediate patient acquisition. Focus budget on:

• Branded terms (your practice name, doctors’ names)
• High-value specialty keywords
• Local “near me” searches
• Competitor terms (where appropriate and compliant)
• Urgent/emergency care terms if applicable

20-30% to Meta: This is your brand-building and demand-generation layer, creating awareness and nurturing long-cycle patients. Focus budget on:

• Video content showcasing facilities and doctors
• Educational health content relevant to your specialties
• Patient testimonials and success stories (with consent)
• Community health initiatives and events
• Seasonal health awareness campaigns

The Funnel Synergy

These platforms work together across the patient journey:

• Top of funnel (Awareness): Meta introduces people to your practice, educates them about conditions, and builds brand recognition through repeated exposure.
• Middle of funnel (Consideration): Some people click Meta ads and visit your site but aren’t ready to book. They start researching their condition and treatment options.
• Bottom of funnel (Decision): When they’re ready to book, they search on Google. Your Google Ads capture them at this crucial moment—potentially benefiting from the brand familiarity your Meta ads created.

Without Meta, you might miss the opportunity to influence patients during their research phase. Without Google, you might fail to capture them when they’re actually ready to book. Together, they cover the complete journey.

Measuring the Combined Effect

The challenge is that standard attribution models fail to capture this synergy. A patient might see your Meta ad three times over two months, visit your website from a Facebook post, then later search for your practice name on Google and click a brand ad before booking.

• Standard “last-click attribution” gives all credit to that final Google ad, making Meta look ineffective even though it initiated the journey. Better measurement approaches:
• Multi-touch attribution: Uses analytics platforms that credit all touchpoints in the patient journey, giving Meta partial credit for awareness and consideration.
• Brand search lift: Track whether branded search volume increases when running Meta campaigns. If more people search your practice name after seeing Meta ads, that’s evidence of Meta’s awareness impact.
• Patient surveys: Simply ask new patients, “How did you hear about us?” Many will mention social media even if they ultimately converted through search.
• Holdout testing: Run Meta campaigns in some geographic areas but not others, then compare Google campaign performance. If areas with Meta support show better Google ROI, that indicates synergy.

Working with an experienced digital marketing agency in India that specializes in healthcare can provide the sophisticated analytics infrastructure, multi-platform campaign management, and cross-channel attribution modeling that most practices can’t build in-house. These agencies leverage specialized teams across Google and Meta platforms, deliver comprehensive reporting that demonstrates true ROI across the patient journey, and provide cost-effective expertise at a fraction of what hiring equivalent in-house talent would cost, all while ensuring compliance with evolving healthcare advertising regulations.

Specialty-Specific Recommendations

The optimal Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare balance varies significantly by medical specialty.

Primary Care and Family Medicine

Platform priority: 80% Google, 20% Meta

Why: Most primary care patients search when they need an appointment or are new to an area. “Primary care doctor near me” and “accepting new patients” searches drive most patient acquisition.

Meta role: Building community presence, sharing health tips, positioning as a trusted family health partner for long-term relationship building.

Specialized Surgery (Orthopedics, Cardiology, Neurosurgery)

Platform priority: 75% Google, 25% Meta

Why: Patients typically search for specialists after referrals or when researching specific procedures. High-value patients justify Google’s higher costs.

Meta role: Showcasing outcomes, surgeon expertise, and patient testimonials that build confidence for these high-stakes decisions.

Elective/Cosmetic Procedures

Platform priority: 60% Google, 40% Meta

Why: These procedures involve longer consideration periods where Meta’s repeated exposure and visual storytelling excel. But Google still captures final-decision searches.

Meta role: Instagram is particularly effective for cosmetic results (within platform policies), before-and-after content (compliant), and lifestyle positioning.

Fertility and IVF

Platform priority: 65% Google, 35% Meta

Why: Long consideration cycles (months to years) make Meta valuable for education and community building. But active searchers on Google are your highest-intent leads.

Meta role: Sensitive topic where community building, educational content, and emotional storytelling on Meta create trust over time.

Urgent Care and Emergency Services

Platform priority: 90% Google, 10% Meta

Why: Nearly all urgent care patients search actively when they need care. Meta can build awareness, but drives minimal direct bookings.

Meta role: Limited to brand awareness and educating communities about when to choose urgent care versus ER.

Wellness and Preventive Care

Platform priority: 50% Google, 50% Meta

Why: Wellness is rarely urgent, making Google’s intent-capture less dominant. Meta’s educational, lifestyle-oriented content performs well.

Meta role: Ideal for wellness coaching, nutrition programs, fitness-medical hybrids, and preventive screening campaigns.

Practical Implementation: Getting Started

Knowing the theory of Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare ROI is one thing; actually implementing effective campaigns is another.

Google Ads Quick-Start Framework

Month 1: Foundation

• Set up conversion tracking properly (phone calls, form submissions, online scheduling)
• Build tightly themed ad groups around your 5-10 most important specialties/services
• Create dedicated landing pages for each service category
• Start with exact and phrase match keywords only (more control, less waste)
• Focus geo-targeting tightly on your actual service area

Month 2: Optimization

• Add negative keywords aggressively (eliminate irrelevant searches)
• Analyze search term reports to find new keyword opportunities
• Test ad variations emphasizing different value propositions
• Adjust bids based on actual conversion data
• Expand successful campaigns, pause poor performers

Month 3: Scaling

• Introduce broader match keywords for proven winners
• Add remarketing campaigns for site visitors who didn’t convert
• Test competitor keywords where appropriate
• Implement call tracking for offline attribution
• Optimize landing pages based on conversion rate data

Meta Ads Quick-Start Framework

Month 1: Awareness Building

• Create compelling video content showcasing your practice and doctors
• Build broad location and age-based audiences within compliance limits
• Test multiple creative concepts to see what resonates
• Optimize for engagement (video views, post reactions) not conversions
• Build your Facebook/Instagram follower base

Month 2: Content Refinement

• Analyze which content themes generate the most engagement
• Create lookalike audiences from engagers (within platform limits)
• Test educational content series (multiple posts on related topics)
• Implement basic lead forms for lower-friction inquiries
• Start retargeting website visitors (where compliant)

Month 3: Conversion Testing

• Carefully test conversion-optimized campaigns within Meta’s restrictions
• Implement offline conversion tracking where possible
• Test different call-to-action approaches
• Expand successful creative themes and audience segments
• Measure assisted conversions through analytics platforms

SEO for brand awareness

Common Mistakes That Kill Healthcare Ad ROI

Avoid these pitfalls that destroy returns on both Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare:

Google-Specific Mistakes

• Broad match keywords without negatives: Wasting budget on completely irrelevant searches because you haven’t added negative keywords aggressively.
• Ignoring mobile experience: Over 60% of health searches happen on mobile. If your landing pages aren’t mobile-optimized, you’re burning money.
• Weak call-to-action: “Learn more” doesn’t cut it. “Book your appointment today” or “Call now for same-day availability” drives action.
• Geographic targeting too wide: Advertising to people 50 miles away who’ll never actually drive to your practice wastes budget.
• Not tracking phone calls: Many patients prefer calling. If you’re not tracking phone conversions, you’re dramatically underestimating Google ROI.

Meta-Specific Mistakes

• Treating it like Google: Optimizing for immediate bookings when Meta users aren’t in that mindset leads to disappointment and wasted budget.
• Boring, clinical content: Social media users skip past sterile medical content. You need engaging, human, visual storytelling.
• Ignoring compliance: Making medical claims, using patient images without consent, or violating healthcare advertising regulations risks platform bans and legal issues.
• No testing variety: Running the same ad creative for months. Meta users develop ad blindness fast—you need fresh creative constantly.
• Overlooking audience fatigue: Showing the same ad to the same people repeatedly. Meta provides frequency metrics—use them to refresh audiences before burnout.

how digital marketing improves patient engagement

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much should a healthcare practice budget for digital advertising?

Industry benchmarks suggest 5-10% of gross revenue for marketing, with roughly half of that going to digital advertising. A practice generating $1 million annually might allocate $50,000-100,000 to marketing, with $25,000-50,000 for digital ads. New practices or those in competitive markets may need to invest more aggressively initially. Start with at least $3,000-5,000 monthly combined across platforms to generate meaningful data. Anything less makes proper testing and optimization nearly impossible.

Q. Can I run successful campaigns on just one platform?

Yes, but you’ll likely leave money on the table. Google-only strategies capture existing demand but don’t create new awareness. Meta-only strategies build brand but struggle to convert when people are ready to book. That said, if budget forces you to choose one, Google typically delivers better immediate ROI for most specialties. Add Meta later when you can afford the brand-building investment.

Q. How long before I see results from healthcare ads?

Google can drive phone calls and appointments within days if campaigns are set up well. However, proper optimization takes 2-3 months to gather sufficient data and refine targeting. Meta results take longer—expect 3-6 months before you can reliably measure impact on patient acquisition since the conversion path is longer. Don’t judge either platform on week-one performance. Commit to at least a quarter for fair evaluation.

Q. What metrics actually matter for healthcare advertising ROI?

Ultimately: cost per acquired patient and patient lifetime value. Everything else is a means to that end. Intermediate metrics that matter: conversion rate from clicks to inquiries, inquiry-to-appointment rate, appointment show-up rate, and patient retention. Vanity metrics that don’t matter much: impressions, click-through rate (in isolation), social media likes, or website traffic without conversions. Always trace the full path from ad spend to revenue.

Q. Are there healthcare advertising regulations I need to worry about?

Absolutely. Healthcare advertising faces strict regulations around patient privacy (HIPAA in the US, similar laws elsewhere), substantiation of medical claims, testimonial disclaimers, and specialty-specific rules. You cannot make unsubstantiated claims about treatment outcomes, use patient information without proper consent, advertise controlled substances inappropriately, or make comparisons to competitors without evidence. Violations can result in platform bans, regulatory fines, and legal liability. When in doubt, have your advertising reviewed by healthcare compliance counsel.

Q. Should I hire an agency or manage ads in-house?

This depends on your budget, complexity, and internal capabilities. Agencies bring specialized expertise, access to better tools, and dedicated attention but cost 15-30% of ad spend in management fees. In-house management saves fees but requires hiring or training staff with digital marketing expertise—and doctors/administrators managing campaigns themselves rarely works well long-term. For most practices spending $5,000+ monthly on ads, a specialized healthcare marketing agency provides better net ROI even after fees.

Q. How do I track patients who convert from online ads to offline?

Implement call tracking numbers unique to each campaign source. Use online scheduling tools that integrate with your analytics. Train front desk staff to ask “How did you hear about us?” and record responses in your practice management system. Implement offline conversion tracking that feeds data back to ad platforms. Use unique promo codes for different campaigns. Perfect attribution is impossible, but these tactics capture 70-80% of the conversion path, enough for informed optimization.

Q. What if my specialty has very limited search volume?

For rare specialties or highly specialized services with low search volume, Google’s targeting becomes challenging and expensive. This is one scenario where Meta (combined with content marketing, SEO, and referral programs) might take a larger budget share. Focus Google spending on your highest-volume services or related searches (symptom searches rather than specialty searches), and use Meta to educate referral sources and build awareness among the limited pool of potential patients.

Conclusion

The question of Google Ads vs Meta Ads for healthcare ROI doesn’t have a simple answer because these platforms serve fundamentally different roles in patient acquisition. Google dominates for capturing high-intent, ready-to-book patients actively searching for care—delivering higher conversion rates and typically better direct ROI despite higher costs per click. Meta excels at building brand awareness, educating potential patients, and nurturing long-consideration decisions through repeated exposure and engaging content, though recent policy restrictions have significantly limited its conversion-tracking and targeting capabilities for healthcare.

For most healthcare practices, the winning strategy isn’t choosing one platform over the other but allocating budget strategically: roughly 70-80% to Google as your patient acquisition engine capturing existing demand, and 20-30% to Meta as your awareness and demand-creation layer. This integrated approach covers the complete patient journey from initial awareness through final booking, with each platform reinforcing the other’s effectiveness.

The specific balance depends on your specialty, patient demographics, local competition, and business goals. Urgent care and high-intent specialties lean heavily toward Google. Elective procedures and wellness services benefit from more Meta investment. New practices need Google’s immediate patient flow. Established practices can invest more in Meta’s brand-building.

What matters most isn’t which platform you choose but whether you understand what each does well, set appropriate expectations and KPIs, track results properly despite platform limitations, and optimize continuously based on actual patient acquisition costs rather than vanity metrics. Start with solid Google campaigns to drive immediate revenue, then layer in Meta strategically to build long-term brand equity and demand. That combination, executed well with proper compliance and measurement, delivers the highest total ROI for healthcare marketing in the current digital landscape.