Google Ads works for plastic surgeons when three things are true: campaigns are built around one procedure and one area at a time, the account counts booked consults rather than clicks, and every ad lands on a page made for that procedure with a fast way to book. The cost is two numbers. Ad spend goes to Google, paid by you in an account you own. The management fee goes to the agency. Ours starts from $1,500 a month on top of spend, with at least $2,000 a month going to the ads. If you want Meta and Google run together as one consult booking system, our Booked Consults program is $3,000 to set up and $4,000 a month, with at least $3,000 a month of ad spend.
Below is how I build plastic surgery PPC so that money turns into consults.
Why Google is different for a surgeon
Instagram reaches people who were not looking. Google reaches people who already are. Someone typing a procedure and a neighbourhood at eleven at night has usually been thinking about it for months, and is now ready to pick a surgeon.
That is why plastic surgery clicks are some of the most expensive in local search, and why Los Angeles is among the most competitive markets for them. The surgeons who win are not the ones who spend the most. They are the ones who waste the least.
What actually works
Build by procedure, not by practice. One campaign for rhinoplasty, one for breast augmentation, one for eyelid surgery, each with its own keywords, ads and budget. When everything sits in one campaign, Google spends wherever clicks are cheapest, which is rarely where your revenue is.
Target where your patients really live. A Beverly Hills practice does not need clicks from three states away. Location settings should reach people who are in or regularly in the areas you draw patients from, not people who merely showed interest in them. That setting is wrong in a lot of accounts I audit.
Read the search terms every two weeks. Your keywords are what you chose. Search terms are what people actually typed before your ad showed. In plastic surgery that report fills up with people looking for jobs, training courses, surgery abroad and celebrity photos. Each is a paid click that will never book. Negative keywords stop it, and new waste appears every month.
Send each procedure to its own landing page. A rhinoplasty ad that lands on your homepage makes the patient hunt. A page built for that procedure, with the surgeon's face, what the operation does and does not do, what recovery is honestly like and a short form or booking link, is what turns a click into a consult. Most of the improvement I see in a surgeon's account comes from this step, not from the ads.
Count the right thing as a conversion. If Google is told a page view is a success, its automated bidding will go and find more page views. The conversion should be a submitted consult request or a qualified call, and it should fire once. Until tracking is right, every other change is guesswork.
Answer fast. A consult request left until Monday is often gone. We use GoHighLevel to reply in minutes, day or night, and to remind people before the appointment so fewer of them miss it.
What does not work
Broad match keywords with no negatives. Performance Max switched on before the conversion data is clean. Ads that promise a result, which no surgeon should be running anyway. Reports that lead with impressions instead of consults booked. And treating Google as a tap you turn on and leave. If you want to check your own account, our free ad account self-audit checklist walks through it.
What plastic surgery PPC really costs
I will not quote a cost per click here, because it changes by city, procedure and month. An audit of your account shows your own figures, the only ones that matter.
What I can tell you is how to set the budget. Start from what a new patient is worth, not from a number that felt safe. A surgical patient is worth far more than a click, so a click can cost a lot and still be a good buy if enough of them book and show up. Then check capacity: if your consult calendar is full, more spend just creates no shows.
On our side, Google Ads management starts from $1,500 a month and we take on accounts spending at least $2,000 a month, because below that the bidding does not get enough data to learn. The full Booked Consults program is $3,000 setup and $4,000 a month, ninety day minimum then month to month, and if we book fewer than ten consults in your first sixty days, month three is free. I broke the fee and the spend apart in more detail in what med spa marketing costs, and the same logic applies to a surgical practice.
Google and Meta together
For most surgeons Google is not the whole answer. Google catches the patient who is ready. Instagram creates the one who will be ready in three months. The proof I can show you in this category is on the Meta side: Dr. Zoumalan, a facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, saw $24,500 in confirmed revenue from about $1,837 of Meta ad spend over two months, and a Beverly Hills medical client returned 1,233% on paid social. I will not put a Google only figure here that I cannot show you in an account. Those results came from the same system good search needs: the right page, fast follow up and one number reported weekly. More on our paid social agency page.
Questions people ask
Do Google Ads work for plastic surgeons?
Yes, when each procedure has its own campaign and landing page, the location setting matches where patients live, and the account counts booked consults as the conversion. Most accounts that do not work are leaking money on search terms nobody has reviewed.
How much should a plastic surgeon spend on Google Ads?
We take on Google accounts spending at least $2,000 a month, and the Booked Consults program needs at least $3,000 a month across Meta and Google. Above that, the right budget comes from what a new patient is worth to you and how many consults your team can handle in a week.
What does a plastic surgery PPC agency charge?
Our Google Ads management starts from $1,500 a month on top of ad spend. The Booked Consults program, Meta and Google together with landing pages and follow up, is $3,000 setup and $4,000 a month. Always ask any agency for the fee and the ad spend as two separate numbers.
Should a plastic surgeon run Google Ads or Instagram ads?
Usually both. Google catches people already searching for a procedure, and Instagram builds trust with people who are still deciding. If budget allows one, start where your current patients found you.
Can you use before and after photos in Google Ads?
Search ads are text, so the before and after work happens on the landing page, with written patient consent, real unretouched images and a plain note that results vary. Your compliance advisor and your state's rules have the final word.
Let's talk
If you are a plastic surgeon with a Google Ads account that spends but does not seem to book, email me at info@robbp.com with the procedures you want more of and roughly what you spend now. How we run search is on our Google Ads agency page, the full program is on Booked Consults in 30 Days, and how we work with practices is on the medical aesthetics marketing page.
