While you would be hard-pressed to find any industry where having a dependable local customer base is not beneficial, keeping your brand fresh in the minds of local community members is vital for most plastic surgery practices. With that in mind, Local Service Ads (LSAs) are a great way to make the most of your online presence and ensure the people most likely to visit your practice are the ones seeing your name in their Google search results.
Just like most other aspects of search engine optimization and digital marketing in general, even getting your business approved for LSAs—let alone seeing a good return on your investment from them—can be very tricky in practice, especially without help from experienced digital marketing professionals. Fortunately, MedShark Digital is here to help you with any needs you have related to Local Service Ads for plastic surgery marketing.
In a typical Google search window, Local Service Ads appear at the top of the page above the search results and even above pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Also, unlike PPC ads which require payment to Google for each time a search engine user clicks on the ad regardless of what they do next, LSAs only charge if a search engine user makes meaningful contact with you through the ad—whether it is through a phone call, email, or booked appointment.
Maybe the most important aspect of a Local Service Ad for a plastic surgeon, though, is the “Google Guaranteed” badge attached to each listing. This badge tells search engine users that the business has gone through Google’s official verification process and can be trusted as a legitimate and dependable service provider.
There are several requirements that businesses must meet to receive a “Google Guaranteed” badge and run LSAs, all of which the team at MedShark Digital can go into comprehensive detail about. In brief, plastic surgery practices typically need to be verified in the National Provider Identifier database, have at least $250,000 of both general and professional liability insurance, and have a Google Business Profile with at least one customer review. There may also be background check requirements for every featured practitioner within your business, as well as the business owner and the business entity as a whole. Overall, requirements can vary depending on your state.
As is commonly the case with digital marketing, getting into Local Service Ads as a plastic surgery practice is not a process that can be completed overnight. Even qualifying businesses may not show up in local listings for a while after getting started—sometimes not because they are doing anything wrong, but simply because there are not enough businesses using LSAs in a particular area for Google to display the ads.
Past Google reviews from customers, responsiveness to messages from prospective clients, and various other factors can likewise impact the efficacy of your LSAs. With MedShark Digital on your side, though, you can make your ads stand out among the crowd and ensure you are getting the best results possible for your business.
Navigating Google’s ecosystem of online advertising alone can be challenging for anyone, whether you have experience working with the platform or not. Guidance from a dedicated team of SEO experts can make a world of difference not just in the results you see from your digital marketing strategy in the short term, but also in how sustainable that strategy is in the long term.
When you want to make the most of Local Service Ads for plastic surgery marketing in your area, you should make contacting MedShark Digital a top priority. Call today for a consultation.