Patients don't pick a doctor the way they pick a plumber. They search, read reviews, check who you are and where you trained, look for the fee, and often ask someone they trust, mostly before they ever see an ad. As a digital marketing agency for doctors in private practice, we work on the parts of that decision you can influence: how the practice shows up in local search and AI answers, what your profiles and reviews say, what the website tells a cautious first-time patient, and search ads for the services people look up by name.
- For private physicians, specialists, concierge and membership medicine, and private GP practices in the US and UK.
- Local search first: a correctly set up Google Business Profile, genuine reviews, and a page for every service and location.
- Google search ads for services patients look up by name. Facebook ads for planned services.
- Monthly services run $500-$2,000, month-to-month. A practice website runs $1,200-$15,000, fixed price.
Why private practice marketing stalls
- The practice barely shows in the map results. The wrong primary category, no photos, old hours, or doctors listed in ways Google's guidelines don't allow.
- A few reviews, mostly old. No routine for asking every patient, so only the unhappy ones write.
- Visitors read one page and leave. No fees, no doctor biographies, no clear next step.
- Search ads bring the wrong calls. Broad keywords and no negatives, so budget goes to people wanting insurance-covered or emergency care you don't offer.
- Membership inquiries that go nowhere. A callback the next day and nothing after, for a decision people take weeks over.
What we do for private practices
- Local SEO. The practice barely appears in the map results, or sits below practices with newer reviews.
- Google Ads for local businesses. People search for a private GP or a specialist nearby, and you want those searches booked.
- Websites for local and service businesses. Visitors can't find fees, doctor biographies or a way to book on a phone.
- Facebook ads for local businesses. You sell planned services such as health assessments or memberships.
- AI search visibility. Patients ask AI assistants to recommend a private doctor, and you're not in the answer.
How a private practice gets found and chosen
A Business Profile set up the way Google describes
Google's guidelines for representing your business give a multi-doctor practice its own profile, and each public-facing doctor a separate one titled with their name only. A doctor who is the only practitioner under a practice brand is best off sharing its profile, named as brand and doctor together.
Reviews from every patient, asked the same way
Ask everyone at the same point after the visit. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews bans fake reviews and rewards tied to a positive rating in the US, while asking all patients is fine. In the UK, fake reviews and hidden-incentive reviews have been banned since April 2025, as the CMA's fake reviews guidance explains.
Replies that never confirm who's a patient
Thank people, take complaints offline, and never mention a visit or a condition. HHS settled with a New Jersey psychiatric practice that disclosed patients' health information in replies to Google reviews.
A page per service and location
A fee or starting price, the doctor's qualifications and registration, what happens at the first appointment, and one way to book. Schema markup helps search engines and AI tools read it.
Search ads for named services
Someone searching for a private GP, a menopause clinic or a cardiologist nearby is close to booking. Exact and phrase match keywords, negatives from week one, and every ad sent to its matching service page.
Follow-up and reporting
A reply within minutes, never asking for medical history in the form, and weekly new-patient bookings by source set against what a patient is worth over a year.
What doctors can say in ads and online
In the UK, the GMC's Good medical practice expects anything you publish about your services to be honest and factual, and not to exploit patients' vulnerability or lack of medical knowledge. The ASA judges ads under the CAP Code, which wants evidence behind every objective claim and holds medical claims to a high standard. Prescription-only medicines can't be promoted to the public, so weight-loss and aesthetic services can't name them.
In the US, check your state medical board's advertising rules too, and publish a testimonial or photo that identifies a patient only with their written permission. On Google, health is a sensitive interest category, so remarketing lists and Customer Match aren't available for most clinical ads. We write within these rules and your compliance lead signs off; this page isn't legal advice.
Proof: from outside medicine
We have no published work with doctors or medical practices, and we won't suggest otherwise. The closest published work is with booking-led local businesses, and one account shows the problem practices most often have with an agency: everything looked fine, and it lost money.
- The tracking worked and the campaigns optimized for sales, yet the sales campaign returned £0.82 for every £1 spent.
- Eight months after we took it on, the same account returns £2.99 for every £1.
- Cost per booking fell from £38.78 to £9.44.
The lesson for a practice is the reporting, not the climbing: judge the account on booked new patients against what a patient is worth, every month. The handover case study sets out the four changes behind it.
What it costs
| Service | Price | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Ads management (Google, Facebook or Instagram) | $500-$2,000 a month | Month-to-month, no setup fee, ad spend paid straight to the platform |
| SEO and AI search visibility | $500-$2,000 a month | Month-to-month, no long-term contract |
| Website, landing page or store build | $1,200-$15,000, fixed price | Agreed in writing; 50% to begin, balance on delivery |
Entry plans start at $500 a month. Full details are on our pricing page.
Who we're not for
- Practices that want guaranteed patient numbers, or ads that promise outcomes.
- Anyone who wants bought or invented reviews. They're illegal in the US and the UK.
- Practices with no room for new patients next quarter, or no ad budget on top of the fee.
Guides for private practices
- Schema markup for AI visibility: the types that matter, and how to validate them
- How to get recommended by AI search: getting named in ChatGPT and Gemini answers
- Is SEO worth it for a small business?: when it pays and how to tell it's working
- Google Ads clicks not converting?: the checks to make, in order
- Search vs Performance Max: where budget belongs when patients search by name
Questions doctors ask a marketing agency
What does a digital marketing agency for doctors do?
It helps a private practice get found, trusted and booked: a correctly set up Google Business Profile, genuine reviews, a page for every service, search ads for services people look up by name, and reporting on new patients booked.
How do private doctors get more patients online?
Start with local search, where most patients begin: the right category, accurate hours, photos and recent reviews. Then give each service a page with fees and a way to book, and add search ads where demand is highest.
Should each doctor at our practice have a Google Business Profile?
Google allows a profile for each public-facing doctor, titled with their name only, alongside one for the practice. A doctor who is the only practitioner under a practice brand is best off sharing the practice's profile.
Can doctors ask patients for reviews?
Yes, if you ask every patient the same way and never tie a reward to a positive rating. Fake and bought reviews are banned in both the US and the UK.
How should a doctor reply to a negative review?
Briefly, politely and without confirming the person is a patient. Don't mention a visit, condition or treatment, and invite them to contact the practice directly.
What are the advertising rules for doctors in the UK?
The GMC expects what you publish to be honest and factual and not to exploit patients' vulnerability. The ASA enforces the CAP Code, which requires evidence for claims. This isn't legal advice, so check with your indemnity provider.
How much does marketing for a private practice cost?
Ads or SEO management runs $500-$2,000 a month, month-to-month, and ad spend goes straight to Google or Meta. A practice website is a fixed-price build, from $1,200.
Do you have case studies with doctors?
No, and we don't claim any. Our published case studies are with booking-led local businesses, labeled that way, and on a call we'll say plainly what carries over to a practice.
Want to see your practice the way a new patient does, side by side with the practice down the road? Book a strategy call and we'll go through your profile, reviews and site together.