Practice owners ask the wrong question. "Should I run Google Ads or Meta Ads?" The right question is which combination works for the practice's stage, specialty, and patient acquisition math. The two platforms reach patients at different points in the decision and produce different kinds of leads. Most engagements we run use both, weighted differently per stage.
Below is the practical framework we use to allocate budget between the two platforms. It is not the framework an agency selling one platform will hand you.
Google Ads catches decided patients
Google Ads work by matching patient queries to your ad. The patient already has the intent. They typed "family medicine accepting new patients [city]" into a search box. The ad just needs to put your practice in front of them at that moment. Conversion rate on a well-built Google Ads campaign is 6 to 14 percent of clicks. Cost-per-booked-consult is $80 to $250 depending on specialty.
Google Ads should be the first paid channel any practice activates. The reason is that the demand already exists. You are not building a new market. You are intercepting patients who decided to look. The downside is volume. There are only so many patients searching for your specialty in your geography on any given day. Eventually you saturate Google Ads. That is when Meta Ads enter the picture.
Meta Ads build the pipeline
Meta Ads (Facebook + Instagram) work by interrupting patients who were not searching. The patient was scrolling. Your ad caught their attention. They clicked because the offer or the question matched something they had been quietly thinking about. Conversion rate from a Meta click to a booked consult is lower (1 to 4 percent typically), but the cost-per-impression is lower too, and the audience pool is larger.
Meta Ads are most effective for practices that sell a service patients do not actively search for but are curious about. Aesthetic clinics. Functional medicine. Mental health specialties. Pelvic floor PT for postpartum patients (who do not know the service exists until someone tells them). For specialties where the search demand is already strong (family medicine, dental, urgent care), Meta is a secondary channel after Google is saturated.
Allocation by stage
Stage one (building the asset, calendar mostly empty): 80 percent Google Ads, 20 percent Meta. Capture the existing demand first. Stage two (filling the schedule, calendar partly booked): 60 percent Google Ads, 40 percent Meta. Saturate the searcher pool, then expand reach. Stage three (schedule near capacity): 30 percent Google Ads, 70 percent Meta or shift entirely to retention. At this point new-patient ads are wasted on a calendar that cannot accept them.
Allocation by specialty
- Family medicine, internal medicine, urgent care: Google-heavy. Patients search for these services with high intent. 75 to 90 percent Google.
- Dental general practice: Google-heavy. Same demand pattern. 70 to 85 percent Google.
- Mental health: Mixed. Patients do search, but stigma keeps many off-Google. 50 percent Google, 50 percent Meta with a careful copy approach.
- Pelvic floor PT, postpartum services: Meta-heavy. Patients often do not know the service exists. 30 percent Google, 70 percent Meta with educational creative.
- Aesthetic clinics, botox, fillers, med spa: Meta-heavy. Browse-and-decide pattern. 25 percent Google, 75 percent Meta with strong visual creative.
- Functional and integrative medicine: Mixed lean Meta. Education-first decision. 35 percent Google, 65 percent Meta.
The retargeting layer
Both platforms have retargeting capabilities. The use case is the same. A patient visits your site, leaves without booking, and the ad system shows them an ad later that reminds them. Retargeting CPMs are low, conversion is high, and this is where the channels overlap. Run retargeting on both platforms. Spend less than 20 percent of total ad budget on retargeting, but include it from day one. The cost-per-recovered-booking is the lowest number in the whole account.