Google Ads for Bariatric Surgery: Keywords, Negatives and Patient Cost

At eleven at night, someone in Lucknow types "sleeve gastrectomy cost". They have read about it for months. Their HbA1c report is sitting on the table. That search is about as close to a decision as a bariatric patient ever gets in public. Google ads put you in front of them at that exact moment. But the same account, set up carelessly, will also pay for every person searching "diet chart for weight loss". Here is how to tell the two apart.

Which bariatric searches are worth paying for?

Group your keywords by intent, and give each group its own ad group and its own message. Keep matching tight at the start, with exact and phrase match only.

Start with one campaign per procedure you actually do. If you offer sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass and intragastric balloon, that is three campaigns with three budgets, so you always know what each one costs you. Add a small campaign on your own name and your clinic's name, so no competitor sits above you when a referred patient searches for you.

What should you block before the first rupee goes out?

Weight loss is one of the noisiest topics on the internet. Most people searching it want a free diet, not a surgeon. Build this negative list before launch:

• diet, diet chart, diet plan, recipes, calories
• tips, home remedies, exercise, yoga, gym
• pills, tablets, powder, Ayurvedic, herbal
• injection, and the brand names of weight loss injections
• free, government, scheme
• course, training, fellowship, MBBS, job, vacancy, salary
• images, video, animation, pdf
• liposuction and tummy tuck, unless you offer them

Then open the search terms report every week. Block every irrelevant search. Turn every good one into a keyword. In the accounts we take over, this one habit saves more money than any bidding trick.

One more rule. Google does not allow prescription drug promotion in India, in ads or on landing pages. So never build a campaign around injection names, even though patients ask about them. Answer that question in the consultation, not in your ads.

What does a bariatric landing page need?

Every ad goes to a page that matches the search. Never the homepage. A good procedure page has:

1. A headline in the patient's words, such as "Sleeve gastrectomy in Lucknow: what it involves and what it costs".
2. Who it may suit, in general terms, with a clear line that the surgeon decides eligibility after an assessment.
3. The procedure explained simply, and the other options, including non-surgical ones.
4. Your method in phases, for example: Assess, Prepare, Operate, Rebuild.
5. What happens in the first year: food stages, dietitian reviews, follow-ups.
6. The honest risks, written plainly.
7. How pricing works, what the plan includes, and that EMI and insurance help are available.
8. Your proof: surgeon credentials, procedures performed, team, theatre and reviews.
9. Eight to ten questions and answers.
10. Click to call, WhatsApp and a short form.

Keep the form short but useful. Ask the city, the procedure they are interested in, whether they have health insurance, and when they hope to start. Leave the medical questions for the call, where a trained person can ask them gently.

Remember too that Google restricts personalised advertising based on health. You cannot chase page visitors around the internet. You win this channel on keywords, pages and the phone.

What should a treated bariatric patient cost on Google?

Cost per click means very little here. Cost per lead means a little more. Cost per surgery patient is the only number that tells you whether the account works.

Example: Two campaigns each spend ₹75,000 in a month. The "cost" campaign brings 100 leads at ₹750 each. 3 go ahead with surgery. That is ₹25,000 per surgery patient. The "surgeon near me" campaign brings 50 leads at ₹1,500 each. 5 go ahead. That is ₹15,000 per surgery patient. The expensive leads were the cheaper patients.

Compare that with the benchmark of 10 to 20% of first-year value. If a year of care is worth ₹3,00,000 to you, anything up to about ₹30,000 to ₹60,000 per surgery patient can be healthy. Bariatric decisions are slow, so look at a rolling three months, not one week.

To do this, you need tracking. Count calls, forms and WhatsApp clicks as conversions. Then send back to Google which leads booked, showed up and had surgery, so it learns what a real patient looks like for you.

How do you run the account week to week?

Target where patients really come from. Bariatric patients travel for a surgeon they trust. Cover your city plus the districts that already send you cases. Your CRM will tell you which ones.

Match the schedule to the phone. Run ads when someone can answer. A bariatric lead who calls and hears an IVR loop at 9 pm has another surgeon's ad on the same screen.

Use the extras. Call buttons, your location, links to the cost page and the insurance page.

Change one thing at a time. Don't switch on automated bidding on day one. Wait until you have a steady flow of tracked conversions every month.

Hand leads over in minutes. The first human contact should happen within five minutes during working hours. The best ad in your account is wasted on a front desk that calls back tomorrow.

If you want us to look at your account, our patient acquisition team does this audit every week, and our bariatric surgery page shows how we work in the speciality. The call handling side lives in conversion systems, and the full Google method is in Known Doctors Get Booked.

The short version

• One campaign per procedure, ad groups by intent, exact and phrase match first.
• Build a long negative list before launch: diets, pills, injections, yoga, jobs, courses, free.
• Every ad lands on a matching procedure page with honest risks, the plan and the price approach.
• Never advertise prescription drugs, and expect no remarketing for health.
• Judge everything by cost per surgery patient over a rolling three months.