The Healthcare Marketer's Playbook for Navigating Ad Platform Compliance

I see this all the time. A healthcare or wellness practice tries to run ads on Google or Meta, gets a string of rejections for "violating policy," and assumes it's because they used a word like "pain" or "treatment." They then spend weeks trying to guess the magic combination of words that will get past the bots, burning money and getting nowhere.

Here's the brutal truth: the problem isn't your ad copy. It's your entire approach. The platforms aren't just policing keywords; they're policing the user experience. They are terrified of being seen as conduits for misleading, predatory, or untrustworthy health advice. If your landing page and offer don't scream "credible, professional, and safe," your ads will be rejected no matter how carefully you word them. The fix is often less about what you say in the ad and more about what you do on your site.

So, Why Are Your Ads *Really* Being Shut Down?

Forget the keyword whack-a-mole. The algorithm's rejection is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is a fundamental lack of trust. When a manual reviewer (or a sophisticated bot) lands on your site from an ad, they have a mental checklist they're running through in seconds. Your job is to tick every single box, leaving them with no doubt about your legitimacy.

Think about it from their perspective. They see thousands of ads a day, many from dodgy operators promising miracle cures. Your perfectly legitimate practice is getting caught in the same net. This is why just having a decent-looking website isn't enough. It has to be engineered for trust from the ground up. This is a common issue for many businesses, and its one of the main reasons even businesses in a city like London find their ads getting rejected without understanding the root cause.

Your landing page must immediately answer these questions:

• -> Who are these people? (Clear branding, photos of real staff/practitioners)
• -> Are they qualified? (Visible credentials, certifications, 'about us' section)
* -> Can I trust them? (Patient testimonials, case studies, professional design)
• -> How do I contact them? (Obvious phone number, physical address, email)
• -> What are they promising? (Realistic claims, no "guarantees" or "cures")

If any of these are missing or hard to find, you're raising a red flag. It signals you might be hiding something, even if you're not. We had to completely overhaul the landing pages for a digital veterinary service for this exact reason. We found that until we made the vets' credentials and real patient reviews front and centre, the CPL was far too high. Fixing this was a big part of getting their PPC campaigns ready to scale.

Delete Your "Book a Consultation" Button

Now for the second biggest mistake I see. Let's say you get your landing page right and your ads are finally approved. You're now asking a complete stranger, who saw your ad 30 seconds ago, to commit to a "Free Consultation" or "Book an Appointment." This is an incredibly high-friction ask.

It presumes your prospect has already decided you're the one they want to talk to. They haven't. They are still sceptical. The "Book a Demo" button is arrogant in SaaS, and its cousin "Book a Consultation" is just as bad in healthcare. It screams "I want to sell you something." Your offer's only job at this stage is to provide undeniable value and prove your expertise, for free, with no strings attached.

You must solve a small, real problem for them *right now* to earn the right to solve their bigger problem later. What does this look like in practice?

• Chiropractor? Don't offer a free consultation. Offer a "Free 5-Minute Guide to Improving Your Desk Posture." This gives them immediate value and positions you as an expert. We've seen practices struggle because their leads for things like back pain don't convert, and it's almost always because the initial offer felt too much like a hard sell.
• Dental Practice offering implants? Instead of "Book a Free Implant Consult," offer an "Online Implant Candidacy Quiz." It's less intimidating and gives the user personalised information.
• Mental Health Clinic? Offer a "Downloadable Guide to Choosing the Right Therapist" or a short, anonymous stress assessment tool.

This approach transforms you from a vendor into a trusted advisor. You're giving before you ask. This is the core of a modern paid ads strategy for any healthcare startup. It builds an audience that trusts you, so when they *are* ready to book, you're the only one they'll think of.

How to Target Compliantly on Google and Meta

Once your landing page and offer are solid, you can finally think about targeting. And here again, most people get it wrong. They try to target the condition, which is a direct path to rejection.

Google Ads: The Power of Intent

On Google, you have a massive advantage: user intent. You don't have to find people; they are actively looking for you. The key is to target keywords that show commercial or local intent, not just informational queries.

• Bad Keyword: "lower back pain relief" - This is too broad. The user could be looking for exercises, articles, or products. It's an informational search.
• Good Keyword: "chiropractor near me for back pain" - This user has a problem and is actively seeking a local, professional solution. They are pre-qualified.

Where people get into trouble is with Display and Performance Max campaigns, which can show your ads on websites and apps across the internet. Google is extremely cautious about this. You can't just upload an audience list of people with a specific condition. Instead, you have to use safer "audience signals." For a dental implant practice, you wouldn't target "people who need tooth replacement." You would target people who have recently visited websites about general dentistry, cosmetic procedures, or financial planning for large expenses. It's about finding proxies for your ideal patient, and it's a delicate balance to run these display campaigns for sensitive services without getting banned.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram): Targeting Problems, Not People

Meta is the opposite of Google. Nobody is on Instagram looking for a new dentist. You have to interrupt them with a compelling message. Since you can't target "people with diabetes," you must target the *lifestyle and interests* associated with your ideal patient.

For a service helping people manage diabetes, you could target interests like:

• -> Pages of well-known health food brands
• -> Followers of fitness influencers who focus on low-impact exercise
• -> People interested in "meal prepping" or "healthy recipes"
• -> Users who engage with community groups for active seniors

You're not targeting the condition; you're targeting a persona. Your ad then calls out a problem they'll resonate with ("Tired of guessing what to eat? Get our free 7-day meal plan..."). Only those for whom the problem is relevant will click. This is how you pre-qualify them. Forgetting this is a common reason why, even with policy changes, some advertisers find their healthcare ad conversions suddenly drop off a cliff. They haven't adapted their targeting strategy.

How Much Should a New Patient *Really* Cost?

The conversation around ad spend in healthcare is almost always broken. Practices ask, "What's a good Cost Per Lead?" This is the wrong question. It leads to chasing cheap, low-quality leads from broad campaigns that never convert into actual patients. A lead is worthless if they don't show up or start a treatment plan.

The right question is: "How high a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) can I afford for a high-value patient?" The answer is in your Patient Lifetime Value (LTV). Once you know what a patient is worth to your practice over months or years, you can work backwards to determine a sane advertising budget.

Most practices have no idea what their LTV is. Let's calculate it. You need three numbers:

1. Average Revenue Per Patient (ARPP) per month: The total revenue from a patient, averaged out monthly.
2. Gross Margin %: Your profit on that revenue after direct costs.
3. Monthly Patient Churn Rate %: The percentage of patients you lose each month.

The formula is: LTV = (ARPP * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate %

This simple calculation changes everything. It moves you from a cost-mindset to an investment-mindset. Use the calculator below to get a rough idea for your own practice.

Putting It All Together: Your New Playbook

Navigating healthcare advertising compliance isn't about finding loopholes. It's about fundamentally shifting your perspective from "How do I sell?" to "How do I help and build trust?" When you make that shift, compliance becomes a natural outcome of good marketing, not an obstacle to overcome.

This is a lot to take in, I know. It's a very different way of thinking than what most marketing companies will tell you. Many are happy to take your money and run basic campaigns that are doomed to fail in the regulated health space. If you're serious about growing your practice, you often need a partner who understands these nuances. When looking for help, you need to be rigorous. Does the agency have real case studies in healthcare? I remember one client, a medical job matching platform, came to us with a CPA of over £100. By restructuring their funnel and targeting, we got it down to £7. That's the kind of specialist experience you should be looking for. When you're trying to find a reputable ad agency, that's the sort of proof you should be demanding.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Getting this right requires a specialised skill set. It's a blend of direct response marketing, a deep understanding of platform policies, and a strategic mindset. If you've been struggling with ad rejections or poor results, it might be time to get some expert help. We've worked with numerous startups and established practices in the health, wellness, and medical spaces, helping them build compliant, scalable patient acquisition funnels.

If you'd like an experienced pair of eyes on your strategy and a no-nonsense assessment of what's going wrong, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We'll go through your campaigns and landing pages and give you actionable advice you can implement right away. Feel free to get in touch to schedule a call.