PPC for med spas pays off when every campaign maps to one treatment, one service area and one landing page, and when the account stays inside Google's rules on prescription drug names. This guide shows which searches to buy, what they cost, how to structure campaigns, which drug terms you can't bid on without certification, a negative-keyword starter list, and how to track consults without sending client information to Google.
Which med spa searches convert on Google
Google search ads catch people at the moment they look for a treatment. Searches tend to fall into three groups:
- Ready to book: treatment plus "near me" or your city ("lip filler near me", "laser hair removal Austin"). Bid here first.
- Comparing price: "botox cost", "hydrafacial price". Valuable if your landing page shows prices; wasteful if it doesn't.
- Researching: "what is microneedling", "morpheus8 before and after". Better served by your website content than by paid clicks.
Pick the treatments you most want to fill. A laser with empty afternoons and a full injector schedule call for very different campaigns. For how Google fits with Meta, creators and local channels, see med spa ad channels, and for the broader plan, the med spa marketing hub.
Real click costs by treatment
| Search (US) | Monthly volume | Avg. CPC |
|---|---|---|
| laser hair removal near me | 110,000 | $16.94 |
| lip filler near me | 74,000 | $8.26 |
| microneedling near me | 60,500 | $6.13 |
| coolsculpting near me | 18,100 | $10.10 |
| botox cost | 12,100 | $8.30 |
| semaglutide near me | 8,100 | $30.19 |
Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026.
Hypothetical arithmetic: What 100 clicks a month costs at those averages: laser hair removal $1,694; CoolSculpting $1,010; botox cost $830; lip filler $826; microneedling $613; semaglutide $3,019. Your market can be well above or below average, so treat these as starting estimates.
Two rows carry policy limits. "Botox cost" and "semaglutide near me" both contain prescription drug names, covered below.
Campaigns by treatment and location
Follow these steps to set up an account you can read at a glance.
- One campaign per treatment group (lasers, injectables, skin, body, weight), each with its own budget.
- One ad group per treatment inside it ("laser hair removal", "laser resurfacing"), with tightly themed keywords in exact and phrase match.
- Set location to the radius your clients actually travel, and exclude areas you don't serve.
- Schedule ads for hours someone can answer the phone or the consult form promptly.
- Write three or more responsive search ads per ad group, each naming the treatment, the provider type and one proof point (price, credentials, membership).
- Point each ad group at its treatment page, never the homepage.
- Add the negative list below before launch.
- Review search terms weekly for the first two months.
Laser hair removal deserves the most structure because of its volume and season; see laser hair removal campaigns. Our guide to Google Ads for practices covers bidding and account basics.
Restricted drug terms: neurotoxins and GLP-1s
Google's Healthcare and medicines policy (opens in a new tab) restricts prescription drug terms in ads, landing pages and keywords. After the October 2025 update (opens in a new tab), enforced from October 29, 2025, the Restricted drug terms (opens in a new tab) page says advertisers targeting the US or Canada:
- may use prescription drug terms for promotion in ads and landing pages, in line with local laws, without certification;
- must be certified to keyword-target those terms;
- need certification regardless if they are online pharmacies, telemedicine providers or pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Google's list of monitored drug terms (opens in a new tab), checked October 22, 2026, includes Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, semaglutide, Ozempic, Wegovy, tirzepatide, Mounjaro, Zepbound, Latisse and tretinoin. The pages don't describe a certification category for clinics that administer drugs in person, so confirm eligibility with Google before adding "botox" or "semaglutide" keywords.
Practical consequences:
- Neurotoxins: bid on treatment terms ("frown line treatment", "forehead wrinkle treatment", "anti-wrinkle injections near me"); name the brand in ad text and on the page where allowed.
- GLP-1 programs: in the US, Google allows telemedicine providers only with LegitScript accreditation and Google certification. Google also bans products containing hCG for weight loss under its unapproved substances rules.
- Compounded drugs: the FDA says compounded GLP-1s are not FDA approved (opens in a new tab), and a February 2026 warning letter (opens in a new tab) cited "same ingredients as Ozempic and Wegovy" claims as misleading.
Read GLP-1 advertising rules before launching a weight-loss campaign.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor.
Negative keywords for med spa accounts
Start with this list and add from your search-terms report each week.
| Theme | Starter negatives |
|---|---|
| At-home devices | at home, home device, handheld, ipl device, laser device, machine, kit |
| DIY | diy, yourself, homemade, tutorial, how to do |
| Jobs, training, certification | jobs, hiring, career, salary, training, course, class, school, certification, license, ceu |
| Wholesale and product | wholesale, supplier, buy, for sale, distributor, vial, cartridge, tips, serum (if you don't sell it) |
| Other businesses | franchise, for sale business, groupon (if you don't run deals) |
| Unwanted intent | lawsuit, recall, gone wrong |
Be careful with "cost" and "price." People searching "botox cost" are comparing prices, so keep price terms if your page shows them and add them as negatives if it doesn't.
Landing pages and conversion tracking without PHI
A landing page for each treatment should show the provider and supervision, a starting price, typical results, sessions and downtime, consented photos, and a short consult form or booking button.
Tracking needs care. HHS's guidance on tracking technologies (opens in a new tab) says HIPAA-regulated entities may not disclose protected health information to tracking vendors without a permitted basis, and that cookie banners don't authorize such disclosures. A federal court vacated part of it on June 20, 2024, for public pages where only an IP address ties a visit to a condition; HHS says it is evaluating next steps. Whatever your status:
- Don't place Google Ads tags on consult or intake forms that capture health details.
- Don't send form contents, emails or phone numbers from consult forms to Google, even hashed, unless your counsel has approved it.
- Count consult requests in first-party analytics and report totals by campaign.
- Avoid audience lists built from client data. Google's personalized advertising policy (opens in a new tab) lists health as a sensitive category, and ads in sensitive categories can't use advertiser-curated audiences such as Customer Match.
Common mistakes
- One "med spa" campaign bidding on every treatment at once.
- Drug-name keywords in an uncertified account.
- Broad match with no negatives, buying "laser hair removal device" clicks.
- Homepage landing pages.
- Conversion tags on forms.
Managing it yourself vs Medfy's Google Ads add-on
Running it yourself works if someone on your team can spend a few hours a week on search terms, negatives, budgets and ad copy, and knows the rules above. If not, the account drifts.
Medfy's Google Ads management add-on costs $199/month. It reviews search terms daily and adds negative keywords, paces budget against a monthly ceiling you control, and suggests ad copy checked against healthcare policy. It optimizes inside guardrails you set: you choose suggest-only or auto-apply for safe changes, budget increases wait for your approval, daily changes are capped, and every change is logged and reversible. Ad spend is paid directly to Google, never marked up. It doesn't provide Google's drug-term certification, and no one can promise a set number of bookings. See Google Ads add-on pricing, or audit your Google Ads for free first.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a med spa spend on Google Ads?
Work back from the clicks a treatment needs. At the average 'laser hair removal near me' click of $16.94, 100 clicks cost about $1,694 a month; at $8.26 for 'lip filler near me,' about $826 (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026). Fund one or two treatments with open capacity first, track booked consults for 60 days, then adjust.
Can med spas advertise semaglutide on Google?
Partly. Since Google's October 2025 update, US and Canadian advertisers may mention prescription drugs such as semaglutide in ads and on landing pages without certification, in line with local law, but must be certified to bid on those terms as keywords. Telemedicine providers and online pharmacies need LegitScript accreditation and Google certification. Claims about compounded versions must not suggest FDA approval.
Is Google Ads or Facebook better for med spas?
They do different jobs. Google Ads reaches people already searching for a treatment near them, so it suits high-demand treatments like laser hair removal and lip filler. Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram create interest with images and offers, so they suit launches, memberships and visual results. Running both, split by treatment, lets you judge each on the consults it books.