A patient picks an OB-GYN at a handful of moments: a first gynecology visit, a positive pregnancy test, a move to a new city, the first hot flash. OB-GYN marketing works when your practice is easy to find and easy to judge at each of those moments, with the delivery hospital, insurance, clinicians and new-patient status in plain view. It also has to work inside some of the strictest privacy and ad rules in medicine. This guide organizes the plan by life stage and puts those rules in the middle of it, not in a footnote.
How patients search for an OB-GYN (real data)
These are the searches patients run in the US each month, with the average cost of one Google Ads click.
| Search (US, monthly) | Volume | Avg. CPC | Top-of-page bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| obgyn near me | 301,000 | $5.25 | $1.99–$7.84 |
| fertility clinic near me | 60,500 | $14.66 | $3.35–$20.26 |
| egg freezing cost | 8,100 | $10.05 | |
| prenatal care near me | 4,400 | $6.46 | |
| iud insertion near me | 1,300 | $8.26 | |
| obgyn accepting new patients | 590 | $7.06 |
Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026.
Four phrases you might expect in this table returned no data in our pull: "gynecologist near me", "pap smear near me", "ivf cost" and "menopause doctor near me". No data means no reported figure, not zero demand; check your own Search Console before building campaigns around them.
What the numbers say:
- The generic search is the giant. "obgyn near me" draws about 301,000 searches a month. It's a local search, so your Google Business Profile and your website compete for it together.
- Fertility clicks cost almost three times as much. "fertility clinic near me" averages $14.66 a click against $5.25 for the generic search, with top bids reaching $20.26.
- People price-check before they call. "egg freezing cost" draws 8,100 searches at $10.05.
- Small service searches signal intent. "iud insertion near me" (1,300, $8.26) and "obgyn accepting new patients" (590, $7.06) come from people ready to book. A clear service page and a visible new-patient status answer both without ad spend.
Run a free marketing audit to see how your listing, website and AI visibility hold up against these searches; it scores six areas and lists your top five fixes.
Marketing by life stage: adolescence to menopause
An OB-GYN practice can care for a patient for 40 years, but patients choose one at transitions, and each transition asks a different question.
| Life stage | The decision | What they look for | Where they look |
|---|---|---|---|
| First visit (teens) | Whether and where to go, often with a parent | Who sees teens, what happens at a first visit, how confidentiality works | A parent's OB-GYN, the pediatrician, Google |
| Contraception and routine care | A clinician for birth control, IUDs and screenings | Methods offered, insurance, how soon they can be seen | Google, friends, insurer directories |
| Pregnancy | An obstetric practice and a delivery hospital | Hospitals, call coverage, midwives, insurance | Google, friends, the hospital, AI assistants |
| Postpartum | Care after delivery | Postpartum visits, feeding support, mental health referrals | Your own practice, if you tell them |
| Perimenopause and menopause | A clinician who takes symptoms seriously | A menopause page, named clinicians, treatment options | Google, AI assistants, friends |
Teens. Say plainly how you handle teen confidentiality. Under HIPAA, a parent is usually the minor's personal representative, but 45 CFR 164.502(g) (opens in a new tab) carves out care a minor can consent to under state law and leaves parental access to state law. Because that varies by state, write your policy with your counsel and publish the version patients and parents can understand.
Postpartum. The patient is already yours. Marketing here is information: when the postpartum visit happens, who to call with feeding or mood concerns, and which partners you work with.
Menopause. MedlinePlus notes that the transition, perimenopause (opens in a new tab), usually starts in the 40s and that menopause most often arrives between about 45 and 55. Many already see you for annual visits; tell them you treat it before they look elsewhere.
Obstetrics: delivery hospitals, midwives and prenatal care
An expecting patient's first question is often about the hospital, not about you. If their insurer, friends or birth plan point to one hospital, they look for practices that deliver there. Answer it on your homepage and prenatal page.
Cover four things:
- Every delivering hospital, with a link to the hospital's own maternity pages for tours and services.
- Call coverage, in plain words. Patients ask "who delivers my baby?" Explain how many clinicians share call and whether patients meet each of them during prenatal care.
- Midwives. If certified nurse-midwives practice with you, give each a profile and explain how midwife and physician care fit together.
- The first prenatal visit. MedlinePlus describes prenatal care as "the health care you get while you are pregnant" (opens in a new tab). Tell new patients when to call after a positive test, what the first visit includes and which insurance you accept. "prenatal care near me" draws 4,400 searches a month at $6.46 a click, so this page earns its keep.
Expecting parents also need a pediatrician. The American Academy of Pediatrics' parent site tells them to gather names from trusted parents or their obstetrician (opens in a new tab) and to interview pediatricians in the final months of pregnancy. A short list of pediatric practices you refer to, kept current, helps your patients and builds a referral relationship that runs both ways.
Gynecology services patients look for
Gynecology is where most long-term patients start. Give each service its own page, in the words patients use:
- Well visits and cervical screening. Use the patient's term, "Pap smear", alongside "cervical cancer screening".
- Contraception. One page per method you offer, starting with IUDs. "iud insertion near me" draws 1,300 searches a month at $8.26 a click; the page should say which devices you place, how scheduling works and how insurance typically handles it at your practice.
- Conditions. Abnormal bleeding, pelvic pain, endometriosis, fibroids and PCOS each deserve a page that explains the condition and what an evaluation at your practice involves.
- Procedures. Office procedures and surgery, with who performs them and where.
- New-patient status. Show which clinicians are accepting new gynecology patients.
Draft clinical explanations from ACOG's patient FAQs and MedlinePlus, have a clinician review every page, and don't promise outcomes.
Fertility: when to market and when to refer
Fertility searches are large and expensive: 60,500 a month for "fertility clinic near me" at $14.66 a click, and 8,100 for "egg freezing cost" at $10.05. Before you spend on them, decide which lane you're in.
- A general OB-GYN practice often handles the first evaluation. MedlinePlus defines infertility (opens in a new tab) as not becoming pregnant after a year or more of frequent, unprotected sex, or after six months for women 35 and older. Market that first evaluation and your referral pathway, not IVF.
- A practice with a reproductive endocrinologist and a lab can compete for the IVF and egg-freezing searches, with cost pages, success-rate reporting done properly and long-form education.
Paying $14.66 a click for patients you'll refer away rarely makes sense. Our guide to fertility marketing covers success-rate claims, cost pages and the privacy limits in detail.
Reproductive-health privacy and ad-policy rules
Reproductive health sits where HIPAA, FTC law, state privacy law and ad policy overlap. Here is where each stood on October 22, 2026.
The 2024 HIPAA reproductive-health rule
HHS published the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy on April 26, 2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 32976), effective June 25, 2024. On June 18, 2025, the federal district court in Amarillo, Texas, in Purl v. HHS (opens in a new tab), vacated the rule's changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The court let most of the rule's updates to the Notice of Privacy Practices requirements (45 CFR 164.520) stand, while vacating three paragraphs of them. HHS's website blocked our automated check, so confirm HHS's current notice with your privacy officer.
The vacatur doesn't loosen the base rules. Reproductive-health information about your patients is still protected health information, and using it for marketing still requires the patient's written authorization.
Tracking pixels and analytics
HHS's Office for Civil Rights issued a bulletin in December 2022, revised March 18, 2024, warning that tracking technologies on health websites can disclose protected health information to vendors. On June 20, 2024, in American Hospital Association v. Becerra (opens in a new tab), a federal court vacated one part: treating an IP address plus a visit to a public page about a health condition or provider as protected information. The court said the vacatur doesn't limit the rest of the bulletin, so portals, appointment requests and forms remain the risk zone. Our guide to tracking pixels and HIPAA covers the safe setup.
The FTC adds its own layer. Its guidance for health businesses (opens in a new tab) says the FTC Act applies to HIPAA-covered entities too, and cites its BetterHelp, GoodRx and Premom cases, Premom being a fertility app, as examples where sharing health information for advertising without affirmative express consent may be unfair.
State consumer-health-data laws
Washington's My Health My Data Act (opens in a new tab) treats reproductive or sexual health information as consumer health data. It requires consent to collect it and separate consent to share it, and it bans geofences within 2,000 feet of an in-person health care facility used to track visitors or send them ads. Its exemption covers HIPAA-protected information, not the practice as a whole, so website data outside HIPAA can still be covered. Check whether your state has a similar law.
Google and Meta ad rules
- Google: advertisers in the US, UK and Ireland must be certified (opens in a new tab) as providing or not providing abortions before running ads on abortion-related queries. Google then adds "Provides abortions" or "Does not provide abortions" to the ad, and abortion ads (opens in a new tab) don't run on the Display Network. Health and birth control are sensitive categories (opens in a new tab), so remarketing, customer match and lookalike audiences aren't available for those ads.
- Meta: ads must not assert or imply personal attributes (opens in a new tab), including physical health and medical conditions. The policy doesn't name pregnancy, but copy such as "Are you pregnant?" addresses the reader's health directly, which is the pattern the policy's examples prohibit. Meta's health and wellness policy (opens in a new tab) requires sexual and reproductive health ads, including family planning clinics and IVF, to target people 18 or older, and Meta removed many health-related targeting options (opens in a new tab) on January 19, 2022.
For the full platform picture, see our guide to healthcare advertising rules.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor.
Your website and Google listing, kept private
Your website persuades; your Google Business Profile gets you found. Both can leak more than you intend.
On the website:
- One page per service, plus a delivery-hospital page, clinician profiles and a current list of insurance plans.
- No ad pixels, session-replay scripts or chat tools without a BAA on pages with forms, appointment requests, portal links or pregnancy, fertility and abortion-related content.
- HIPAA-compliant forms, and conversions counted in first-party analytics rather than sent to ad platforms.
On Google:
- Name, address, phone and hours identical to your website, with your after-hours line stated clearly.
- Services in patient language, and photos of your office and team, never patients.
- Review replies that never confirm someone is a patient. Thanking a reviewer "for trusting us with your delivery" confirms a pregnancy in public.
OB-GYN marketing guides in this hub
- OB-GYN advertising: which services to advertise, real click costs and copy that stays within Google and Meta rules.
- OB-GYN websites: the page plan, delivery-hospital and on-call details, and analytics that don't expose reproductive data.
- Vetting an OB-GYN marketing agency: privacy and ad-policy questions to ask first, then reporting and ownership.
- Fertility marketing: IVF and egg-freezing demand, success-rate claims, cost pages and privacy.
- OB-GYN marketing ideas: 25 ideas organized by life stage and referral partner.
- AI marketing for OB-GYNs: how AI assistants answer patients and which AI tools are safe with patient data.
- Social media for OB-GYNs: what to post, baby-photo consent and Meta's targeting limits.
What Medfy does for an OB-GYN practice
Medfy is AI marketing software for independent medical practices in the US and Canada, built HIPAA-compliant by design. The base plan is $349/month and includes:
- Website: your site rebuilt and hosted on your own domain, with a page per service (prenatal care, each contraception method, each gynecology condition, menopause care), structured data and HIPAA-compliant forms, plus 500 AI credits a month for edits asked for in plain English.
- Automated SEO: researched articles every week, drafted from MedlinePlus and PubMed, which you approve or set to auto-publish; local pages and technical fixes.
- AI visibility tracking: every week Medfy asks ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions patients ask, and shows whether they name your practice and who they recommend instead.
- Website analytics: first-party analytics for calls, forms, bookings, directions and visits from AI assistants.
- Google reporting, an AI CMO dashboard and a patient CRM and inbox, access-controlled.
Patient information is stored in separate, encrypted HIPAA databases in the US or Canada, Medfy signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with your practice before any patient data flows, and ad platforms never receive patient data. Optional add-ons: Google Ads management ($199/month), Meta ads + AI creatives ($199/month) and a HIPAA AI chat widget ($49/month). Ad spend is paid directly to Google and Meta, never marked up, and billing is monthly; you can cancel anytime.
Medfy doesn't post to social media, send email or text campaigns, run review requests, provide scheduling software or answer phones. See pricing for the full plan.
Frequently asked questions
How do OB-GYN practices attract new patients?
Be easy to choose at the moments patients decide: a first visit, a pregnancy, a move, menopause. Keep your Google Business Profile complete, publish a page per service, list delivery hospitals and insurance, show which clinicians are accepting new patients, and build referral ties with pediatricians, primary care and doulas. Paid search can add volume for prenatal care and IUD visits. Measure booked visits, not clicks.
Can OB-GYNs use Facebook ads for pregnancy care?
Yes, within Meta's rules. An ad can describe your prenatal care and delivery hospital, but it must not assert or imply that the viewer is pregnant, and Meta requires sexual and reproductive health ads to target people 18 or older. Meta removed many health-related detailed targeting options in January 2022, so target by location and age. Keep the Meta pixel off pregnancy-related pages and forms.
What privacy rules apply to reproductive-health marketing?
HIPAA applies to your patient information, and marketing uses of it need written authorization. A federal court vacated most of HHS's 2024 reproductive-health privacy rule in June 2025, but HHS's tracking-technology guidance still flags pixels on portals and forms. State laws such as Washington's My Health My Data Act add consent rules, and Google and Meta restrict abortion, health and personal-attribute ads. Confirm details with a qualified advisor.
Should an OB-GYN website list delivery hospitals?
Yes. For many expecting patients, the hospital decides the practice. List every hospital where your clinicians deliver, explain how call coverage works and who may attend the birth, and link to each hospital's own maternity pages for tours and services. Update the page the week privileges change, because an outdated hospital list sends patients to the wrong place and generates confused phone calls.
How do we market menopause care?
Treat it as its own service line. Publish a menopause page that explains symptoms and treatment options in plain language, sourced from ACOG and MedlinePlus and reviewed by a clinician. Name the clinicians who focus on it, and tell existing patients in their 40s and 50s that you treat it. Answer specific questions such as sleep or hot flashes, and avoid ad copy that implies the viewer has symptoms.