Most lists of free marketing tools for small business are generic roundups. These are healthcare marketing tools built for independent medical practices, and each one answers a single question a practice owner actually asks: how does our website score on a phone, do AI assistants name us, what would Google Ads cost for our specialty, will this ad get disapproved. All eleven run in your browser, none asks for an email, and none asks for patient information.
What each free marketing tool answers
| Tool | The question it answers | What you enter |
|---|---|---|
| Website grader | How does my site score on a phone, and what should I fix first? | Your website address |
| Schema markup generator | What structured data should my practice's site carry? | Practice details and hours |
| AI visibility checker | Do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google name us? | Practice name, city, specialty |
| Google review QR code | How do patients get to our review box from the front desk? | Place ID or review link |
| Google review link generator | What's our direct review link for emails and the website? | Place ID or review link |
| Google Ads budget calculator | What would a monthly budget buy in our specialty? | Specialty, budget, your rates |
| Marketing budget calculator | How much should we spend to hit our new-patient goal? | Goal, open slots, costs |
| Marketing ROI calculator | What do we get back per marketing dollar? | Cost and new patients by channel |
| Cost per acquisition calculator | What does each new patient really cost, after no-shows? | Spend, fees, leads, bookings |
| Google Business Profile audit | Does our listing follow Google's rules and cover the basics? | Your answers to 13 checks |
| Healthcare ad copy checker | Will this wording break a Google, Meta or FTC rule? | Draft ad text |
Some of these questions are asked far more than others. Every month in the US, "google review qr code" gets 2,400 searches, "website grader" 1,300, "google review link generator" 1,000, "schema markup generator" 1,000, "ai visibility checker" 260, "marketing roi calculator" 260 and "free marketing tools" 140 (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026).
Three rules apply to all of them. Every tool page states that no patient information is entered or stored. What you type stays in your browser, except where a tool has to ask an outside service: the website grader sends your address to Google's PageSpeed Insights, and the AI visibility checker opens questions in the assistants you click. And Medfy's site analytics record only that a tool produced a result, never what you entered.
Website and search: website grader and schema generator
The website grader runs Google's Lighthouse test through PageSpeed Insights (opens in a new tab) on a simulated mid-tier phone, then turns it into one 0–100 grade: speed counts 40%, search basics 25%, accessibility 20% and best practices 15%. Underneath, it rates Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, Total Blocking Time and First Contentful Paint against Google's thresholds, runs ten practice checks (HTTPS, tap targets, noindex, titles and others), and lists any third-party tracking scripts the test saw. That last panel matters for HIPAA: pixels on pages that collect or reveal health information can disclose protected health information.
It tests one page at a time. It doesn't check whether you have a page per service, which form provider you use, or whether click-to-call works; those are hand checks, or part of the full audit.
The schema markup generator writes JSON-LD for six practice types: MedicalClinic, Physician, Dentist, Optician, Physiotherapy and the general MedicalBusiness for med spas, chiropractic and therapy practices. It covers address, hours, phone, practitioners and whether you're accepting new patients, warns about missing required fields, and links to Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator.
Structured data states facts; it doesn't buy rankings. FAQ rich results, for one, no longer appear: Google's changelog (opens in a new tab) says the feature stopped showing in Search on May 7, 2026.
AI visibility: is your practice named by AI assistants?
The AI visibility checker writes five questions a patient would ask about your specialty and city, such as "Who is the best pediatrician in Columbus, OH?" and "Recommend a pediatric practice in Columbus, OH that is accepting new patients." One click opens each in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Google AI Mode, and Gemini works by copy and paste. You read each answer, mark whether your practice was named, and the page tallies your share.
It's a guided manual check, and it measures AI visibility only; it isn't an SEO audit. Use a private window and stay signed out, because answers vary by model, location, time and sign-in. Note who gets named instead and which sources are cited. Access matters too: OpenAI says sites that opt out of its search crawler "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." (opens in a new tab)
A one-off check is a snapshot. Medfy's plan asks ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions patients ask every week, and shows whether they name you, who they recommend instead and how that changes.
Reviews: Google review link and QR code
Both review tools share one engine. Paste your Place ID (from Google's Place ID finder) or the review link from your Business Profile, and you get the direct link that opens the review box, with copy and test buttons. The QR code version adds PNG and SVG downloads and a printable 4×6-inch counter card. Neither looks up your practice by name, so find the ID or link first.
The tools also restate the rule that matters most: ask every patient, the same way. Google's content policy (opens in a new tab) bars incentives for reviews and any attempt to "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers." The FTC's reviews rule bans incentives tied to a positive or negative sentiment, and its Q&A (opens in a new tab) warns that asking only happy customers "could violate the FTC Act." Medfy doesn't send review requests; these tools help you set up your own.
Budgets: Google Ads, marketing budget, ROI and cost per acquisition
The four calculators answer different questions, in this order:
| Calculator | Use it when | It gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads budget | Before you spend | Clicks, inquiries, new patients and cost per patient for a budget |
| Marketing budget | Planning the year or quarter | A monthly budget from your goal, capacity and costs |
| Cost per acquisition | After a month of results | Cost per lead, per booking and per patient seen |
| Marketing ROI | Deciding what to keep | ROI, cost per new patient and payback months |
Only the Google Ads calculator carries market data: average cost per click for patient searches in 21 specialty groups, from $3.79 for "urgent care near me" to $38.76 for "dental implants near me" (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026). Every figure is editable. For the full tables, see our healthcare marketing benchmarks.
None of the calculators assumes an industry conversion rate, patient value or "percent of revenue" rule. Those numbers differ too much between a pediatric practice and a plastic surgery practice to borrow. Percent of revenue appears only as an output of the budget calculator.
Google Business Profile audit
The profile audit is a self-check. You open your practice's public profile in another tab and answer 13 items in four groups: basics (name, primary category, address and phone, website link, hours), content (services, description, photos, booking link), reviews (recent volume and privacy-safe replies) and listings (duplicates, practitioner listings, ownership). Each item is weighted by impact, from 12 points for the primary category to 4 for the description, and the result is a 0–100 score with fixes in priority order.
It measures how closely your profile follows Google's guidelines, not where you'll rank. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." (opens in a new tab) Our Google Business Profile guide covers each fix in depth.
Ad copy checker for healthcare policies
Paste a draft ad, choose Google, Meta or both, and the checker flags wording that commonly gets health ads disapproved: copy that implies the viewer has a condition, which Meta's personal attributes policy (opens in a new tab) bars; prescription-drug and injectable brand names, which Google restricts (opens in a new tab); addiction-treatment terms that need certification; third-party trademarks; promises of results and specific weight-loss claims; testimonial and rating claims; and editorial problems such as all-caps and repeated punctuation.
Each flag shows the matched words, the reason, a suggested rewrite and links to the policy pages. It's a pre-flight check. It can't see images, landing pages or targeting, and platform reviewers make the final call.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor.
How the free marketing audit combines them
The tools answer one question each, with you doing the looking. The free marketing audit does the looking for you, from public information only. It scores six areas from 0 to 100 (website, SEO, Google listing, AI visibility, social and ads), gives an overall score and lists your top five fixes.
| Audit area | Related free tools |
|---|---|
| Website and SEO | Website grader, schema markup generator |
| Google listing | Google Business Profile audit, review link and QR code |
| AI visibility | AI visibility checker |
| Ads | Google Ads budget calculator, ad copy checker |
| Social | None; the audit covers it |
Two parts go further than the tools. The audit's AI visibility check asks Claude and Gemini, with live web search, whether they name your practice, and checks that the crawlers behind ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini can read your site. Its ads check flags privacy risks such as pixels on patient forms. The ROI, budget and cost-per-acquisition calculators stay separate, because they need numbers only you have.
After the audit, Medfy can show you a free preview of your rebuilt website before you pay. The base plan is $349 a month, with Google Ads management and Meta ads + AI creatives at $199 a month each and a HIPAA AI chat widget at $49; ad spend is paid directly to Google and Meta, never marked up. See Medfy pricing for what each includes.
Frequently asked questions
Are these marketing tools really free?
Yes. There's no charge, no signup and no email gate on any of the eleven tools. They run in your browser, and the free marketing audit is free too. Medfy's paid plan starts at $349 a month, but nothing here requires it. The only outside services involved are Google's PageSpeed test for the website grader and whichever AI assistants you choose to open.
Do I need to enter patient information to use the tools?
No. Every tool page states that no patient information is entered or stored. The inputs are a website address, a practice name and city, a Place ID, your own budget and results numbers, or draft ad text. Don't paste patient stories into the ad copy checker, and don't add patient details to the questions you send to AI assistants.
What's the difference between the tools and the free marketing audit?
Each tool answers one question and you run it yourself. The free marketing audit is automatic: it reads public information about your practice, scores six areas from 0 to 100 (website, SEO, Google listing, AI visibility, social and ads) and lists your top five fixes. Its AI visibility check asks Claude and Gemini with live web search, which the manual checker can't do.
Which tool should a new practice start with?
Start with the Google Business Profile audit, because the listing is often the first thing a patient sees, then make a review link and QR code so every patient is asked the same way. Next, use the marketing budget calculator with your open new-patient slots. Run the website grader once your site is live, and the AI visibility checker after that.
Do the calculators use real Google Ads data?
The Google Ads budget calculator does: it pre-fills average cost per click and top-of-page bid ranges from Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026, and every figure is editable. The ROI, marketing budget and cost per acquisition calculators use only your own numbers, with no industry averages built in.