SEO vs. PPC Digital Marketing for Plastic Surgeons

You are at a crossroads. Your plastic surgery practice needs new clients to grow. You know that a strong online presence is the best way to reach people in your area who are interested in your services. But where should you invest your marketing dollars?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) are the twin pillars of digital marketing today. They represent two approaches you can take to raise awareness, generate leads and grow your client base.

GrowthMed, Inc., is the largest SEO company in the plastic surgery space. We are also PPC Google Ads experts because we believe in a technology-first approach. This approach puts us ahead of the curve for the latest trends in digital marketing. We lead the industry while the competition struggles to keep up.   

What Are SEO and PPC?

Suffering from acronym fatigue? Let’s cut to the heart of the matter and get our terms straight. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The Internet offers an endless supply of instant information, but none of that information can be seen unless it is found. Search engines like Google have become tech giants because they are the means by which all data on the Internet is searched and seen. It is GrowthMed’s job to make sure your plastic surgery practice rises above the digital deluge. We cater to the people who are most likely to become your patients: people in your service area who are searching for information on the procedures that you perform. In other words, we optimize your website for search.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Most people understand advertising through the lens of old broadcast media. Television, radio and print ads are still a visible part of the media landscape, but how effective is this old school advertising, really? Google’s pay-per-click search ads appear at the top of its results in every web search. Leveraging Google’s own search algorithms to target the intent of your potential patients, GrowthMed creates relevant ads aimed at prospects’ location, browsing history and current search results. It’s a much more efficient way to reach people than old fashioned broadcast media. We call these ads “pay-per-click” because the cost of running them on Google depends on how many people actually click the ads to learn more.    

SEO: the Pros and Cons

GrowthMed optimizes websites for search. We ensure that the structure and content of your site are crafted to rank high on the collection search terms that are uniquely relevant to your practice. (“Best Facelifts in Phoenix,” is an example of such a search term.) Google rewards high-quality, relevant and authoritative content by positioning it more visibly—at or near the top—of its search engine results.

At GrowthMed, we take a more elegant approach. We understand the purpose behind Google’s algorithms. Our high-quality content is designed to provide the kind of information Google actually values. SEO isn’t about figuring out a hundred different ways to rephrase a list of keywords. Good SEO is about discerning the intent of your potential patients and providing them with trustworthy and authoritative information in response to their search queries. 

Once Google has seen that your site’s content is a source of expertise, authority and trustworthiness, you will regularly rank high on Google searches. 

A drawback of SEO is that it can take a while to build up authority, so it can’t be timed to coincide with the immediate needs of your business cycle.     

PPC: Its Strengths and Drawbacks

You can advertise your plastic surgery practice by putting your lovely face across a billboard or a park bench, but are your potential patients ever going to see it? You’ll be advertising to a lot of pigeons, most likely. 

With PPC, GrowthMed can precisely target the people who are interested in your services. People’s spending habits have changed a lot now that information can be instantly accessed on mobile devices. Google calls these intent-laden searches “mirco-moments.” What this means is that Google is getting keener at anticipating buyer intent based on user activity. They match search data to other bits of information, like the device that they are using, their current location and previous search behavior. 

The advantage of PPC is that your ads will instantly appear in front of potential patients as soon as you initiate your campaign. 

A downside is that your access to the market is limited by the duration of your campaign. Unlike the long-lasting value of SEO, PPC’s reach is potent but brief.     

SEO and PPC: Better Together

Both SEO and PPC will support very successful marketing campaigns on their own, scoring you tons of new business. But at GrowthMed, we believe in taking a holistic approach to growing your practice. 

The evergreen quality of SEO compounds over time, expanding your reach and improving your reputation with each passing day. Before long, you may find yourself a leader in your area for the assortment of search terms related to your practice. 

The precise targeting of PPC on Google Ads can be deployed strategically. You can time campaigns during slow seasons, to advertise specials or to raise awareness of new products.