Google Ads for a cosmetic clinic: what do you need to watch out for?

As a cosmetic clinic you can advertise on Google Ads, but you're working within three layers of rules. Google restricts prescription drug terms in ads, landing pages and keywords, and treats cosmetic procedures and injections as a sensitive health category. Dutch medicines law (the Geneesmiddelenwet) bans advertising prescription medicines to the public. And the Dutch advertising code for medical cosmetic treatments by doctors sets requirements for every ad. So advertise the consultation, the treatment area and the doctor, not the product.

Below you'll find what these rules mean in practice for your keywords, copy, audiences and landing pages, and how to set up an account that stays within them. This isn't legal advice: if in doubt, have your copy checked.

What Google itself allows and restricts

Google's Healthcare and medicines policy is clear on this: Google restricts the use of prescription drug terms in ads, landing pages and keywords. Pharmaceutical manufacturers may only advertise prescription drugs in Canada, New Zealand and the United States. For the Netherlands and Belgium, Google states that even registered online pharmacies can't promote prescription drugs in their ads or on their landing pages.

For a clinic, that means no product name as a keyword, none in the ad copy, and nothing prominent on the page the ad leads to. That last one is often overlooked. In our reviews of cosmetic clinics we see treatment pages full of a product's brand name, while that very page is used as the landing page. Use words like 'injectables', 'consultation' or the concern someone comes in with instead. Whether a description gets too close to the product depends on context, so have it checked if you're unsure.

Your ads also fall under Google's personalised advertising rules. Health is a sensitive category there, and Google explicitly includes invasive medical procedures, such as cosmetic surgery, surgical procedures and injections. If you advertise these, you can't use your own audiences: no Customer Match, no data segments such as remarketing lists, and no lookalike segments. Google's predefined audiences and location targeting are still allowed. So your reach mainly comes from searches by people in your area.

Two other policies apply as well. The misrepresentation policy prohibits inaccurate claims and claims that entice people with an improbable result. And the destination requirements say your landing page must work on common browsers and devices, match the domain in your ad, and be reachable by Google's crawlers.

Disapproved or limited: now what?

Google reviews every ad before it runs. If an ad is 'Disapproved', it won't show anywhere. If it's 'Eligible (limited)', it runs, but not in every situation. Turn on the 'Policy details' column in your overview to see which rule is involved. Fix the ad or the landing page, and appeal if you think Google got it wrong.

Check this every week. In one account we reviewed, a policy violation in a Performance Max campaign had simply been left open, with nobody looking at it. For some violations Google can suspend an account, and then everything stops, including the campaigns that were fine.

What Dutch and Belgian rules mean for your ads

Separately from Google, the Geneesmiddelenwet bans advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. According to the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ), botulinum toxin is such a prescription medicine; fillers are medical devices. On top of that, any treatment performed by a doctor falls under the Dutch Advertising Code's code for medical cosmetic treatments. Applied to Google Ads, this comes down to:

• No time pressure. A promotion asset with an end date, or 'this month only' in your copy, doesn't fit.
• You may mention a price, but not prominently and not as the only argument. So be careful with price assets and headlines that are only about discounts.
• No guaranteed results, and no suggestion that a treatment is risk-free. You need to be able to back up claims about effects.
• The title, role and BIG registration number of the treating doctor. As a clinic you can refer to your website instead, as long as that information is there.
• The mandatory statement and logo: 'Kijk uit. Jezelf mooier maken kan lelijk uitpakken. Een geslaagde ingreep begint bij een geschikte arts.' (roughly: 'Watch out. Making yourself prettier can turn out ugly. A successful procedure starts with the right doctor.') The code makes no exception for short online ads. How to handle that in a search ad is best checked with a legal adviser.

Also targeting Belgium? There, the law of 23 May 2013 bans advertising for aesthetic procedures, including non-surgical aesthetic medicine such as injections. Only practice information is allowed. Get legal advice first on whether and how you can run campaigns there.

How to set up the account

Within those rules, an account built around the consultation and the doctor works best. This is the setup we keep recommending in our reviews of cosmetic clinics:

• One campaign per treatment group, such as eyelid surgery, injectables or skin improvement, with a separate ad group for each treatment. That way you can see where your budget goes.
• Keywords around the consultation, the treatment and the treatment area, combined with your region. People often search for what they want to fix, like droopy eyelids or volume loss, not for the name of a product.
• A negative keyword list with terms like 'training', 'course', 'jobs' and treatments you don't offer.
• Conversion tracking on what actually matters: a consultation request, a booked intake, and clicks on call and WhatsApp. Make the consultation request your primary conversion.
• A dedicated landing page for each treatment, with an explanation, risks and recovery in plain language, the doctor's name, photo and BIG number, reviews and one clear button for the consultation.
• Get mobile right: clickable phone numbers, a call asset in your ad, and reviews that are easy to see on a phone. We still regularly find sites where you can't tap the phone number.
• An English campaign and page if your area has many international residents. That audience is often missed.

A consultation as the first step also matches how people decide. For a medical aesthetic treatment, people choose a doctor first and a treatment second. An ad inviting them to talk to a recognisable, BIG-registered doctor fits that, and stays within the rules.

Where to start

First go through your existing ads, keywords and landing pages for product names, time pressure, guarantees and missing BIG information. Then check your account for disapproved or limited ads. Only after that, set up new campaigns per treatment, with tracking in place from day one.

Want someone to look at it with you? In the free Clinic Scan, Clinic Agency carries out a full analysis of your clinic across nine areas, including Google Ads. Thomas gives you a short call beforehand with a few questions, then you go through the analysis and a tailored proposal in a 30-minute meeting. You're free to carry out the plan yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bid on the keyword botox in Google Ads?

Google restricts prescription drug terms in ads, landing pages and keywords, and Dutch law bans advertising prescription medicines to the public. So advertise the consultation, the doctor and the treatment area, and have it checked if you're unsure.

Can a cosmetic clinic use remarketing in Google Ads?

Cosmetic surgery, surgical procedures and injections fall under Google's health category. That means you can't use your own audiences such as remarketing lists and Customer Match; location targeting and Google's predefined audiences are still available.

What should I do if my ad is disapproved?

Turn on the 'Policy details' column to see which rule applies. Look at your landing page too, because Google also reviews the page your ad leads to. Fix what's needed and appeal if you think it's a mistake.