Separate the medical service from medicine promotion
TGA guidance covers direct and indirect promotion of prescription medicines, including service descriptions that effectively promote access to a class of products. A clinic website, blog, business name or booking menu can create that impression. The assessment therefore covers the whole public journey, not just the text submitted to Google.
An individual doctor's prescribing authority is not approval of a clinic or its advertising. Do not describe a clinic as TGA-approved or suggest that authorisation permits public promotion of medicines. Where a genuine broader medical service can be advertised, describe that service accurately without promising prescribing, approval or a particular therapeutic outcome.
How we would structure the search account
We review the business name, service proposition, website, linked articles and booking path together. A clinic presented as a route to a prescription can remain restricted even when the search ad only says consultation. We check the legal position and Google healthcare eligibility before building an account forecast.
Where there is a genuine eligible medical service, any proposed search themes must describe it accurately. Do not use condition pages or general doctor keywords to conceal a medicine-focused offer. Keep prohibited product, purchasing and approval-seeking intent out of the campaign. If the review concludes that the public offer cannot be advertised, report that plainly. Renaming the landing page or moving it to another domain is not an implementation plan.
Search themes to assess against your service scope
- medical consultation in your area
- telehealth medical assessment
- doctor consultation process
- medical follow-up appointments
- clinic practitioner information
We tailor these ideas to your services, audience and advertising requirements.
A starter negative-keyword review
These themes apply only to a real eligible service. We exclude medicine and strain names, buy online, dispensary, supplier, wholesale and guaranteed-approval queries. Do not turn condition searches into indirect prescription promotion.
What the landing page needs to answer
The destination must accurately represent the business and its medical service, without product promotion, prescribing guarantees or false TGA-approval claims. Keep clinical information collection in a secure clinical workflow rather than a marketing lead form.
Keep clinical suitability with the treating practitioner
Medical assessment should establish what care is appropriate, including the possibility that a requested treatment is unsuitable. Public forms should not ask for diagnosis, previous medicines or eligibility screening through an advertising platform. Provide a secure clinical intake route after someone asks to speak with the clinic.
A search campaign must not turn condition searches into a concealed medicine funnel. Nor should it direct a neutral ad to linked articles that promote products or strains. If the public business presentation cannot meet the requirements, the useful outcome of an audit may be a recommendation not to launch. Measure that decision against the clinic's obligations, not pressure to spend an advertising budget.
What the available search-cost data can tell you
We do not quote a typical cost per click or cost per lead for this sector, or promise a minimum number of enquiries. Establish whether the service is eligible for advertising before considering spend. If it is not eligible, there is no campaign budget to recommend. Any permitted work is scoped individually.
Advertising and communication boundaries
TGA prescription medicine restrictions, Ahpra rules for the medical service and Google healthcare policy all require consideration. Platform approval does not establish legality. Do not use euphemisms, alternate domains, cloaking or renamed products to evade restrictions. Keep clinical testimonials and prescribing guarantees out of the proposed advertising.
A genuine medical consultation may be considered only after the full service and destination are reviewed. "Get approved today" or a promise of prescription access is not an appropriate offer, even if the ad avoids a medicine name.
Understand which enquiries become appointments
Agree which actions count before changing bids. A call-button click, an answered call, a submitted form and a confirmed appointment are different events. Check booking completion data against the actual system and deduplicate enquiries across phone and form. We report confirmed bookings separately from calls and form enquiries, and explain any gaps in tracking.
We track calls without recording every conversation, and any recording runs through a consent process. Clinical notes, diagnoses and referral documents stay out of analytics and advertising audiences.
How we would judge the work
If eligible, separate permissible enquiry measures from medical assessment and prescribing outcomes. We reconcile appointments against your internal records.
Five mistakes to check in an audit
- Medicine searches treated as ready-to-buy traffic. Demand alone is not permission to advertise a prescription product or access pathway.
- A neutral ad hides a product-led website. Review the business name, navigation, linked articles and booking menu together.
- Prescriber authority becomes a clinic approval claim. Describe credentials accurately without suggesting TGA endorsement of the business or its marketing.
- Condition pages funnel to restricted products. Do not use symptom or condition content as indirect medicine promotion.
- A disapproval is met with a new domain. Resolve the underlying offer and policy issue. Do not conceal the same restricted business behind another destination.
Related service information and reading
See our marketing approach for medicinal cannabis prescribing clinics and healthcare Google Ads service information. Related services: Meta Ads for medicinal cannabis prescribing clinics, Website design for medicinal cannabis prescribing clinics, SEO for medicinal cannabis prescribing clinics.
Further reading: TGA Compliance Priorities; Healthcare Tracking Pixels in Australia: What Our 100-Site Study Found.
Check the applicable rules: Ahpra advertising guidance; TGA advertising requirements; Google Ads healthcare policy guidance.
Get a free Google Ads audit to discuss the services, capacity and enquiry pathways that matter for your organisation.
Updated 4 October 2026.
