Google Ads for optometrists: why price is the wrong fight
Search "optometrist near me" and the ads above the map can belong to national chains, leading on frame prices and test offers with national budgets behind them. An independent practice that copies that playbook ends up paying to stand next to a bigger offer, and the patient often picks the bigger offer.
Chain advertising tends to lead with eyewear. What it tends to promote less is the slower clinical work: a child who keeps losing their place when reading, a teenager whose prescription changes every year, a patient whose eyes burn by mid-afternoon at a screen. A discount headline does nothing for those searches.
So the account starts with your practice, not the market. Which clinical services do you want more of, and which have room in the book? Those become the campaigns.
Clinical services as their own campaigns
Each clinical service gets a campaign of its own, with keywords, ads and a landing page that match how that patient searches. These are examples; yours may differ.
- Children's vision. The person searching is usually a parent, and sometimes after a teacher has raised a concern.
- Myopia management. Parents researching why their child's prescription keeps going up. This search is slower and more considered, so the landing page has to explain what management means without promising an outcome.
- Dry eye. Adults with a long-running problem who have often tried drops already.
- Contact lens fitting. Patients new to lenses, or those whose current lenses have never felt right.
- Eye health checks with imaging. Patients who want more than a quick test, or who have a family history.
Splitting them this way lets each service carry its own budget. When dry eye bookings are flowing and the myopia clinic is full, money moves to where you have capacity. Lump everything together and the budget drifts toward whatever clicks come cheapest, whether or not you have room for that work.
The ads describe the service, who it is for and how to book, without claiming a result. Optometry is a registered profession, so section 133 of the National Law applies to every one of these ads. In practice that rules out headlines like "stop your child's eyes getting worse" and patient stories about clinical care, and we also steer clear of comparisons with other practices.
Retail campaigns kept separate, with a different measure
Frames, sunglasses and lenses still bring people through the door, and advertising them is fine. They just should not share a campaign with clinical services.
A frame search is a product the patient can compare across shops. A dry eye search is a choice of practitioner. Put them together and a frame enquiry and a dry eye booking count as the same conversion, so you cannot see which one is earning its budget.
We keep retail in separate campaigns and measure it on what retail is for: enquiries about a range or a booked frame fitting. Clinical campaigns are measured on booked appointments for that service. You see both numbers on their own lines, so a strong month in sunglasses does not hide a weak month in myopia management.
Offers and "free" eye test wording: show the terms
Offers are common in optometry search results. "Free eye test", "bulk-billed eye test" and "second pair half price" each carry a compliance question for the practice running them.
Under section 133, an offer has to have its terms stated. If the test is only free or bulk-billed for some patients, or only with a frame purchase, or only on certain days, the patient needs to see that on the page the ad leads to. A headline that says "free" while the conditions sit in a PDF three clicks away is the kind of ad that can pass Google's review and still breach the National Law.
Before any offer runs, we check three things:
1. The conditions are written on the landing page, near the offer, in plain words. 2. The ad text does not imply the offer is wider than it is. 3. Automated headlines and assets are not rewriting the offer into something broader.
We do not state eligibility rules for bulk-billing on your behalf. Your practice confirms what applies, and the ad and page say only that. Rules and guidance change, so check the current version before relying on any wording. Our guide to what you can't say in health ads covers offers and inducements in more detail.
Local radius, brand terms and your own name
An optometry practice draws on a local catchment. Targeting is set to the suburbs your patients actually come from, not a wide radius that spends money on people who will never make the drive. A second location gets its own targeting so the two sites are not bidding against each other.
Your practice name matters too. Patients who already know you sometimes search your name, and other advertisers can bid on it. A small brand campaign gives your own ad the best chance of appearing when someone types your practice name, with your correct phone number and booking link. It also shows how much demand your reputation generates on its own, kept apart from new patient numbers.
How we work with optometry practices
A myopia management campaign needs a landing page about myopia management, not your home page. Where that page is missing, optometrist web design is often the first fix. Over time, SEO for optometrists can bring in some of the same searches without paying for each click, and our wider optometrist marketing work connects ads, search and your Google Business Profile.
Our main Google Ads page shows how this fits our approach across every profession. For groups with several locations, or if you are not sure where to start, a strategy call is the better first step.
Pricing is discussed on the call, once we know your goals and current account.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can an independent optometrist compete with the chains on Google Ads?
By not fighting on price. Advertise the clinical services the chains promote less, such as children's vision, myopia management and dry eye, each in its own campaign with a matching landing page.
Should frames and eye tests be in the same campaign?
No. Frames are a product patients compare across shops, while clinical services are a choice of practitioner, so retail sits in separate campaigns with its own measure and clinical campaigns are measured on booked appointments.
Can we advertise a free or bulk-billed eye test?
Yes, if the terms are stated. Under section 133 the conditions must be visible on the page the ad leads to, and your practice confirms which patients the offer applies to before it runs.
Get your optometry ads checked
If you are running ads now, we will look at how clinical and retail spend is split, whether your offers show their terms and whether your name is protected, then tell you where we would move the budget.