How to improve lead quality if you don't have enough data for offline conversions
Before you spend more to train Google Ads, find out why the wrong people are clicking.
Is Google Ads bringing in paying patients?
Published October 2026. Last updated October 2026.
A psychologist wanted to know which Google Ads clicks turned into patients, and then send that information to Google to improve their results.
The issue: Healthcare = limited conversion tracking.
The law, and professional responsiblity, limits how much patient information you can share with third parties like Google. And Google limits what you can do with healthcare data.
As I dug deeper into their question I realised they'd conflated two separate problems:
- Problem 1: find out if Google Ads was actually making them money.
- Problem 2: improve the ads by telling Google which clicks turned into paying patients.
The good news is that you can solve problem 1 without infringing on patient privacy. And you can make your ads better even if you can't give Google feedback.
Here's how I'd do it.
Problem 1: Is Google Ads profitable?
Imagine the psychologist spends $2,000 on Google Ads this month.
- The ads generate 40 enquiries.
- Of those 40, 15 book an initial appointment.
- 10 eventually become patients.
This information is gold.
- They can compare the income from those 10 patients with the ad costs to acquire them.
- They can compare their cost per patient ($2,000 / 10 = $200) with how much it costs to win a patient from other advertising. If Facebook brought patients in at $150, it might be worth spending more there. If their Facebook patients cost $300, it'd make sense to shift ad spend to Google.
Neither calculation infringes on patient confidentiality.
To do this they need to know which patients came from Google Ads. That's a piece of cake: send Google Ads traffic to separate landing pages instead of the main website.
- The form on the landing page can send enquiries to a different email to the form on the website.
- The phone number should also be different, and not used anywhere else. That makes it likely that calls to the number originated from Google Ads.
After that it's just a case of keeping track of leads from Google in the CRM or booking system so you can work out the value later.
Problem 2: Improving the ads without offline conversions
In healthcare, and many other professions, people Google ...
psychologist near me
when they really mean ...
psychologist who accepts insurance for diagnosing ADHD in children and offers video consultations outside working hours
If you're the kind of psychologist who:
- doesn't accept insurance,
- doesn't do ADHD diagnosis,
- doesn't offer video consultations,
- works only regular office hours,
- and hates kids ...
you can't help this person.
When do you want to find that out?
- Before you pay Google for them to click on your ad?
- Or after they've clicked your ad, filled in the form and your receptionist has called them 6 times?
Our psychologist will get better results if people they can't help don't click their ads. If they just scroll right past.
The way to do this is write ads that repel the wrong people. I've written more on this here: Write Google Ads that don’t get clicked or if you prefer video: https://youtu.be/78zVIM_Zylc
Send me any questions you have about making Google Ads more profitable. I'll do my best to answer.
And if the way I think resonates with you, I'd like to give you a free copy of my book Profitable Google Ads.
Watch the video
Most Google Ads Problems Aren't Google Ads Problems
If my writing resonates with you, I'd like to give you a copy of my book, Profitable Google Ads. The book was written for business owners, but many PPC professionals have found it valuable too.
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