Some doctors find ways to attract Google searchers

Practice Management. By Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews staff. Oct. 23/30, 2006.

Jordan Shlain, MD, medical director of San Francisco On Call Medical Group, a 24-hour primary care clinic, is experimenting with a relatively new way of advertising.

The internist's clinic is advertising through the Internet search engine Google. When you search for "doctors san francisco," a sponsored link pops up on the right-hand side of the page for Dr. Shlain's clinic, courtesy of a program called Google AdWords, which allows anyone to pay for the right to have their business get a special, prominent place in Google search results. Other search engines, such as Yahoo, offer similar services.

Cosmetic surgeons were first to jump on the program, but now a small but growing number of primary care clinics, such as Dr. Shlain's, are doing so as well. While Google AdWords is a long way from proving itself as a surefire path to marketing success, some doctors are hoping it can be a relatively inexpensive, wide-ranging way to reach potential patients -- especially if it's part of a larger marketing plan that includes a robust Web site.

"Google lights the match," Dr. Shlain said. "It doesn't start the fire."

Here's how Google AdWords works.

Physician advertisers come up with keywords and phrases that they "sponsor." Based on those keywords, ads will appear with a link to the physician's Web site. The keywords are sponsored through competitive bids in the amount the physician is willing to pay each time someone clicks on his or her Web site. The minimum bid is 10 cents per click.