Insights by topic

Benchmarks

Every clinic owner asks me the same question: is my number good? These articles put real benchmarks on cost per booking, ad budgets, and what a campaign should look like at each stage. Compare your account against actual data instead of a gut feel.

Google Ads

8 min read

Your care plan patient is worth more than your one off. Tell Google that.

Most clinic accounts tell Google every booking is worth exactly the same. So the bidding chases whatever is cheapest to win, which is rarely your care plan or funded patient. Here is the small budget way to fix it, and the two tools to avoid.

Pete Flynn · 29 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

Negative Keywords: The Searches Quietly Draining Your Clinic Ad Budget

Google broad matches your keywords to searches like "bulk billing", "physio jobs" and "free exercises for back pain". Here is how I read the search terms report, build a starter negative list, and review it every 72 hours so a clinic stops paying for clicks that will never book.

Pete Flynn · 21 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

How tight to draw your circle: radius and catchment for clinic Google Ads

Most clinics draw their Google Ads radius around how far they wish patients would drive. That is the wrong variable. The price of your auction is set by competitor density, so the densest postcode is the most expensive place to compete. Here is how I choose the circle.

Pete Flynn · 20 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

Ad Assets: The Free Space on the Page Most Clinic Ads Leave Blank

Most clinic ads ship as two headlines and a line of text, physically smaller than every competitor on the page. Ad assets are free, they make your ad taller, and because they feed Ad Rank they can lower the price you pay for the same position. Here is the full stack.

Pete Flynn · 19 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

Which Google Ads Bidding Strategy a Clinic Should Actually Use

Maximise Clicks, Maximise Conversions, Target CPA, Manual CPC. I run Google Ads for over 120 clinics, and the strategy you pick matters far less than the one thing nobody checks first. Here is the ladder I actually use, and the gate you cannot skip.

Pete Flynn · 18 June 2026

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Websites

11 min read

Why I send clinic ad clicks to a hidden landing page, not your homepage

Two clinics pay the same for the same click. One sends it to a homepage built for everyone and loses most of them. The other sends it to a page that matches the search and keeps far more. Here is the destination decision I make for every clinic I run.

Pete Flynn · 17 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Location vs Condition: The Two Google Ads Campaigns Every Clinic Should Launch First

When clinic owners ask me how to structure their first Google Ads account, I give them the same answer every time: launch two campaigns, a Location one and a Condition one. The split is not a keyword exercise. It is the decision that determines whether your spend finds new demand or just buys clicks you already had.

Pete Flynn · 17 June 2026

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Google Ads

12 min read

Quality Score is the compound interest of Google Ads

Two clinics, same search, same ad position. One pays $3 a click, the other pays $12 to $15 for the exact same click. Quality Score is a price tax, not a grade, and the gap compounds into a moat over six to twelve months.

Pete Flynn · 16 June 2026

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Google Ads

11 min read

How I actually build a Google Ads account for a clinic

I build every clinic account through three expert lenses that openly contradict each other. The surgeon writes to the searcher's panic, the technician makes it measurable, the architect builds the moat. Here's how all three argue, and how I settle it.

Pete Flynn · 15 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Your Google Ads cost per booking should fall over time, not sit still

Most clinic owners assume their cost per booking is fixed at whatever Google charges. It isn't. A well run account should trend down through its healthy band over the months. Here is what that trajectory looks like and why a flat number is a warning sign.

Pete Flynn · 14 June 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Your booking software decides what your ads can measure

The booking software you chose years ago for clinical reasons quietly sets a ceiling on how cleanly your Google Ads can measure a completed booking. Every major system can be tracked now, but where the completion signal lives is different in every one. Here is the honest tier list.

Pete Flynn · 12 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Why Fiverr, Smart Campaigns and Performance Max quietly waste clinic ad budgets

Smart Campaigns, Performance Max and a typical Fiverr build are the three places I see clinic ad budgets leak the most. They hide keyword data, lean on broad match, and ship tracking that never fires. The fix is not more budget. It is structure and visibility.

Pete Flynn · 10 June 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Every working campaign has a ceiling. Here is how to scale past it

More budget does not buy more patients in a straight line. A working keyword set has a ceiling, and shoving money at it just inflates your cost per booking. Real scale is a structural move, not a spend move.

Pete Flynn · 9 June 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Bigger keywords are not better keywords

In almost every clinic account there is a clear winner and a clear loser, and the loser is taking all the budget. Not because it performs. Because it is big. Here is how volume bullies performance, and the structural fix.

Pete Flynn · 6 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Make your Google Ads pay for themselves from the first session

The thing that stops most clinic owners spending on Google Ads is fear. Here is the way I remove it on coaching calls. Set your target cost per booking below the fee of a patient's first appointment, so the campaign pays for itself before you count a single rebooking.

Pete Flynn · 4 June 2026

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Agency relationships

11 min read

Why a clinic specialist beats a generalist agency

No matter how good I am at Google Ads, there is only so much data I can reason from, and recency bias quietly poisons it. The real edge is pooled de identified data across over 120 clinics. Here is why a solo account or a generalist can never match it.

Pete Flynn · 2 June 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Why your clinic can't track its Google Ads bookings

The most common reason a clinic can't tell whether Google Ads works is the booking software. Embedded widgets from Cliniko, Halaxy, Nookal and others often don't pass a clean signal back to Google, so you track nothing or everything. Here is why, and what good tracking actually looks like.

Pete Flynn · 27 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

If your conversion rate is over 100%, your reporting is lying to you

If your Google Ads conversion rate is over 100%, or your cost per booking looks too good to be true, the tracking is counting the wrong things. Here is how to tell a real new patient booking from page views, rebookings and brand clicks, and what an honest number measures.

Pete Flynn · 25 May 2026

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Agency relationships

9 min read

The three numbers your ad report should tell you

Your agency report is probably full of impressions, click through rate and graphs that mean nothing to you. There are only three numbers you should ever have to read, plus one attribution trap that makes a glowing dashboard sit next to nine real patients.

Pete Flynn · 23 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Quality Score is the invisible tax on a badly built Google Ads account.

There is a number Google never puts on your invoice but charges you for on every click. It is called Quality Score, and a badly built clinic account pays a premium on almost every keyword. Here is how the tax works and how to stop paying it.

Pete Flynn · 22 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

The only three numbers your Google Ads agency should report

Most agency reports bury you in impressions, clicks and click through rate. None of it pays the rent. Tell your agency to report exactly three numbers, and watch how quickly you find out whether they are tracking real bookings or just clicks.

Pete Flynn · 20 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Can You Win NDIS and Compensable Patients on Google Ads?

Clinic owners ask me whether they can fill NDIS and compensable books from Google Ads. The honest answer is some yes, some no. The deciding factor is whether that patient ever searches Google for a provider, or arrives with a referral letter already in hand.

Pete Flynn · 17 May 2026

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Google Ads

10 min read

Build both, split it evenly, let the data decide

Most clinic accounts are built on a guess about which campaign will win. I don't guess. I build both candidates, split the budget evenly, and let real bookings decide. Here is the engine underneath that.

Pete Flynn · 16 May 2026

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Google Ads

9 min read

On a small budget, only buy the patients ready to book today

On a small budget you cannot afford to educate the market. You can only afford to buy the people who have already decided to act. Here is the intent ladder I use to decide which clinic searches are worth a dollar and which quietly burn it.

Pete Flynn · 15 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Most clinics spend 0.2% of revenue on marketing. It should be closer to 3%

Most clinics I coach invest a fraction of a percent of revenue in marketing, then wonder why new patients are thin. A healthy growth stage clinic runs closer to 3%, and clinics in an active growth push run higher. Here is what that actually looks like in dollars.

Pete Flynn · 13 May 2026

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Decision Frameworks

7 min read

How to set your clinic marketing budget without guessing

Most clinic owners set a marketing budget by feel. The number that actually works starts with your patient lifetime value and changes depending on whether you're growing or consolidating. Here's the calculation that changes how you think about every dollar you spend on marketing.

Pete Flynn · 12 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Two clinics. Same Google. One pays $80 per booking. The other pays $220.

Same suburb, same specialty, roughly the same ad budget. One clinic gets new patients for $80 each. The other pays $220 and wonders if Google Ads even works. The ads are not the variable. The system underneath them is.

Pete Flynn · 3 May 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Google Ads don't just go live. They learn. Here's what that looks like.

Most clinics expect Google Ads to deliver results in the first two weeks. Google's algorithm needs 4 to 6 weeks just to build a quality score. The actions you take in month one determine whether the account compounds or resets. Here's what actually happens and when.

Pete Flynn · 2 May 2026

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Google Ads

7 min read

What you can afford to spend on a new patient

Most clinic owners I work with cap themselves at $80 to $100 per new patient because the number sounds high. Their actual lifetime value is between $4,000 and $30,000. The maths reframes the conversation. Here's the calculator and the empty chair logic that changes the answer.

Pete Flynn · 23 April 2026

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Google Ads

6 min read

Physio Google Ads cost per booking benchmark, 2026

A healthy physio Google Ads account in Australia costs $80 to $100 per new patient booking, but the number is meaningless without context. Here's what a realistic benchmark looks like, and the four things that decide whether you land at the bottom of the range or three times above it.

Pete Flynn · 18 April 2026

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