Health In Personalized Advertising
Recently Google Ads has been cracking down on their ‘Health in Personalized Advertising’ restriction. There have been a lot of questions about what this restriction means and why it affects some ads and not others. While there is a considerable amount of gray area on this subject, understanding who is affected, how to avoid these limitations, and what to do when they occur is essential for maintaining a robust and successful Google Ads strategy.
What is the ‘Health In Personalized Advertising’ Restriction
This particular policy is designed to protect the user’s online experience and prevent advertisers from targeting specific demographics such as age, gender, or household income with personal health content.
Personal health content includes:
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Physical or mental health conditions, including diseases, sexual health, and chronic health conditions, which are conditions that require long-term care or management.
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Products, services, or procedures to treat or manage chronic health conditions, which include over-the-counter medications and medical devices.
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Any health issues associated with intimate body parts or functions, which include genital, bowel, or urinary health.
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Invasive medical procedures, which include cosmetic surgery.
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Disabilities, even when content is oriented toward the user’s primary caretaker.
These limitations can range in severity from a notification of compliance to complete restriction. Because of the fluidity of this policy, it is critical that your ads reach a level of compliance in order for them to still serve your intended audiences at full capacity. The good news is that compliance can look as simple as changing around the ad text to fall within Google's standards.
Who is affected by these restrictions?
Health in personalized advertising in Google Ads is targeted towards companies or organizations that operate in the health industry. This can include anyone from dentists to mental health professionals. The majority of our therapy clients have been impacted by these limitations on some level, leaving the marketers to be the front runners in finding the best possible solution to the ongoing issue of ad limitations.
As mentioned above, much of this policy comes down to the targeted audiences. Due to HIPAA requirements, healthcare providers are not allowed to use customer lists or website traffic retargeting to build their advertising audiences. Instead, we rely on general Google Ads demographics to approximate the desired audience. This includes age, gender, household income, and user interests. While this complies with HIPAA requirements, it is technically outside of the Google Ads regulation. This means that you still have the capability of running a successful campaign under the heavy regulation that Google is imposing through the policy. You just have to get creative with the wordplay every once in a while!
Audience targeting is crucial to the success of a campaign because it ensures that the traffic driven to your site is the most qualified possible. It also gives you the data and information needed in order to optimize your campaign based on what audiences are interacting most with your ads. Therefore, ad text becomes very important in avoiding health in personalized advertising limitations.
How to avoid it:
The best way to avoid personalized advertising limitations in Google Ads is to adhere to all of Google’s policies and guidelines. While they might feel like another hurdle to overcome, these policies are in place to prioritize the user’s experience and cut down on inappropriate content. Creating relevant and engaging ads that speak to the provider’s specialties without calling out specific health conditions is key. Some tips for ad text include:
Steer clear of questions in your headlines and descriptions. For example, instead of “Are you looking for a therapist for your anxiety?” focus on statements like “Trusted Therapist In Your Area”.
Certain terms such as anxiety, depression, and trauma can lead to heavier restrictions and completely derail a campaign. Omit these terms from your ad text and rely on your keywords to target these specialties.
Avoid using prohibited words in URL Display Paths. Instead of ‘Anxiety/Therapy’ use ‘Therapy/Near_You’ as the display path to your final URL.
What to do when it happens:
Not all Health in Personalized Advertising limitations are created equal. As I mentioned above, some limitations are more of a warning that indicates the ads will not be served to a small segment of the target audience. Sometimes this has no real impact on the performance of the ad, allowing more time and energy to focus on the “big picture” aspects of the campaign. In this case, the best course of action is to monitor it with no revisions.
However, if the restriction has severely limited the ads it is important to act quickly. If this happens, it means that the ads you are running are not being shown at full capacity, potentially leading to a negative effect on the entire campaign.
Start by pausing the affected ad and creating a new ad using the tips noted above.
If this isn’t successful and you still encounter restrictions, you can always request a manual review from a Google Ads specialist. They are here to help you overcome any pesky policy violations that may not be visible to you as an advertiser. This can help give clarity on the specific policy violations and how to adjust your strategy.
