Google Ads for Doctors and Dental Clinics in India: Rules and Setup

Can doctors and clinics run Google Ads in India?

Google lets clinics, hospitals and dental practices advertise their services, as long as the ads avoid restricted drug and treatment content. The tighter limit comes from Indian professional rules: individual doctors may not promote themselves, while clinics and hospitals may share factual information.

Three sets of rules apply to every healthcare ad shown in India, and a campaign has to pass all three:

• Google’s ad policies: what Google will accept in keywords, ads, landing pages and audience targeting.
• Professional rules: for registered medical practitioners, the National Medical Commission (NMC) and your State Medical Council; for dentists, the National Dental Commission and your State Dental Council.
• General laws: such as the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and the clinical establishments law that applies in your state.

What does Google’s Healthcare and medicines policy restrict?

Google’s policy restricts prescription drug services, online pharmacies, restricted drug terms, unapproved substances and experimental treatments. A clinic advertising consultations, check-ups or dental work is usually outside these categories, but its keywords and landing pages must not drift into them.

The Healthcare and medicines policy lists the categories below. For India specifically, it says:

• Online pharmacies: allowed with limitations only if verified by Google’s approved third-party healthcare certification programme and certified by Google, and they may not promote prescription drugs in ads or landing pages.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturers: may promote over-the-counter medicines under Indian law, with Google certification.
• Pre-natal gender determination: not allowed, citing a Supreme Court order.

Other categories that matter to clinics:

• Restricted drug terms: prescription drug names are limited in ads, landing pages and keywords. A skin clinic should not bid on the brand name of a prescription acne medicine.
• Speculative and experimental medical treatment, cell therapies and gene therapies: promotion of experimental treatments is not allowed; cell and gene therapy promotion is barred outside certain US cases.
• Unapproved substances, prescription opioid painkillers and clinical trial recruitment: not allowed in most cases; addiction services and health insurance need certification.

Personalised ads. Google’s restricted targeting policy lists health as a sensitive interest category. Advertisers promoting health products or services are unable to use advertiser-curated audiences: Customer Match, your data segments (remarketing), audience expansion and lookalike segments are not supported. Google’s predefined audiences, location and demographic targeting remain available, and users under eighteen are not eligible for personalised ads of any kind.

Google is also rolling out advertiser verification to all advertisers. After verification, ads carry a disclosure with your name or organisation’s name and location, so register the account in the clinic’s legal name.

What do India’s rules say about doctors advertising?

For registered medical practitioners, the operative code is the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, read with the NMC’s Guidelines on Ethical Advertising and Public Communication issued on 6 October 2026. Both forbid soliciting patients and self-promotion.

Status of the 2023 regulations. The NMC Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023 were published in August 2023, then held in abeyance by a Gazette notification dated 23 August 2023. It says they “shall not be operative and effective till further Gazette Notification” and makes the 2002 regulations effective again. The NMC’s e-gazette page listed no later notification when we checked on 28 October 2026, but confirm it yourself.

The 2002 regulations. Regulation 6.1.1 of the 2002 code calls soliciting patients, directly or indirectly, unethical, and bars a doctor from boasting of cases, operations, cures or remedies. It permits a formal announcement on starting practice, changing the type of practice or address, temporary absence, resuming or succeeding to a practice, and a public declaration of charges. Regulation 1.4.1 requires the registration number to be displayed in the clinic.

The October 2026 guidelines. The NMC issued the guidelines by public notice on 6 October 2026, in view of a writ petition before the Supreme Court, with immediate effect. Clause 3.2 treats “search-engine”, “sponsored” and “targeted” promotional communication as advertising, so Google Ads is covered. Key points:

• Clause 8.1(ii): a doctor shall not solicit patients directly or indirectly, promote professional services through self-promotion, or engage any third party for marketing medical services.
• Clause 8.1(iii) and (ix): no success rates, number of patients treated, “100% success”, “painless treatment”, “miracle treatment” or superiority claims unless objectively verifiable.
• Clause 8.1(v): no before-and-after photographs, surgical results or celebrity patients.
• Clause 8.1(vii) and (viii): no lead-generation fee, and payments to advertising or digital marketing agencies must not be linked to the referral of individual patients.
• Clause 8.1(x): no discounts, limited-period offers, coupons, cashbacks or free procedures likely to encourage unnecessary consultation; any disclosure of fees must be factual.
• Explanation V and clause 6.2: no fake or paid reviews or testimonials, and patient consent does not make a testimonial or before-and-after image permissible.
• Clause 7.2: AI-generated promotional campaigns for commercial interest are prohibited.
• Clauses 8.3 and 9.1: hospitals and medical institutions may share factual, verifiable information about name, location, contact details, departments, facilities, services, emergency services, accreditation and charges.
• Explanations III and IV: electronic media posts should disclose the doctor’s name, qualifications, registration status and registration number.

Under clause 10.1, the State Medical Council may take graded action, from a warning and ethics training for a first violation up to removal from the register for repeated violations.

General laws. The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 prohibits advertising drugs or remedies for diseases in its schedule, such as cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, tuberculosis and heart diseases, and for certain sexual and reproductive purposes. A first conviction can mean imprisonment of up to six months. Never write an ad that claims to cure diabetes or a similar scheduled condition.

What rules apply to dentists and dental clinic ads?

Dentists follow the Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014, which allow a dentist or group of dentists to advertise “provided that they maintain decorum”. Factual internet listings and websites are expressly permitted; false promises and self-aggrandisement are not.

Chapter VI of the 2014 code lists these as unethical or permitted:

• 8.1.1: demeaning solicitation and false promises through advertisements or direct marketing are unethical.
• 8.1.2: cold targeting of vulnerable groups, camps in schools, colleges and old age homes, handbills and claim vouchers are unethical.
• 8.1.3 and 8.1.4: ads promising inducements, rebates or false benefits, and agents or canvassers hired to obtain patients commercially, are unethical.
• 8.2: soliciting patients, self-aggrandising publicity and boasting of cases or cures are unethical.
• 8.2.7: announcing new equipment or services is allowed, without boastful claims of being “first”.
• 8.2.8 and 8.2.9: listings on the internet are permissible as public information, and factual websites may show treatment facilities and fees, but no claims of superiority or special skills.
• 8.3.1: a self-photograph on the letterhead or signboard is self-advertisement.

On 14 October 2026 the National Dental Commission issued an advisory to all registered dentists on unethical social media promotion. It names recording and broadcasting consultations and procedures, patient testimonials, before-and-after photographs, misleading treatment claims, inaccurate health information, self-aggrandising publicity and oversized signboards, and warns of show-cause notices, suspension or removal from the register.

So a dental clinic Search ad that lists services, timings, location and a way to book fits the 2014 code. Ads that promise results, show smiles before and after, or push discounts do not.

Allowed vs restricted: what can a clinic ad say?

Stick to facts a patient could check: who you are, where you are, when you are open, what you treat and how to book. Anything that promises, compares, persuades with offers or uses a patient’s story is restricted.

How do you set up a compliant Google Ads campaign for a clinic?

Use a Search campaign with one ad group per treatment, a tight location radius, ads and call assets scheduled to clinic hours, and a factual appointment page. Track appointment requests and calls as conversions, and skip remarketing.

1. Check eligibility first. Confirm your clinic’s registration under your state’s clinical establishments law and ask your State Medical or Dental Council whether paid search is acceptable for your type of practice.
2. Build a factual landing page. One page per service with the clinic’s name, address, map, timings, doctors’ names, qualifications and registration numbers, a plain description of the service, fees if you publish them, a call button and an appointment request form. No testimonials, before-and-after images or offers. See our clinic and hospital website design in Gurgaon.
3. Create a Search campaign. Group keywords by treatment or speciality so each ad matches the search. Our step-by-step Google Ads campaign guide covers the basic setup.
4. Target a radius. Google’s location targeting allows a radius of at least 1 km around an address, and notes that the “Presence” option may suit a sensitive vertical with strict targeting limits.
5. Add a call asset. Call assets add a phone number and a call button on mobile, and can be scheduled to show only when the reception can take calls.
6. Add a location asset. Location assets can show the address, a map or the distance, and are usually linked to your Google Business Profile. Our local SEO guide covers the profile itself.
7. Set up conversion tracking. Google can measure website actions, calls from ads and calls to a number on your website. Count “appointment request sent” and calls, and never send symptoms or other patient details into the ad account.
8. Leave out audience lists. Do not add remarketing or Customer Match lists; health ads cannot use them.
9. Add negative keywords. Exclude searches such as jobs, salary, course, admission, home remedy and free.
10. Review weekly. Read the search terms report and pause anything that drifts into drug names or cure-seeking searches.
11. Agree a fair fee. Pay any agency a management fee, never a fee per patient or per appointment, in line with NMC clause 8.1(viii).

Example: a dental clinic on Sohna Road, Gurgaon

A dental clinic can run a small Search campaign around its own neighbourhood, with one ad group per treatment, factual ads and a booking page. The ads below are illustrations, not a template approved by any council.

Imagine a two-chair dental clinic on Sohna Road, open Monday to Saturday. Patients come from nearby sectors and Badshahpur, so the campaign targets a radius of a few kilometres around the clinic rather than all of Gurgaon.

• Ad groups: general check-up and cleaning, root canal treatment, fillings and extraction, braces and aligners, children’s dentistry, dentures.
• Sample keywords: “dentist near me”, “dental clinic sohna road”, “root canal treatment gurgaon”, “braces for teeth gurgaon”, “kids dentist near me”.
• Negative keywords: jobs, BDS admission, course, salary, home remedy, free, and names of dental products.
• Sample headlines: “Dental Clinic on Sohna Road”, “Root Canal Treatment in Gurgaon”, “Open Monday to Saturday”, “Request an Appointment”.
• Sample description: “Registered dentists offering check-ups, fillings, root canal treatment and braces. Call the clinic or request an appointment online.”
• Assets: call asset scheduled to clinic hours, location asset from the clinic’s Business Profile, and sitelinks to each treatment page.

What the clinic leaves out matters as much: no “painless root canal”, no smile makeover photos, no “first visit free” and no review quotes. The root canal page explains the treatment, names the dentist with qualifications and registration number, shows the fee if published, and carries the booking form.

Example: a general physician’s clinic

A general physician’s clinic should check with its State Medical Council before running paid search at all, because in a single-doctor practice a clinic ad can read as the doctor’s own promotion under NMC clause 8.1(ii). If it goes ahead, every line must be plain fact.

Take a family physician’s clinic off Golf Course Road, registered as a clinical establishment, with morning and evening hours. Clauses 8.3 and 9.1 set the scope of the ad: name, location, contact details, services, facilities and charges.

• Ad groups: general consultation, fever and infection consultations, health check-ups, vaccination for adults, and chronic condition follow-up visits.
• Sample keywords: “general physician near me”, “family doctor golf course road”, “clinic open now near me”, “health check-up clinic gurgaon”.
• Keywords to avoid: any “cure” search for scheduled diseases such as diabetes, prescription drug names and searches for second opinions on surgery.
• Sample headlines: “General Physician Clinic, Gurgaon”, “Morning and Evening Hours”, “Book a Consultation”.
• Landing page: doctor’s name, recognised qualifications and registration number, clinic timings, services, consultation fee as displayed at the clinic, map and a call button. No doctor portrait in the ad, no years-of-experience boasts and no patient counts.

Clause 4.4 of the NMC guidelines makes the doctor responsible for any content they authorise, even when an agency writes it. Read every ad before it goes live.

How DVM Techno can help

DVM Techno, with its team in Sector 84, Gurgaon, plans, sets up and manages Google Ads campaigns: Search campaigns, call and location assets, ad copy, landing pages and conversion tracking. We send weekly reports on clicks, conversions and cost per lead, and hold a monthly review call. Ad spend is paid directly to Google, separately from our management fee, and that fee is never linked to patients.

If your clinic has no suitable page to send ads to, we can build a factual appointment page or a full clinic website. You can see our work, ask for a free audit of an existing account within 48 hours, or call +91-8448523313, Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 7 PM. Compliance decisions stay with the doctor and their adviser.

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