The "Facebook vs. Google Ads" debate comes up in nearly every conversation we have with practice owners. For a plastic surgery practice the answer is that they are not competing channels. They do different jobs in your consultation pipeline. If your budget is limited and you must choose, there is a clear framework for deciding.
We manage both channels for healthcare practices, including more than 50 chiropractic practices. The cost and conversion numbers further down come from those chiropractic accounts and are labeled that way. Plastic surgery has longer decision cycles and much higher case values, so treat those numbers as a structure for building your own baseline, not as plastic surgery benchmarks.
The Core Difference: Capturing Demand vs. Creating It
Google Ads captures existing demand. When someone searches "rhinoplasty surgeon [city]" or "breast augmentation cost near me," they are already researching a procedure. Google places your ad in front of them while they compare surgeons. You are not convincing them to want surgery. You are competing to be on their shortlist.
Facebook Ads create demand. A person scrolling Facebook or Instagram may have been thinking about a mommy makeover or a facelift for years without ever searching for it. Your ad reaches them while the idea is still forming. You are earning attention and trust over time, which suits a decision that people often take months or years to make.
This distinction drives most of the difference in cost, lead quality, funnel requirements and conversion rate between the two channels.
Advertising Rules to Settle First
Plastic surgery advertising is held to a higher bar than many categories. Before you launch either channel:
- Check your state medical board's advertising rules and your specialty board's standards for before-and-after photos, testimonials and "board certified" language. Only claim certification you actually hold.
- Review Google's and Meta's policies on healthcare and personal health content. Meta restricts ads that imply knowledge of someone's body or health condition and has specific rules on before-and-after imagery for cosmetic procedures. Policies change, so read the current text.
- Do not promise results. Do not use guarantee language.
- Use written patient consent for any photo or story.
When to Use Google Ads
Google Ads fits when one or more of the following apply:
You want consultation requests soon. A search campaign can send consultation requests within days of launch. Few channels move that quickly.
You serve a high-competition market. In large metro areas where organic ranking takes a long time to build, Google Ads provides immediate visibility for high-intent procedure searches.
You offer specific procedures. Searches such as "tummy tuck recovery [city]" or "blepharoplasty surgeon near me" show a person who is far along in their research. Google captures that intent.
Your team responds to leads quickly. Search leads often want an answer the same day. If your coordinator can answer calls promptly and reply to forms within minutes, these leads convert better.
Google Ads in Practice (chiropractic account figures, for structure only)
On our chiropractic accounts we typically plan for:
- Average CPL: $45-180 depending on market and competition
- Lead-to-appointment rate: 35-55% with good follow-up
- Time to first patient: 24-72 hours after launch
- Minimum effective monthly budget: $1,000-1,500 for enough data to optimize
Plastic surgery search costs and consult-to-surgery rates are different and vary widely by market and procedure. We do not publish a plastic surgery figure here because we would be guessing. Set your own baseline from the first 60 to 90 days of data. A sound campaign structure is brand defense, high-intent local procedure terms and procedure-specific campaigns. Our Google Ads benchmarks guide shows how we structure and measure campaigns on the chiropractic side.
When to Use Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads fit when:
You want to reach people who are not searching yet. Many people interested in cosmetic surgery spend a long time thinking before they search for a surgeon. Facebook and Instagram let you stay visible during that stretch with educational content.
You need lower-cost lead volume and can nurture it. Facebook leads usually cost less than search leads but need more follow-up. If your team has an email and text nurture process, volume can be worthwhile. If not, the leads go cold.
You want to target by life stage or interest. Meta lets you reach audiences by location, age range and interests within its policy limits. Note that Meta restricts targeting for some health topics, so plan around that.
You want to build audience equity. Retargeting audiences from website visitors and video viewers get more valuable over time. Consultation decisions can take months, so a retargeting pool is especially useful here.
You want to re-engage past inquiries. Custom Audiences built from your own lead and patient lists, uploaded in line with Meta's rules and your privacy practices, can bring back people who inquired but never booked.
Facebook Ads in Practice (chiropractic account figures, for structure only)
- Average CPL: $12-55 depending on creative, targeting and market
- Lead-to-appointment rate: 20-40%, with nurturing
- Time to first patient: 1-3 weeks
- Minimum effective monthly budget: $800-1,000 so the algorithm can learn
- Best creative: short educational video from the surgeon or coordinator
Again, these are chiropractic numbers. For plastic surgery, expect longer lag between lead and consultation and a different consult-to-surgery rate.
Cost Comparison: How to Build Your Own Table
The tables below use chiropractic numbers from a mid-size market to show the arithmetic. Replace each row with your own figures.
Google Ads (chiropractic illustration, $2,000/month)
| Metric | Number |
|---|---|
| Monthly ad spend | $2,000 |
| Average CPC | $12 |
| Monthly clicks | 167 |
| Landing page conversion rate | 16% |
| Monthly leads | 27 |
| Lead-to-patient rate | 42% |
| New patients from channel | 11 |
| Cost per new patient | $182 |
Facebook Ads (chiropractic illustration, $1,000/month)
| Metric | Number |
|---|---|
| Monthly ad spend | $1,000 |
| Average CPL | $28 |
| Monthly leads | 36 |
| Lead-to-appointment rate | 28% |
| New patients from channel | 10 |
| Cost per new patient | $100 |
In that example Facebook produced similar patient volume at about half the cost per patient. Facebook leads needed more follow-up and responded more slowly. Google leads booked faster and cost nearly twice as much. For a plastic surgery practice, the more useful metric is cost per consultation held and cost per surgery booked, since a single case carries a high value and the sales cycle is long.
Lead Quality: What to Watch
Google Ads leads
- Higher urgency, often further into the research process
- A specific procedure in mind
- More likely to compare a short list of surgeons
Facebook Ads leads
- Earlier in the decision, often just gathering information
- Respond well to education, patient stories (with consent) and a clear picture of what a consultation involves
- Need more touches over a longer period
Neither channel reliably produces better long-term patients. Practices that do well with both tend to have a clear consultation process, honest expectation-setting and steady follow-up.
Budget Split Guidance by Practice Stage
These splits are starting points we use as a planning method, not performance claims.
Newer practice or lighter budget: Lean toward Google Ads, roughly 70/30, to get consultation requests started, and use a smaller Facebook budget to build retargeting audiences.
Growing practice: Move toward roughly 50% Google, 35% Facebook and 15% retargeting once both channels have data.
Established practice with a larger budget: Add video and YouTube placements and build lookalike audiences from your consult and patient lists, in line with platform policy.
The Creative That Works on Each Platform
Google Ads
- Headlines that match the search: "Facelift Consultations in [City]" beats "Your Trusted Surgeon."
- Use extensions: sitelinks, callouts, location and call.
- Be specific and factual. Avoid guarantees and superlatives you cannot support.
Facebook and Instagram
- Short video of the surgeon explaining what a procedure involves, who it suits and what recovery looks like.
- Real, unpolished beats overproduced.
- Before-and-after images are heavily restricted. Read Meta's current policy and your board's rules before using any.
- Lead forms can work well, but a consultation request for surgery deserves a human reply, not just an auto-response.
The "Both" Strategy
Practices with the lowest blended cost per booked consultation often use both channels together.
Facebook builds awareness before Google captures it. Someone may see your video about recovery after a tummy tuck, take no action, and search for surgeons two months later. Your Google ad closes a lead that Facebook helped create, but last-click reporting gives Facebook no credit.
Retargeting creates repeat exposure. A visitor who looked at a procedure page but did not book can see you again on either platform.
Unified data improves both. Consented lead lists can feed Google Customer Match and Facebook Custom Audiences, in line with each platform's rules.
To run both as one system, our PracticeAdsMax platform manages Google Ads and Facebook Ads from one dashboard with unified attribution. You can also explore the channel services directly: Google Ads and Facebook Ads. For the broader picture, see our plastic surgery marketing overview.
The Bottom Line
Google Ads wins on speed and intent. Facebook Ads wins on early reach and cost per lead. The right mix depends on your stage, your follow-up and your budget.
If you can only run one channel, start with Google Ads and add Facebook once you can follow up on leads consistently. If you can run both, track them together so you know what each dollar produces.
Book a free strategy call and we will recommend a channel mix for your practice and explain how we would measure it.
