How To Prevent Healthcare Ad Restrictions in Google and Meta
One of the worst feelings is working diligently on a digital marketing campaign only to have it result in blocked ads, downtime, even account suspensions, and fewer patients. It’s especially stressful not knowing how to get healthcare ads approved after disapproval or which words to avoid to ensure pages meet specific requirements in the healthcare ad space.
Each online advertising platform comes with its own set of healthcare advertising regulations to keep advertisers from promoting illegal, restricted, or unsafe products to users on its platform. These rules vary by drug type, such as prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, experimental medical treatments, CBD, supplements, and more. They can even encompass some services, like telemedicine.
This article explores each platform’s healthcare ad regulations, aiding advertisers like you in crafting effective and compliant healthcare campaigns. Read on to enrich your understanding, and help you create successful digital marketing strategies in the healthcare sector.
Consider what type of drug you are advertising
Regulations can be particularly strict for prescription drugs, requiring thorough vetting and adherence to guidelines. On the other hand, over-the-counter medications face their own set of limitations, often requiring clear disclaimers. Check out Google’s most up-to-date healthcare ad policy because the rules change occasionally.
If your ad does not fall under prescription or nonprescription drugs, you might be dealing with speculative drugs, supplements, or CBD. While seemingly more relaxed, each of these still requires compliance with regulations regarding health claims and ingredient disclosures. Some are not allowed to be advertised at all, or only in certain U.S. states or countries, or only with specific certifications.
Prescription drugs
Google and Meta prohibit referencing prescription drugs in ad copy, on landing pages, or within three clicks of the landing page, unless certified by Google or Meta. This list of keywords falls under Google’s prescription drug regulations and require a certification in order to use them in keyword targeting, ad copy, landing pages, or within 3 clicks of a landing page. If you have any of these keywords on your website and you are not certified, you will likely need to use a standalone landing page for your ads that does not contain the keywords and does not link to the rest of your website in order to run ads for other products. You will not be able to run ads for these drugs but may still be able to run ads for other drugs or healthcare products and services without certification as long as you have a standalone landing page.
Healthcare companies that want to advertise for prescription drugs must obtain certification through LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification or the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) certification. Google and Meta will only take certifications from these companies. Similarly, promoting healthcare insurance requires certification by G2 Health Insurance Advertiser, ensuring compliance with platform policies and industry standards. If you are not able to get certified through these companies, you are not able to advertise for prescription drug keywords, use them in your ad copy, or have them on your landing page. You must use a standalone landing page if you mention them on your website within 3 clicks of your landing page, even if you are not advertising for those drugs.
Over-the-Counter drugs
OTC drugs are clearly laid out on Google’s transparency page.
Take note of the variances in Google’s ad policy for nonprescription drugs from what we previously mentioned with prescription drugs. While prescription drugs require certification, “in the United States, no certification is required for the promotion of over-the-counter medication.”
When advertising OTC products, however, be sure to separate them from any prescription drug mentioned on your website. Creating a standalone ad landing page that ensures no direct link to other parts of your website is a wise approach if you also sell prescription drugs. Additionally, OTC drugs must display their license number to meet regulatory requirements.
Experimental medical treatments
Experimental medical treatments are innovative approaches to healthcare that are not yet fully established or widely accepted within the medical community. They are also referred to as speculative medical treatments.
When it comes to advertising, platforms like Google and Meta have policies prohibiting ads for speculative and experimental medical treatments, including cell therapies and gene therapies. However, there’s an exception for treatments with FDA licenses or approvals, indicating a certain level of credibility and safety. If your treatment includes drug therapy, it must be certified in the same manner as prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, or supplements.
This case study demonstrates the opportunity for improving campaigns through careful healthcare ad strategy and planning from diligent ad campaign planning and management.
CBD, pharmaceuticals, or supplements
CBD, pharmaceuticals, and supplements are becoming more relevant in today’s holistic health world. Unlike Google, Meta Ads doesn’t have a predefined list of restricted items, which leaves the interpretation to Meta’s discretion. Meta Ads reserves the authority to disapprove pharmaceutical or supplement ads it deems hazardous. Google has a comprehensive list of supplements it does not allow on its platform, including weight-loss drugs, ephedra, and anabolic steroids, among others.
CBD advertisers on Google and Meta must have LegitScript certification, even for non-pharmaceutical, topical CBD products. They’re only permitted to display ads in California, Colorado, and Puerto Rico in the United States as of April 2024. These restrictions may change over time. Again, this also refers to mentions of CBD within 3 clicks of your landing page for ads for other products. If you mention CBD products on your website, you will likely need to create a standalone landing page for your Google Ads that does not link to the rest of your website in order to advertise your approved products.
Google Ads healthcare advertising regulations
If you are wondering how to use Google Ads to promote your healthcare business, Google’s list of healthcare regulations is valuable. Google Ads can be an essential part of your business’ digital marketing strategy due to the ability to target users looking for your products online. However, you want to make sure your Google Ads are approved and your account is not suspended due to restricted drugs.
Along with clarifying the regulations for the drug categories, Google’s healthcare regulations offer more examples of restricted products in detail, such as animal-related drugs, prescription opioids, HIV home tests, birth control, and more. Each has a detailed paragraph and helpful graphics.
Near the bottom of their guidelines are examples of disapprovals and how to troubleshoot them to get your ads approved and your account unsuspended.
In summary, advertisers should:
- Get certified to advertise for prescription drug services (online pharmacy, telemedicine)
- Include the license number for OTC drugs
- Make sure your ad targets allowed states and/or countries
- Use a standalone landing page if non-approved drugs or supplements are listed on your website
Meta healthcare advertising policy
Meta is a popular social media advertising platform for healthcare ads. Meta’s regulations are different from Google’s, which can be a bit trickier since a clear list of restricted drugs and products is not provided. In addition to specific drug restrictions, Meta’s Transparency Center has a section on personal health and appearance that helps advertisers stay in compliance with their restrictions.
Meta states, “Advertisers can’t run ads for health or appearance-related products that imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception.” For instance, you cannot tell users that they need to lose weight with your product, suggesting that they are fat.
Let’s break this down:
- DO use positive photos in your ads. Stick with happy and healthy people enjoying the outdoors.
- Do NOT use the word “you” in ad copy or copy on images/videos. Exclude copy like: “We can help you lose weight” or “Do you have eczema?”
- Do NOT use ad copy that suggests a person may have a certain medical condition or a negative body image.
- Do NOT use images or videos with a lot of skin (even of the back, arm, or leg). These may get flagged for sexually explicit images.
- Do NOT use before/after images or images of heavy people struggling to exercise or images of people scratching their skin.
In Meta, there are frequent standard updates for ads and advertisers. So, reviewing their guidelines regularly is important to successful campaign management. It can also be helpful to speak to a support representative to figure out what part of your ad or landing page caused the ad disapproval or account suspension. Like Google, your ads may need a standalone landing page if your website mentions restricted drugs, supplements, or treatments.
Conclusion
Complying with the nuances and varying regulations between digital platforms in healthcare advertising is no small task.
Google’s detailed guidelines offer clarity but are strict, while Meta’s policies present different challenges. Once you review each platform’s restrictions and define the type of drug you are advertising, you will have a much higher success rate with your digital ads.
Prescription drugs, pharmaceuticals, supplements, and CBD require certification, while OTC drugs do not but should be mentioned on a separate page. Experimental medical treatments are often prohibited unless approved by the FDA. If you mention any of these on your website and are not certified with Google or Meta, you may need to create a standalone landing page to advertise other approved products and services online.
The most successful healthcare campaigns leverage expert support for digital marketing. Working with an agency partner adds years of industry experience in overcoming rejections.
Are you ready to take the guesswork out of navigating healthcare ads? Perfect Search Media’s paid advertising experts understand how to resolve issues quickly and proactively design campaigns to limit downtime and reduce restrictions.
Contact Perfect Search to hit the easy button for paid ads in healthcare.