Google Health & Medical Policy 2026 — What Changed for India | ICG

Author: Abhash Kumar · Co-Founder, ICG · IIT BHU + IIM Bangalore · July 2026

Google's Healthcare and Medicines advertising policies govern what healthcare advertisers can promote, to whom, and in what format on Google Search, YouTube, Google Display, and Performance Max. India-specific policy changes in 2025-2026 have direct operational impact on every healthcare clinic and hospital running Google Ads.

The 4 most significant 2026 policy changes for Indian healthcare advertisers

Change 1: Healthcare Advertiser Certification expanded to more categories

Google's healthcare advertiser verification programme — which requires advertisers to certify that they are legitimate healthcare businesses before running certain types of healthcare ads — expanded to new categories in India in late 2025. Categories now requiring certification include: fertility treatments, cosmetic procedures, mental health services, and dietary supplement brands making healthcare claims.

Practical impact: Clinics in these categories that have not completed Google's healthcare advertiser certification may experience ad disapproval or account suspension. ICG completes certification for all new healthcare clients as part of account onboarding.

How to certify: Applications are submitted through Google Ads > Policy Manager > Healthcare certifications. Required documentation: business registration, clinic licence (CEA registration), and in some categories, confirmation of licensed practitioner status.

Change 2: Personalised advertising restrictions extended

Google extended its restrictions on personalised advertising based on inferred or actual health conditions. Advertisers can no longer target ads to users based on inferred health conditions derived from their browsing history (even in categories not explicitly restricted previously).

Practical impact: The shift to first-party data audiences (website visitor remarketing, customer match from clinic CRM) becomes more important. Third-party interest-based targeting for health-condition-specific audiences is increasingly restricted.

ICG's response: All health client campaigns shifted to first-party data audiences as primary targeting, supplemented by demographic and location targeting. Interest-based targeting retained only for non-condition-specific audience segments (yoga enthusiasts, fitness interest — not "people interested in diabetes treatment").

Change 3: Call extensions and call-only ads re-enabled for most healthcare categories

After a period of restriction, Google re-enabled call extensions and call-only ads for most Indian healthcare categories in 2025. This reversed an earlier restriction that had significantly impacted healthcare clinics whose primary conversion channel is the phone call.

Practical impact: For clinics where patients prefer to call (GP, paediatrics, cardiology OPD), call extensions are now an important CTR and conversion driver. ICG's Google Ads accounts for phone-primary clinics have been updated to include call extensions across all relevant campaigns.

Change 4: Performance Max and AI-driven campaigns require additional healthcare guardrails

Google's Performance Max campaigns — which give Google's AI maximum control over creative, placement, and audience — have expanded their healthcare category reach. For healthcare advertisers, PMax requires additional guardrails to prevent AI-generated creative from producing NMC-non-compliant ad variations.

ICG's PMax approach for healthcare: strict asset group controls (each asset group reviewed for NMC compliance before submission), exclusion lists (negative URL categories to prevent healthcare ads appearing in inappropriate placement contexts), and conversion event specification (healthcare PMax campaigns must be optimised on consultation-attendance-quality events, not volume events).

Google's healthcare content policies vs NMC Section 6

The two frameworks are complementary but not identical:

Where Google's policy is stricter than NMC: follow Google's policy (ad will not run otherwise). Where NMC is stricter than Google's policy: follow NMC (the ad may run on Google but creates NMC complaint exposure). ICG applies the stricter of the two frameworks to all healthcare ad creative.

FAQ

Q1: How do I check if my Google Ads account needs healthcare certification? In Google Ads: navigate to Tools > Policy Manager. If your account is flagged for healthcare verification, you'll see a notification there. Alternatively, ad disapprovals citing "Healthcare and medicines — healthcare certification required" indicate the certification need. ICG handles certification for all new client accounts as part of the onboarding process.

Q2: Can I use video testimonials in Google Display or YouTube Ads? Yes — with NMC Section 6 compliance (documented DPDP consent, journey format not outcome guarantee, face visible is permitted with consent) and compliance with Google's endorsement and testimonial policies (testimonials must be genuine, reflect authentic experience, not be misleading). ICG reviews video testimonials for both Google policy compliance and NMC compliance before using in paid ad campaigns.

Q3: What is the appeal process if my Google Ad is disapproved for healthcare policy reasons? In Google Ads: Policy Manager > View all policy issues > Find the disapproval > Click "Appeal." The appeal requires explanation of how the ad complies with the relevant policy. For certification-related disapprovals, the fastest resolution is completing the certification rather than appealing. ICG manages the disapproval-to-resolution process for all managed accounts, typically resolving within 3-5 business days.

Compliance note: Google Healthcare and Medicines Policy (current as of July 2026), NMC Section 6, DPDP Act 2023.