Intent Tier Analysis in Healthcare Google Ads: How We Classify Every Search Term Before Spending a Rupee

By Raman Soni, Head of Performance Marketing at ICG.

If you run Google Ads for a healthcare clinic, you already know that not all clicks are equal. A patient searching "IVF cost Delhi" is fundamentally different from someone searching "how does IVF work", even though both might trigger the same campaign.

The difference is intent. And if your account treats both clicks the same, your bid algorithm is learning from noise.

At ICG, every search term that touches a healthcare account gets classified into one of eight intent tiers before a single rupee of bid is set. This is not a one-time exercise. It is a weekly process that runs on every account we manage. This post explains the framework, why it exists, and what the data reveals when you apply it.

Why standard Google Ads reporting hides the real problem

A standard campaign performance report shows you impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost. It does not tell you that 55% of your spend is going to location-intent queries with a ₹377 CPA, while cost-and-booking-intent queries (where patients are actively deciding) are getting only 1.7% of budget at a ₹245 CPA.

That is the actual finding from a live account. The algorithm optimised for volume. The intent tier analysis revealed where the money should go instead.

The 8-tier framework

Tier 1: Branded

Searches that include your clinic name. These are yours to lose. The patient already knows you. Bid to maintain top position at the lowest CPC possible. CPA is artificially low here because intent is pre-formed. Do not use this tier's CPA to benchmark the rest of the account.

Tier 2: Competitor

Searches for competing clinic names. Run separately in a dedicated campaign with aggressive match types. The CPC will be high, but the patient is actively comparing, meaning conversion probability is higher than most non-branded tiers.

Tier 3: Treatment Intent

The core of any healthcare account. "IVF treatment Delhi", "hair transplant clinic", "dermatologist for acne". Patient knows what they need, is searching for a provider. This tier should carry the majority of quality budget.

Tier 3 (sub): Cost and Booking Intent

A sub-tier that deserves separate budget. "IVF cost in Gurgaon", "hair transplant price", "book dermatologist appointment". These are patients in the final decision stage. CPA in this sub-tier is consistently the lowest across the account. It is almost always under-funded in accounts we inherit.

Tier 4: Doctor and Specialist

"Best IVF doctor in Delhi", "top fertility specialist", "hair transplant surgeon Gurgaon". Trust-seeking queries. Conversion rates are high but CPC is elevated. Match to doctor-specific landing pages.

Tier 5: Location Intent

"Fertility clinic near me", "dermatologist in South Delhi", "hospital Gurgaon". High volume. Moderate CPA. The risk is that location queries attract patients who are browsing, not deciding, leading to high click volume but diluted conversion rates.

In the account shown above, Location Intent carried 55.2% of total spend. Treatment Intent carried 20.4%. That ratio is the opposite of what a well-optimised account looks like.

Tier 6: Symptom and Condition

"PCOS treatment", "hair loss cause", "anxiety symptoms". Top-of-funnel. The patient has a problem but may not know the solution involves your clinic. Conversion rates are low. These clicks feed brand awareness and future retargeting, not immediate appointments.

Tier 7: Research and How-to

"How does IVF work", "what is a hair transplant", "types of depression". Pure research intent. Almost never converts to a direct appointment. These queries consume budget without producing patients. Exclude or apply aggressive negative bid adjustments.

Tier 8: Irrelevant

Everything else. "IVF meaning in Hindi", competitor clinic staff names, unrelated medical queries triggered by broad match. These go to the negative keyword list immediately.

What this analysis changes

Once every search term is classified, three decisions become obvious:

1. Reallocation: Move budget from T5 (Location) to T3 (Treatment + Cost Intent). In the account above, this is a ₹73K to ₹6K rebalancing for immediate CPA improvement.

2. Match type discipline: T8 queries appearing in your search term report are always a broad match problem. Tier classification makes this systematic rather than reactive.

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3. Landing page matching: T4 (Doctor/Specialist) queries should land on doctor profile pages, not the homepage. T3 Cost queries should land on transparent pricing pages. Without intent classification, these connections are impossible to make at scale.

What we do with this data

Every ICG-managed healthcare account runs tier classification weekly. The output feeds into five other analyses: cluster analysis (themes within tiers), cross-firing audit (cannibalisations between tiers), dayparting (which tiers are active at which hours), QS health (which tier's keywords have the most room for improvement), and Beacon attribution (which tier's conversions actually become paying patients).

Together, these six analyses form the ICG Google Ads Data Model. The intent tier classification is the foundation.