Is It Possible to Beat “A Place for Mom” in Google Ads?

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Can you beat apfm

One of the most common questions we get from our clients is this: “How can I beat ‘A Place for Mom’?”

We get it. Leads generated from aggregators are highly competitive and expensive. Why not take the money you pay to lead aggregators and use it for paid ad campaigns that promote your community instead?

But that question leads to an even bigger question: Can the average senior living community compete against lead aggregators in Google Search?

After all, A Place for Mom is a venture-backed company that not only earns revenue but also raises investor funding regularly. Their budgets are almost guaranteed to be higher than your average senior living community.

Our Director of Search, Chris Zook, addressed this topic in a recent podcast. We’re sharing highlights below, but we encourage you to listen to the whole episode.

First, here’s a quick refresher on how Google Search works.

Someone enters a search term (like “independent living communities”) into the Google search bar, and Google serves up results.

These results include AI Overviews, paid ads, and organic (unpaid) listings. We’ve written about these topics, so if any are new to you, check out these articles.

Now, back to the topic at hand . . .

Is it possible to beat “A Place for Mom” in Google Ads?

If A Place for Mom is advertising on Google and your community is advertising on Google, the addressable audience is the same—at least on paper.

But lead aggregators like A Place for Mom have deep pockets. They invest heavily in paid ads and search engine optimization (SEO). They employ people with expertise in Google Ads and Google Search, and they’ve been perfecting their techniques for years.

This is why A Place for Mom (and other big-name lead aggregators) dominate Google Search results, which can be discouraging for everyone else.

That’s the bad news. Now, some good news.

Google Search campaigns aren’t the only game in town.

While Google Search is Google’s “bread and butter” (Google makes billions from ad revenue), Google is also incredibly innovative. So Google Search isn’t the only game in town.

Google has a product called Performance Max, which allows businesses to promote their services or products in a single, consolidated campaign across the entire Google Network.

The Google Network is a collection of places where Google ads can appear, including Google sites, partner websites, and mobile apps.

If you’ve ever opened Gmail and noticed ads, that’s an example of the Google Network in action. Or if you’ve ever sat through an ad before watching a video on YouTube, that’s another example.

How Performance Max helps level the playing field

Even if A Place for Mom runs a Performance Max campaign in your area, there are so many different places where your ad can appear that you’re less likely to be in direct competition.

A Place for Mom’s ad might show up on YouTube one day while yours appears in Gmail the next.

Can using Performance Max help reduce your community’s reliance on A Place for Mom—and even compete against it?

In our podcast, Chris shares a client success story. (Listen to it starting at 16 minutes in.)

For this particular client, the answer has been yes. About eight months after the client gave Chris and his team the green light to use this approach, the client reached a point where 33% of its community roster successfully moved away from relying on A Place for Mom.

It’s important to note that this approach isn’t an overnight fix. But with time, effort, and a smart strategy, it is possible to rely less on big-name lead aggregators and successfully compete against them.

Would you like to beat A Place for Mom? Get in touch, and let’s talk.

Request a meeting with Chris so he can get a better understanding of your paid ad campaigns and potential next steps.