Google Ads are one of the strongest channels for reaching high-intent senior living prospects. But if your costs feel less predictable than they used to, you’re not imagining it.
In a recent episode of Senior Living Marketing Perspectives, Debbie Howard spoke with Chris Zook, SLS’s Director of Search, about what’s changing in paid search, why costs are rising, and how senior living operators should think about Google Ads in 2026.
Below, we’ve captured some of Chris’s key insights about the rising costs of Google Ads—and what senior living operators should do next.
Executive Summary: What’s Driving Higher Paid Search Costs
- Google Ads remain a strong channel for reaching high-intent senior living prospects, but costs are becoming less predictable.
- Chris Zook, SLS’s Director of Search, points to Google’s growing reliance on AI as one likely driver of rising costs.
- Branded searches that used to be relatively low-cost may now pull more competitors into the auction.
- More senior living communities are investing in paid search, creating a more crowded and competitive environment.
- Recent changes to Google have impacted users’ abilities to see and interact with ads.
- Operators should review search terms, auction insights, AI visibility, and lead nurturing before assuming the answer is simply a bigger budget.
Table of Contents
Why Are Senior Living Google Ads Getting More Expensive?
What Should Senior Living Operators Do Next?
Final Takeaway: Google Ads Still Work, But You Need to Revisit the Playbook.
Why Are Senior Living Google Ads Getting More Expensive?
There isn’t one clean answer. According to Chris, several things are happening at once: Google is relying more heavily on AI, more senior living communities are investing in paid search, and families are changing how they search for care options online.
Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Reason #1: Google’s internal systems have almost all transitioned to AI.
One of the biggest changes Chris points to is Google’s growing reliance on AI inside its ad platform.
Performance Max was one step in that direction, giving Google more control over where ads appear across its channels. AI Max pushed search campaigns further into that same territory. Instead of relying mostly on manual inputs from the advertiser, Google is doing more of the work itself: matching intent, interpreting language, and deciding which brands or communities might be relevant.
In senior living, that can get messy, especially with branded searches.
A branded search is when someone searches for your community by name. In theory, that should be one of the cleanest, lowest-cost searches in your account. The person is already looking for your community. They didn’t search “assisted living near me” or “memory care in Boston.” They searched for your community by name.
But Chris said SLS saw one client’s branded search cost jump from roughly $1 per click one month to $45 the next. That kind of increase raises an obvious question: Why would a community suddenly have to pay that much for a click on its own name?
Chris’s best read is that Google’s AI may be associating the brand name with the broader senior living category in that local market. So, when someone searches for the community by name, Google may decide the search is also relevant to other senior living advertisers nearby. We’ve also learned that searching for addresses of other communities or local medical providers can cause AI to serve your ad, even when the address doesn’t belong to your senior living community.
That does not necessarily mean these competitors intentionally sat down and decided to bid on that community’s name. But it may mean they turned on a more automated Google Ads feature, and Google started making broader assumptions for them.
The result: A search that used to be relatively protected and budget-friendly may now pull more competitors into the auction. And when more advertisers are competing for the same click, the cost can climb quickly.
Reason #2: More senior living communities are getting serious about Google Ads.
The second factor is simpler: There are more communities in the Google Ads game.
Chris said the senior living industry has become more sophisticated about digital marketing over the last year or two. Operators are asking better questions. Plus, more communities understand Google Ads and are investing in paid search more than ever before.
This creates a crowded environment with more competitors. And we’re not just talking about the community down the street. Your competitors can include communities in nearby towns, referral platforms, or operators experimenting with broader geotargeting to see if they can pull prospects from neighboring markets.
That matters because Google Ads is still an auction. If more advertisers are showing up for the same searches, costs can rise.
Chris’s bigger warning is that the market might get even more crowded because as more senior living organizations see paid search working, they’re likely to invest in it.
Reason #3: Families are searching differently, and AI is accelerating the shift.
Chris said SLS is seeing a decline in traditional senior living keyword volume in some markets. In one example, “assisted living near me” went from roughly 60 searches per month to 10, or even zero. At the same time, searches for in-home care are rising.
That matters because it changes the paid search landscape. Families might be earlier in the decision-making process. Or they might be comparing assisted living to home care or might not yet know what level of care they need.
AI is part of that shift, too. Chris’s point is that people were already starting to talk to Google more like a person before AI became mainstream. Now, that behavior has accelerated. Instead of typing a short phrase like “assisted living near me,” families may ask longer, more specific questions about a parent’s age, diagnosis, needs, location, budget, or lifestyle. (For example, “What’s the best senior living for an 85-year-old with Parkinson’s who needs a pool every day?”)
Google is still the dominant player in search, according to Chris. But he also sees ChatGPT and Claude as the biggest threats to that dominance. The platform matters, but the bigger issue for operators is the behavior behind it: Prospects are asking more detailed questions, expecting faster answers, and doing more research before they ever become a lead.
What Should Senior Living Operators Do Next?
Rising costs do not mean Google Ads no longer work. But they do mean operators need to be more disciplined about where their money is going, what the data is showing, and how quickly leads are being written off.
Here are four places to start.
Look at search terms, not just the keywords.
Your keyword list shows what you intended to target. Your Google search terms report shows what people actually typed into Search to see your ad.
Chris recommends reviewing that report over the last 30 days and over a longer period, such as the past year. Then sort by conversions.
Look for:
- Search terms that led to calls or form fills
- Longer, more conversational phrases
- New language that families are using
- Home-care-related searches
- Terms you may need to block, build around, or rethink
Decide if you want to compete for those phrases. For example, we mentioned the rise in searches around home-based care. That might be a content strategy to focus on: becoming an authority on home-based care vs. assisted living and creating content around the pros and cons of each, the costs, and interactive quizzes to help people decide. You get the idea.
Use Google’s auction insights to understand who you’re competing against.
If your costs are climbing, don’t just guess who is driving the pressure. Auction insights can show which advertisers (i.e., your competitors) are appearing in the same Google Ads environment as your community.
Chris notes that these competitors may not be the obvious ones. They might be nearby communities, larger platforms, or operators experimenting outside their immediate market.
That context matters before you decide whether to raise the budget, adjust targeting, or try a different approach.
Set up Bing Webmaster Tools.
Google is still top dog. But ChatGPT and Claude are real threats to how families search for answers. And because ChatGPT uses Bing’s index, Chris recommends making sure Bing Webmaster Tools is set up.
The practical reason is simple: Strong Google visibility does not automatically translate to strong ChatGPT visibility. Microsoft and OpenAI signed a deal early in ChatGPT’s development that permitted ChatGPT to scan Bing for information throughout the Internet. That means if you’re not using Bing Webmaster Tools to manage your presence on that search engine, ChatGPT is going to have a very hard time finding your website and showing it to searchers.
Stop treating leads that go quiet as dead leads.
When paid search costs go up, it becomes even more important to work the leads you already have in your CRM.
Chris points to automated lead nurturing and reengagement campaigns as an overlooked opportunity in senior living. Families may go quiet for many reasons: guilt, overwhelm, denial, timing, or the emotional weight of realizing a parent or spouse needs more care. But that does not always mean they are gone for good.
A light-touch email, phone call, or voicemail can reopen the conversation without pressuring the family before they’re ready. It’s worth noting that email has one of the highest ROIs among digital marketing channels. It can get as high as $42 of revenue for every $1 spent.
Final Takeaway: Google Ads Still Work, And You Need to Revisit the Playbook.
Google Ads are not going away in senior living. As Chris points out, Google remains one of the best channels for reaching high-intent prospects, even as costs rise, and the environment becomes more competitive.
But the old playbook needs a closer look. If branded clicks are getting more expensive, competitors are crowding into your market, and families are searching in new ways, “spend more” can’t be the only answer.
Operators need to understand what’s happening inside the account: which searches are converting, who else is showing up, where visibility may be shifting, and whether leads are being nurtured after the first touch.
At SLS, we help senior living communities look under the hood of their paid ads accounts and make the best use of their budget. Want a second opinion on your Google Ads account? Reach out to SLS for a paid search audit.
