Abstract:
When seeking help for health problems, a majority of individuals now look online first. There they are confronted with millions of results and typically visit only a few toplisted websites. As a consequence, being noticed is a significant problem for psychologists who use online tools to recruit help-seeking persons to either research studies or professional
practices. The salience of a psychologist’s online presence can be increased through the
use pay-per-click
(PPC) advertisements that, for a price, appear near the top of the search
results listings. The potential of PPC advertising to recruit a clinical sample for a research
survey on childhood obsessive-compulsive
disorders (OCD) was tested in this
proof-of-concept
case study using Google AdwordsTM. We created and implemented ads
whose appearance on searchers screens was triggered by selected keywords that
matched the content of our website landing page. Ads were displayed in 11 selected
geographic locations worldwide and were aimed at parents of children with OCD. Over a
16-week
campaign 183 participants completed our survey at an average cost of $27 per
survey completion. Detailed keyword phrases were most effective, and geographical
variation was notable. The results show that PPC advertising can be cost effective for the
recruitment of participants to studies on a specialized clinical topic. Moreover, because
PPC ads can be restricted to small geographic areas, online advertising may also be cost
effective for making psychological services known to potential local clients.
