Targeting your senior living ads to a qualified individual allows you to stretch your marketing budget further, so that you can ultimately help more people. Senior living communities thrive on reaching specific communities in a way that is both complex and budget sensitive. Advanced ad targeting techniques are vital, allowing marketers to deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment.
Explore how you can effectively identify and reach your ideal residents with digital channels, combining your paid media and local SEO strategies, and more.
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Who should senior living marketers target?
It’s important that senior living marketing ad strategies start by reaching the right people. Targeting your ads to reach the most qualified individual will allow you to stretch your marketing budget further, ultimately allowing you to help those that need you most.

By 2030, all baby boomers will be 65 or older , which is expected to increase the rate of senior living occupancy needed. While we view age and vitality differently as the lifetime expectancy of generations increases, it doesn’t remove the fact that baby boomers and their families may have to consider how they may need senior living facilities in the future.
That doesn’t remove the fact that generations beyond boomers are facing similar challenges in finding the right communities and facilities.
The importance of building your audience research
Understanding your audience is crucial for any marketer, but particularly for senior living communities looking to attract new residents. By examining the common traits of prospects seeking various service lines, smaller operations or stand-alone communities can effectively gather first-party data from basic intake data. Aggregating responses from questions asked during the qualification process, or while scheduling tours, communities can develop a clearer picture of the characteristics and needs of future residents.
Valuable insights can also be drawn from website analytics, helping to refine marketing messaging and strategies. Ultimately, the goal is to understand and communicate the compelling reasons why individuals should choose to make your community their new home.
It’s also important to understand what kind of information can or can’t be gleaned from your advertising, depending on the stage of the funnel that you’re advertising in. This can vary, based on:
Building brand awareness among senior living prospects
You’re unlikely to be able to gain direct leads from your awareness marketing. The purpose of these campaigns is to set the long-term groundwork for brand recall and recognition from your target prospects. While targeting for awareness campaigns is often on the more general end, the effort is worth it to reach your prospects and remind them who you are.
Engaging prospects during the consideration phase
In the consideration stage, your aim is to drive engagement. This campaign type, which can include retargeting to refine your audience, will help a patient or caretaker keep you in mind as they continue their search for a senior living community.
Converting senior living leads into residents
For non-search leads and appointments, your messaging will likely be too niche for the awareness stage, and too limiting for the consideration stage. Be wary of making your audience too tight or limited, even if the platform’s targeting is ideal. You can utilize your Google Business Profile’s knowledge panel to highlight the most pertinent information about your facility.
For search leads, focus on phrase and exact match types for keywords to allow for better term and budget control.

How should senior living marketers target their ads?
Depending on what stage of the funnel your ideal resident prospect is in, your targeting channel and positioning should change. This can include:
The top of the funnel: building brand awareness
For prospects in the awareness stage, brand awareness and recall are two key factors. You want to increase visibility across a broad audience, particularly people with an in-market interest in care and housing.
Prioritizing channels and formats that boost visibility, such as video across display and social, can help reach key decision makers where they spend their time online. By creating compelling visuals and messaging that speaks to their needs, you can create a strong first impression and drive awareness of your senior living community.
The middle of the funnel: the consideration phase
When reaching prospects in the consideration phase, your focus should shift to driving site engagement. You want to draw the audience that’s actively looking for insight and support. It’s important to continue social and video focus at this time, while adding search marketing. By providing valuable information, testimonials, and resources that address their questions and concerns, you can foster deeper connections and encourage further exploration.
The bottom of the funnel: converting leads into residents
Once in the leads phase, your primary objective is to drive referrals. This occurs once prospective residents or caregivers are far enough along in their journey that they’ve identified their particular set of needs from a senior living facility. Tapping into social media and search marketing using lookalike and segmented audiences will help you directly target individuals that are most likely to convert to leads.
By showcasing tailored offers, success stories, and marketing that directly addresses their specific requirements, you can encourage them to take the next step.
Conversion: ready-to-move prospects
To reach senior living prospects that are in the move-in phase, the objective should be to drive qualified residents. This involves focusing on a niche audience that closely matches specific residential criteria. Tapping into targeted search marketing using demographic data will help you reach prospects that are ready to make a decision. By personalizing and tailoring your messaging, and employing CTAs that speak to their unique circumstance, you can encourage those prospects to secure a place in your community.
Local SEO opportunities for your senior living facility
Local SEO will help grow organic traffic for your business. If you’re new to optimizing your local SEO, it’s important to get every one of your branches or locations shown on the Local Map Pack, and to get each of your locations shown at the top of the SERP.
When optimizing to improve your rankings, there are several areas of low-hanging fruit, including:
Q&As
Prospective residents often pose questions on a Google Business Profile, and many of these questions go unanswered. These questions can impact reputation, trust, CTRs, and overall engagement.
Photos
Many Google Business Profiles are missing key images of the interior and exterior of their facilities. The use of images can impact rankings, online visibility, and increase engagement.
Reviews
There are four factors that Google uses to rate reviews for your business: Number of reviews, star rating, review recency, and review quality. Like Q&As, the presence of review can impact rankings, visibility, trust, and increase your engagement.
Your competitors are likely landing higher in the SERPs due in part to their reviews. You can generate these reviews by reaching out to residents and caretakers through text message, custom QR code signage in your facility, over email, or by verbally asking them.
Location Pages
Google uses location pages to understand what you do and where you do it. Do you have location pages, and are they fully optimized? If not, it’s time to make changes. Combining high-quality content and hyper-local details will result in better customer experience and better search performance.
Along with the standard business information, location pages should include details that are specific to the area, such as nearby landmarks, popular cross streets, or notable attractions. Providing this information not only helps customers find your business more easily but also alerts search engines to the fact that the page gives users relevant and truly helpful content.
Another important aspect to consider is addressing practical concerns that potential customers may have, such as parking options and accessibility. Including information about parking availability can be incredibly helpful for visitors. Providing details about public transportation options and mentioning if locations are wheelchair accessible can make the page more informative and useful.
Google Business Products & Pages
Most businesses are not properly using Posts and Products to showcase the amenities and services that they offer. Add a unique UTM code to each link for your Posts and Products. This will allow you to accurately track, assess, and improve performance.
Combining your paid media and local SEO strategies
Consider where your keyword strategies overlap across paid media and local SEO. Are there areas where they overlap? Are some keywords too expensive to pay for?
Make your targeting decisions strategically. Where possible, repurposing top performing SEO content and incorporating specific, ad related content.

With all of the campaign types and first-data being gathered, use Google Analytics to identify organic and paid search trends. If the two align, it’s likely easier to align a clear marketplace or demand. If they don’t align, strategize paid media and local SEO separately.
Strategize and target confidently
By understanding the distinct phases of the customer journey—awareness, consideration, leads, and move-ins—you can tailor your strategies to effectively connect with the right audiences. As the population ages, the demand for targeted outreach will only intensify.
Leveraging first-party data, local SEO, and a strategic combination of paid media can help senior living marketers reach prospective residents at critical moments in their decision-making process. By refining your targeting approaches and optimizing your digital presence, you can not only stretch your budgets further, but also ensure you’re providing the care and support that individuals and families need during this transition.
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