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Using Google Search Ads to Promote Lethal Means Safety in Military Veterans
Alan R Teo1,2, Sean P M Rice3, Summer Newell1
1VA Portland Health Care System, Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC), Portland, OR, USA.
Crisis
|March 26, 2026
Summary
Google Ads effectively promoted lethal means safety (LMS) among veterans. Targeting general VA inquiries and resources, rather than suicide-specific terms, yielded higher engagement for this veteran suicide prevention campaign.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Digital Health Interventions
- Suicide Prevention
Background:
- Limited research exists on Google Ads for public health, especially for suicide prevention and lethal means safety (LMS) among military veterans.
- Lethal means safety (LMS) is a critical component of suicide prevention strategies.
- Veterans face unique challenges and are a priority population for suicide prevention efforts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a national lethal means safety (LMS) campaign for US veterans using Google Ads.
- To analyze engagement rates, specifically click-through rates (CTR), across various Google Ad search term categories.
- To inform future digital outreach strategies for veteran suicide prevention.
Main Methods:
- Secondary data analysis of Google Ads from the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) 'Keep It Secure' LMS campaign (July 2022 - May 2023).
- Categorization of user search queries into 10 distinct themes using an inductive, iterative qualitative approach.
- Generalized mixed modeling to compare click-through rates (CTR) across identified search categories.
Main Results:
- The campaign achieved 1,849,077 impressions and 342,747 clicks, with an overall CTR of 18.5%.
- Engagement varied significantly by search category (p < .001).
- Highest CTRs were observed for 'General VA Inquiries' (30.0%) and 'Veteran Resources' (23.0%), while 'Firearm Storage' (4.6%) and 'Suicidal Ideation' (1.3%) had the lowest engagement.
Conclusions:
- Google Ads can drive high engagement for lethal means safety (LMS) educational campaigns targeting veterans.
- A 'side-door' approach, focusing on general VA information and veteran resources, appears more effective for reaching veterans not in acute crisis.
- This strategy may be more successful than employing direct firearm or suicide-related keywords for LMS outreach.
Keywords:
Department of Veterans AffairsGoogle keyword search adfirearm storagegun safetypublic health campaignMore Related Videos
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