PPC for therapists and private practices
For a solo practice with six openings a quarter, the honest answer about paid search is usually a very small budget or none at all. For a group practice with clinicians to fill, it is a different conversation entirely.
For most practices, a small budget is the right budget
Therapy clicks are expensive, the category is restricted in what may be said, and the capacity being filled is measured in a handful of weekly slots. A solo clinician who needs four new clients has a marketing problem that directory listings, referrals and a good website solve more cheaply than an ad account will. Saying so costs us work and it is the correct advice, and any agency proposing a substantial monthly budget for a single-clinician practice should be asked to show the arithmetic first.
Where paid search does work is where there is real capacity or a genuine specialism: a group practice with several clinicians and empty calendars, a cash-pay specialty whose fee justifies the click cost, a new location, an intensive program, or recruiting clinicians — which in this profession is frequently the harder problem. In those cases the leaks are ordinary: insurance research, students, people looking for free services, crisis searches that must be handled responsibly rather than bid on, and clicks from outside the states you are licensed in.
- RoomA budget sized to actual openings, not to a monthly retainer
- 1stNegatives first — free, degree, school, jobs, salary, licensure, as patterns
- StateTargeting matched to where each clinician is licensed to practice
- CareCrisis-related searches handled responsibly rather than bid on
From our audit playbook. Client results on the case studies page.
How we run Google Ads for therapy practices
Sized to real capacity
A budget calculated from the number of openings and the fee, not from a standard package. If four clients a month is the goal, the account should be small, tightly targeted and switched off when the caseload fills, which is a very different service from managing a permanent spend.
Specialty campaigns, not practice campaigns
Trauma, couples work, adolescents, ADHD assessment, eating disorder support — each with its own campaign and its own page. Generic therapy terms are expensive and undifferentiated; specialty terms cost less, convert better and reach people who have already worked out what they need.
Licensing and geography respected exactly
Campaigns limited to the states each clinician is licensed in, with landing pages that say so. Telehealth widens the map only as far as licensure does, and an account that ignores this spends real money on people who cannot become clients.
Recruiting treated as its own account
For group practices, clinician hiring is often the binding constraint, and it is a search problem with its own keywords and its own landing page — caseload expectations, pay structure, supervision, administrative support. It is frequently worth more than the client-facing campaign.
The channel that mostly does not suit this work
Directory listings, a website that sounds like a person, published fees and a current statement of availability will fill a solo caseload more cheaply than advertising ever will. Ads belong where there is unused capacity, a cash-pay specialty, a new location or clinicians to hire. That is not a limitation of the channel so much as an accurate description of a profession whose capacity is measured in weekly hours.
SEO for therapists, explained the same way Or read the plain SEO vs PPC comparison
Therapy PPC, answered plainly
Should a solo therapist run Google Ads?
Usually not, or only at a small budget for a specific specialty. The clicks are expensive, the capacity is tiny, and directories plus a good website generally fill a solo caseload for less. If somebody proposes a large monthly spend for one clinician, ask to see the arithmetic on a full caseload.
When does paid search make sense for a practice?
When there is unused capacity: several clinicians with openings, a new location, an intensive or group program, or a cash-pay specialty whose fee supports the click cost. Also for recruiting, which in a group practice is often the real constraint.
Are there advertising restrictions we should know about?
Yes. Mental health is a sensitive category, personalized advertising is limited, certain claims are not permitted, and enforcement varies. Write plainly about who you help and how you work, keep clinical detail on your own pages, and expect the rules to change periodically.
What about people searching in crisis?
Those searches should not be treated as acquisition. Handle them responsibly — clear signposting on the site, appropriate exclusions in the account — and do not build campaigns around them. This is a place where the commercially attractive option and the right one differ.
How should we measure it?
Clients who begin and attend, not form submissions. With small numbers the honest position is that the account needs a few months to say anything reliable, and any report claiming certainty after three weeks of a six-client-a-quarter practice is not measuring anything.
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