Most advice about Google Ads for therapists is written by marketers who have never run a practice or had to follow a college’s advertising standards. I run two multidisciplinary clinics on the Saanich Peninsula, Saanichton Chiropractic and Brentwood Chiropractic Group, and together they bring in 100 to 150 new patients a month, almost entirely through Google Ads. I also run SEO Medics, an agency that manages Google Ads for clinics across Canada, including counselling practices.
This guide is for counsellors, psychotherapists and group mental health practices. It covers the rules you need to know before you launch, the keywords and structure that work, what it costs, and the situations where Google Ads isn’t the right tool.
Why Google Ads fits counselling practices
Mental health demand in Canada is high, but individual therapists are hard to find in search. Large directories such as Psychology Today invest heavily in SEO and take up much of page one. Google Ads lets an individual counsellor or clinic appear above those listings when someone searches for a therapist in their area.
That’s the key difference from social media ads. On Instagram you’re interrupting people who weren’t looking for you. On Google you’re reaching someone who has already decided to see a therapist and is choosing who to contact. You don’t need to convince them; you need to be there, and look like the right fit.
The rules to know before you launch
Mental health ads sit under two sets of rules: Google’s advertising policies and your professional standards. Most disapprovals and complaints come from not knowing one of them.
Google’s health policies
- No remarketing on mental health. Google’s health in personalized advertising policy doesn’t allow advertiser audiences such as remarketing lists, customer match or lookalike segments to target people based on health conditions. Mental health counselling is one of Google’s own examples. We run search campaigns only for counselling clients for this reason.
- No pressure or fear. Ad copy that creates urgency through distress is likely to be disapproved, and it breaches most professional standards too.
- No unprovable comparisons. “Best therapist in Vancouver” or “most effective anxiety treatment” will get flagged.
- Addiction services need certification. Since early 2025, addiction treatment providers in Canada need LegitScript certification before Google will run their ads. If your scope includes substance use counselling, look into this before you build the campaign.
Your professional standards
Counselling isn’t yet a regulated profession in BC. The BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC) is a professional association that grants the RCC designation, not a regulator. That’s changing: the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC will begin licensing psychotherapy on November 29, 2027, and its standards will then apply to your ads.
Until then, follow your association’s code of ethics, especially on client testimonials, outcome claims and how you present your credentials. In Ontario, the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) already regulates psychotherapy and sets advertising rules.
Privacy
Contact forms, call tracking and booking systems collect personal information, so they fall under Canadian privacy law. Make sure your privacy policy covers them, and don’t set up tracking that sends health details to Google.
Compliant doesn’t have to mean bland. “Anxiety and trauma counselling in Victoria BC, accepting new clients” is compliant, warm and specific.
Keywords that bring in clients
Target people looking for a therapist, not people looking up a symptom. Searches like “feeling anxious”, “depression help” or “can’t sleep” come from people still researching. They’re expensive and rarely book.
Keywords that tend to convert:
- “therapist [city]” and “counsellor [city]”
- “anxiety therapy [city]” and “depression counselling [city]”
- “trauma therapist [city]” and “EMDR therapist BC”
- “CBT therapist [city]” and “couples counselling [city]”
- “therapist accepting new clients [city]”
Specific modalities such as EMDR, Gottman Method or teen counselling often perform especially well, because the search tells you exactly what the person wants.
Negative keywords to add before launch: “free therapy”, “therapy jobs”, “become a therapist”, “therapy courses”, “student counselling”, “therapy worksheets”, “self-help”, and the names of online therapy platforms. These filter out job seekers, students and people looking for free resources.
How to structure the campaign
Keep it tight and high-intent. Therapists don’t need broad awareness campaigns; you want to capture people who are already searching. Give each core service its own ad group so the ad matches the search. For a Victoria practice, that might look like:
- Ad group 1: General therapist or counsellor, Victoria
- Ad group 2: Anxiety therapy, Victoria
- Ad group 3: Couples counselling, Victoria
- Ad group 4: Trauma and EMDR therapy, BC
- Ad group 5: Online therapy, BC-wide (if you offer virtual sessions)
Each ad group should send people to a page about that service, not your homepage.
Geo-targeting
One of the most common errors we find is a campaign left targeting all of Canada. Clicks can then come from anywhere, including places you’d never see a client from. Target a radius around your office: roughly 5–10 km in a city, or 20–25 km in a rural area where you need a larger footprint to get enough searches.
Online and in-person as separate campaigns
If you see clients virtually, you can target your whole province (or every province you’re licensed to practise in). Online therapy often finds strong demand in smaller communities with few local options. Run it as its own campaign with its own budget, because the keywords, ads and landing pages differ from your in-person campaign.
What it costs
In the Canadian counselling accounts we manage, a solo practice typically starts around $699 a month in ad spend and sees roughly 7–14 new client enquiries a month, at about $50–$100 per enquiry. Vancouver and Toronto sit at the high end or above, especially for anxiety and depression searches. Smaller cities usually come in lower. Group practices generally need more budget, because they’re filling several caseloads.
You can test the channel for less. Around $300 a month is a workable minimum in most mid-sized Canadian cities, and it’s also enough to qualify for Google’s new-account promotional credit in many cases. Terms vary by account, so check how the Google Ads credit works before you launch.
The budget matters less than the setup. As one example from our own accounts, a solo Registered Clinical Counsellor reached a full caseload with a waiting list within 12 weeks, at $22 per new client enquiry. That’s a best case, but it shows what a tight, well-targeted campaign can do.
Look at the whole client, not the first session
A common mistake is judging each click against one session’s fee. At $150–$200 a session over 8–15 sessions, a new client is often worth $1,200–$3,000 or more in revenue, before counting the people they refer. Our guide to whether Google Ads is worth it for a clinic shows how to work out your own break-even number.
Watch how your agency is paid
If an agency charges a percentage of your ad spend, it earns more when you spend more, whether or not you get more clients. One therapist who came to us was paying an agency on that model with nearly $2,000 a month going into the account. After switching to our flat monthly fee, their spend dropped and their results improved, because the campaign was finally set up to bring clients in, not to raise the bill.
The landing page, and everything around it
People searching for a therapist are often having a hard time. The page they land on should make them feel safe and make reaching out easy:
- A headline that matches the ad. “Anxiety counselling in Victoria BC, accepting new clients.”
- Your credentials, visible without scrolling. RCC, RSW, CCC or your other designation.
- One simple way to reach you. A short contact form, a phone number or online booking, not all three competing.
- A brief description of your approach. Enough for someone to feel you might be the right fit.
- No long intake form. Get the first contact, then gather details.
- Fees and coverage. If you offer a sliding scale or direct billing to extended health plans, say so. It removes a common reason people hesitate.
Our healthcare landing page guide goes into more detail.
The landing page is only one piece. Before calling, people also check:
- Your Google reviews. Even 10–15 strong reviews make a real difference. Follow your professional standards on how you ask for them.
- How soon they can get in. Paid search brings people who want to start now. If you’re full with no one to refer to, pause the ads.
- Whether anyone answers. Someone clicks, calls, and gets no answer or callback: that’s a client lost. The campaign can only get them to the door.
Many will also look you up on Google Maps before they call, so your Google Business Profile needs to be working alongside your ads.
Tracking and bidding
Track what matters
Without conversion tracking, you can’t tell which searches produce enquiries. Track three things:
- Form submissions: fire a conversion when the thank-you page loads.
- Phone calls: from the call button on your ads and from your website number.
- Online bookings: if you use Jane or a similar tool, track the booking confirmation.
Our conversion tracking guide walks through the setup.
Start broad, then let Google optimize
New campaigns usually do best starting on Maximize Clicks with a sensible cost-per-click cap, so Google can gather data without overspending. Once you have 20–30 tracked conversions, typically 6–10 weeks in, switch to Maximize Conversions. Jumping straight to conversion bidding with no history often leads to erratic spend in the first two months.
Google Ads vs Psychology Today and other directories
Directory profiles on Psychology Today or CounsellingBC are worth keeping. They add a link to your site, and some people do browse them. But they’re passive: you’re one profile among hundreds, ranked however the directory chooses.
Google Ads is active. When someone searches “therapist in [your city]”, your ad can appear above the directories and the organic results. For how Google compares with social ads, see Google Ads vs Facebook Ads for healthcare. For how paid and organic search work together, see SEO vs Google Ads for Canadian clinics.
When Google Ads doesn’t work
- Very competitive downtown markets. Clicks cost more in central Vancouver and Toronto. Longer, more specific keywords and tighter targeting help, but expect a higher cost per client.
- Very small towns. There may not be enough searches. Widen the radius, or add an online therapy campaign.
- Broad “general therapist” campaigns in big cities. These need careful management. Specific modalities are usually easier to win.
- Practices without the basics. No availability, no reviews or no one answering the phone. Fix those first.
If those pieces are in place, Google Ads is usually the fastest way to a steady flow of new clients. It’s the main channel for my own clinics, alongside local SEO and an active Google Business Profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should a counsellor spend on Google Ads?
Most solo practices we work with start around $700 a month in ad spend, and $300 is a workable minimum for testing in most mid-sized cities. Group practices usually need more. Start with an amount you can keep up for three months.
Can therapists use remarketing ads?
Generally not for mental health services. Google’s health policy doesn’t allow advertiser audiences like remarketing lists or customer match to target people based on health conditions, so counselling campaigns rely on search and location targeting.
Are counsellors regulated in BC?
Not yet. Psychotherapy licensing through the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC starts November 29, 2027. Until then, follow the code of ethics of your association, such as BCACC for RCCs.
Is Google Ads better than Psychology Today?
They do different jobs. A directory profile is passive and cheap to keep. Google Ads puts you at the top of search results when someone is actively looking. Most practices do best with both.
How long before I see new clients?
Enquiries can start within days of launch. Cost per enquiry usually improves over the first two to three months as the campaign learns which searches lead to bookings.
Ready to try Google Ads for your practice?
We’re a small team led by a practising chiropractor, and we follow the advertising standards that apply to each client’s profession. There are no setup fees, no percentage of spend and no lock-in contracts, and your account stays yours. For more on how we run counselling campaigns, see our counselling and therapy Google Ads page, or get in touch and we’ll tell you honestly whether ads make sense for your practice.
