Google Ads · Psychology
Google Ads for Psychology Clinics.
Built by clinic owners who understand healthcare. Targeting the patients specifically searching for psychology. Measured in real bookings, not clicks.
Most psychology clinics that try Google Ads end up paying for the wrong searches. The campaign chases counselling, therapy, mental health and psychology all at once. The traffic comes in. The budget burns out. The bookings don't follow. The fix isn't more keywords. It's fewer, sharper ones. The patients who specifically search for a psychologist convert at a different rate than the ones who search for counselling. Your ads need to know the difference.
google.com
anxiety psychologist near me
Sydney Psychology · Anxiety Specialists
Care that meets you where you are. Anxiety, depression, trauma. Medicare rebates available.
another-psychology.com.au
Another Psychology Practice
Welcome to our practice. Comprehensive psychology services.
city-counselling.com.au
City Counselling and Therapy
When patients search, you win the click.
What psychology patients actually search
Patients don't search 'mental health'. They search what's wrong, and where they live.
The big-volume keywords like 'mental health' and 'therapy' look attractive on a search planner. They convert poorly. The patients who actually book search with much sharper intent: a problem, a suburb, or both.
Two patterns matter here. The location pattern. The problem pattern. Patients either know where they want to be seen, or they know what they want help with. Often both. We build campaigns that capture both kinds of search, because the booker lives in both.
Where agencies go wrong
Most agencies don't understand the difference between counselling and psychology.
We've reviewed Google Ads accounts for psychology clinics across the Clinic Mastery community for years. The same mistake shows up in almost every one.
The campaign targets every adjacent term at once. Counselling. Therapy. Mental health. Wellbeing. Self-help. Psychologist. Psychiatrist. The thinking is broader is better. The reality is the budget bleeds across traffic that was never going to book a psychology session.
Counsellor and psychologist are different professions at different price points. The patient searching for a 'counsellor' is often looking for a different service, a different fee, a different pathway. They're not your patient. If your ads chase them, you pay Google to bring them in, then they don't book, then your cost per new patient looks terrible.
Most psychology clinics don't have a budget big enough to afford the broad approach anyway. The budget needs to focus. Capture the patients who specifically search for psychology, by problem, by suburb, or by both. Skip everyone else. The narrower the campaign, the higher the conversion.
Counsellor and psychologist are not the same search. Don't pay Google as if they are.
How we run it
How we run Google Ads for psychology clinics.
Same four steps every clinic gets, sharpened for psychology.
Audit your ideal client list against Google reality.
Most psychology clinics see a wide spread of clients. Anxiety. Depression. Trauma. Relationships. NDIS. Children. Adolescents. We list the avatars you actually want more of, then sort which ones search Google in a way Google can deliver. Some of your best clients come from GP referrals, EAP programs, or word of mouth. Those don't go in the Google Ads campaign. The avatars who do search Google get the budget.
Build keyword groups by problem and by suburb.
Patients search 'anxiety psychologist [suburb]' or 'depression psychologist near me'. They almost never search the bare word 'psychology'. We build separate keyword groups for each problem-area you treat, paired with location modifiers. Each group gets its own ad copy and landing page section that speaks to the patient's specific issue.
Filter out counselling, therapy and broad mental-health searches.
Counsellor. Therapist. Coach. Mental health professional. Generic 'therapy' searches. Wellbeing. These look related. They're different searches with different intent at different price points. We negative-keyword them out so your budget stays on the patients who specifically want a psychologist.
We report on bookings. Not clicks.
The dashboard tells you what each new psychology patient costs you, broken down by problem-area and suburb. That's the only number that matters. Click-through rate doesn't fund your clinic. Bookings do.
What good looks like
What a healthy psychology Google Ads account looks like.
A healthy psychology Google Ads account in Australia costs $80 to $120 per new patient booking. The range is wider than other specialties because the cost depends heavily on how competitive your suburb is, whether you're competing with NDIS-funded providers, and whether your clinic accepts Medicare with a Mental Health Care Plan. We've seen efficient suburb-level campaigns book new patients for under $80. We've seen broad-keyword campaigns hit $200 plus. The number on the screen doesn't matter on its own. What matters is what each new patient is worth to your clinic over their first 12 sessions. That's the lens we run the account through.
Pricing
Simple, honest pricing.
No hidden fees. No long contracts. Pay for the work, pay for the spend, get the results.
Google Ads
Monthly management
$525/mo
+ GST + 15% of ad spend
One-off setup
$795
+ GST
What's in the setup
- Strategy session
- A clear, defined Google Ads marketing strategy
- Conversion tracking installed
- Keyword research
- Full campaign build
- Everything wired up and working before launch
Ongoing, every week
- In your account every 24 to 48 hours
- Measuring, refining, optimising
- Constant split testing. Always trying to beat our best ad.
- Monthly reporting in plain English
- Pete in the account, not a junior or overseas VA
Minimum recommended ad budget: $500/month.
Get my free Google Ads audit
Written by
Peter Flynn
Co-owner, Clinic Mastery. Co-founder, Physio Fit Adelaide.
Two-time Telstra Business Awards winner (2019, 2022). Five-time Telstra Awards judge. South Australia Top 40 Under 40 (2019).
Read more about Pete →Common questions
The questions clinic owners ask us.
Will Google Ads work for a small psychology practice?
Should I bid on the keyword 'counselling'?
How fast will I see results?
I'm already running ads. Can I keep them?
What's a realistic monthly ad budget?
Do you lock me in?
Why are you better than a generic marketing agency?
Will Pete actually run my ads, or a junior?
Ready when you are
We'll show you exactly which psychology patients you can win on Google.
Tell us about your psychology practice. We'll come back with a one-page plan: which problem-areas and suburbs we'd target, which we'd skip, and what 90 days of Google Ads should realistically deliver for a clinic your size. No pitch deck. No 45-minute discovery call.
Related
We work with healthcare clinics across Australia.
Google Ads for other specialties
Other services for Psychology clinics
Looking for our general approach? See how we run Google Ads for healthcare clinics.