Due to the sensitive nature of therapy and support for mental health, marketing for therapists can be difficult and has to be approached in the right way. It can be difficult to know where to begin and to make your strategy work effectively. This is especially true with newer forms of marketing such as Google Ads and PPC. In this article, our PPC experts will discuss why you should be running ads for your therapy practice, as well as some dos and don’ts to help you get started.
So, do Google Ads work for therapists? Google Ads should work well for therapists. If you search a relevant keyword you should see that such ads are already appearing. If other therapy clinics are taking part in the ad auctions for therapy keywords, then it’s likely working well for them and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for you.
Read on to learn more about the overall benefits of using Google Ads for your therapy clinic, tips and tricks and what to avoid.
With any marketing channel, there are advantages and disadvantages for Google Ads that should be acknowledged before getting started. These include:
What better way to improve your traffic and conversions than being put in front of potential clients when they need you the most and are actively looking for help? Here are just a few other key benefits of PPC.
By targeting specific keywords to bid on within the auction, you’ll be at the forefront of the searches and above organic rankings. These paid keywords that you bid on can be in line with your SEO strategy or be keywords with good volume, such as “help for depression” which has a monthly search volume of 3,600 in the UK.
With locational targeting within Google Ads, you will be able to set the locations to be in line with your business goals. Let’s say, for example, you have just opened a new practice in a new city and you aren’t seeing enough organic leads. PPC will allow you to set a radius of your choosing around this new city to target. On the other hand, you could also begin to offer virtual appointments and target a much bigger audience.
A well-crafted ad with unique headlines and descriptions will ultimately mean more clicks and conversions for you. The more information you can include in these sections while designing the ad, the better. If you give the users what they want to see and what they are most receptive to (which can be found through A/B testing), your ads will perform better.
This is also the point where you try and set yourself apart from the competition, as you won’t be the only one bidding in this auction. By adding your accreditations and unique selling points about the business, more people will be inclined to click on your ad than a competitor and be more likely to become a client. Examples of headlines you could include can be:
Google Ads has a great reporting system which allows you to analyse how effective each keyword, landing page and piece of ad copy are. From these insights, you can continue to test, refine and retest so your ads get the best results possible. For example, you might have multiple landing pages on your website relevant to the ad, but do you know which one converts better for your business? Set up an experiment and let the data speak for itself.
If you’re ready to get started, here are some of the best top tips from Wildcat Digital on PPC for therapists.
When setting up your campaigns, ensure that you’re focusing on conversions. This will indicate to Google that you’re not looking for visibility or traffic, you simply want leads. Machine learning will then show your ads to the people that are most likely to click through and convert.
Separate your ad groups by theme – for example, depression, anxiety, OCD, etc. If you have a smaller budget, consider starting with one issue that you want to target, and increase the number of ad groups you have as your business and marketing budget grows.
Make sure the page you’re sending users to is top quality & has a clear conversion path. Your ad might be extremely high quality, but if the user gets frustrated, or does not know where to go next in order to contact you, then you’ll probably lose the client.
Set up a comprehensive negative keyword list that will ensure your ads don’t appear for irrelevant queries that have no chance of converting. For example, someone may be looking up “psychotherapy degree” or “psychotherapy jobs” which may trigger your ad, but are obviously not the target audience.
If you’re new to PPC or Google Ads, there are a few mistakes that can occur when you’re just starting out. Here are some relevant mistakes for therapists, and how to avoid them.
Hopefully by now we’ve convinced you that Google Ads for therapists can be successful if you put the time and effort into optimising the campaign. We know how overwhelming and confusing it can be for those new to the world of PPC, so don’t panic if you don’t know where to start! At Wildcat Digital, we can help with solid PPC campaigns that help you to punch above your weight online. Get in touch today for a free consultation.
PPC Account Manager
