Google Ads can be one of the most effective ways to connect with therapy clients who are actively looking for your services. However, there are the most common mistakes people make with Google Ads, that lead to wasted time and money. Also, many therapists also fall into the trap of believing a common misconception that a larger budget or higher ad strength automatically guarantees better results, which is not always the case. As a marketing tool, Google Ads plays a crucial role within the broader landscape of digital marketing, complementing strategies like SEO to maximize your brand’s growth and reach. But without the right strategy, it’s easy to waste money, time, and energy, all of which we can help you avoid.
Working on Google Ad campaigns with therapists over the past few years have given us some insight into what works, and doesn’t work, for PPC campaigns in 2025. And in light of AI and the impact it has had on where ads show in search results, it’s critical that your ads perform. The competition out there is steep and there are big companies like BetterHelp outspending your ad budget at every turn. So, it is important to avoid the following Google Ad mistakes so your ads reach the people who need your therapy services.
If You’re Making These 10 Google Ad Mistakes, You Need To Fix Them Now
1. Using Generic Ad Copy
Mistake: Ads that simply say “Therapy Near Me” or “Counseling Services” without specifics.
Why it’s a problem: This attracts a broad audience, many of whom may not be a fit for your practice.
Fix: Include details about your specialty, location, and insurance options. For example:
- “Anxiety Therapy in Denver”
- “Trauma Therapy In Network BCBS”
2. Sending Traffic to Your Homepage
Mistake: Directing all clicks from your Google Ads to your homepage.
Why it’s a problem: Homepages are often general and force visitors to further search for the information they need.
Fix: Create dedicated landing pages for each service you offer so your ads can be directed to these pages instead. Be sure to match your page’s headline, copy, and visuals to your ad to improve your quality score.
3. Not Tracking Conversions
Mistake: Running ads without tracking calls, contact forms, or scheduled appointments.
Why it’s a problem: Without tracking you will not know what happens once someone clicks on your ad. This means that you won’t be able to track a consumer’s behavior in order to trouble shoot problems. For example, if someone clicks the ad but doesn’t complete the “action step” on the landing page, you know overtime that the problem is a match between the ad copy and the landing page. Troubleshooting ad conversions is a BIG part of what we do, so having any and all tracking data available is very helpful. This includes tracking the right conversion actions, such as purchases or qualified leads, knowing who clicks your phone number, fills out your contact for or sends you an email. Knowing these details is what’s required to drive more sales for your business.
Fix: To start, use Google Tag Manager to monitor:
- Phone calls
- Form submissions
- Online bookings
Be sure to select the right conversion actions—such as purchases, form submissions, or inquiries—to ensure you are measuring what truly matters for your business. This allows for accurate attribution and effective optimization, rather than tracking irrelevant or low-value actions.
4. Using the Wrong Match Types
Mistake: Only using broad match keywords.
Why it’s a problem: Your ads can appear for unrelated searches which wastes your budget on keywords or phrases that don’t fit the service you’re selling.
Fix: Use phrase match and exact match keywords for high-intent searches so you target the exact language of the services you’re selling. Make sure to create a negative keyword list to block irrelevant traffic. E.G. “free therapy” if your services cost money or “become a therapist” if you’re in private practice vs a school. Also, regularly monitor any new keywords that may be added automatically or through recommendations, and ensure they align with your targeting strategy to avoid irrelevant ad spend.
5. Ignoring the Post-Click Experience
Mistake: Assuming the click on your ad is the finish line.
Why it’s a problem: Even strong ads won’t convert if the landing page is slow, unclear, or off-topic.
Fix: Ensure your landing page loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, focused on one service, and includes a clear call-to-action (CTA).
6. Not Running Enough A/B Tests
Mistake: Setting the ads and walking away. All ads and landing pages should be tested for how well it matches your ideal client and their shopping behaviors.
Why it’s a problem: Without testing, you miss opportunities to improve your results.
Fix: Test multiple headlines, CTAs, and layouts. Give each test at least two weeks to gather meaningful data and adjust as the data informs you of what works best for your ads to convert.
7. Neglecting Negative Keywords
Mistake: Not filtering out irrelevant search terms.
Why it’s a problem: Without a negative keyword list, you will waste your ad budget on unrelated, irrelevant or poor clicks.
Fix: Regularly review your Search Terms Report and add negative keywords like “free counseling” or “therapy jobs” to your negative keyword list. It’s important to consistently analyze your search queries to identify irrelevant traffic and further optimize your negative keyword list. Be sure to monitor the matching of the keywords so you don’t set a keyphrase to never show if there is an iteration of it that’s correct. For example, “christian couples counselor” when you are a “couples counselor.” In this case, set the word “christian” as a negative keyword not the entire phrase.
8. Ignoring Seasonality Adjustments
Mistake: Not preparing for seasonal demand shifts.
Why it’s a problem: You miss short-term surges like January’s “new year, new me” boost or overly spend on ads during holiday season when fewer people are seeking out therapy services.
Fix: Adjust your ad budget during peak times and reduce during seasonal lulls. Review and adjust your daily budget to ensure your campaigns have enough funding to perform optimally during both peak and off-peak seasons.
9. Focusing Only on Immediate ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) Vs Lifetime Value
Mistake: Measuring the success of your Google ad campaign by the value of a “first session” with a client alone.
Why it’s a problem: Therapy clients often work with you for months, sometimes years, making their lifetime value far higher.
Fix: Calculate your average client lifetime value (LTV) and set your cost-per-acquisition (CPA) target accordingly.
10. Failing to Segment Ad Groups by Intent
Mistake: Combining unrelated keywords in a single ad group instead of creating different ads based in the search intent of your potential customers.
Why it’s a problem: Combining your keywords into one campaign will result in lower Quality Scores and lead to higher costs overall.
Fix: Create separate ad groups for each service, with matching ads and landing pages.
11. Overlooking Ad Extensions and Campaign Settings
Mistake: Skipping ad extensions and ignoring campaign settings.
Why it’s a problem: Overlooking ad extensions and campaign settings is like building a house but forgetting the front porch and address sign. It’s one of those common Google Ads missteps that quietly drains your budget while your competitors get the clicks. These extensions include add-ons like call buttons, location details, review snippets and more give your ads more real estate and help them stand out from the competition. This extra information makes people more likely to click and take action faster. Campaign settings, on the other hand, work differently. Think of them as your your targeting controls. Geo-targeting and language settings ensure your ads reach the right people. For example, imagine your in-person therapy practice serves clients in Austin, but you set your location to be all of Texas. If your settings are not tight enough, you will have cast too wide of a net causing you to to pay for clicks from Dallas, Houston, or even other states from people who’ll never book an appointment.
Fix: Start by auditing your ad extensions every month. Add the ones that make sense for your business, then check which extensions actually drive conversions through Google Analytics. Adjust based on what works. Next, review your campaign settings like you’re double-checking your GPS before a road trip. Confirm your location targeting matches where you actually serve customers. These tweaks work together like pieces of a puzzle with each one helping you reach the right people, stretching your budget further, and boosting your overall performance. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress through consistent attention to the details that matter.
12. Mismanaging Bidding Strategies and Optimization
Mistake: Setting and forgetting your bidding strategies or failing to optimize for your goals.
Why it’s a problem: Think of bidding strategies like driving a car, you wouldn’t set cruise control and then ignore the road ahead. Yet many advertisers do exactly this with their Google Ads campaigns, and it’s a budget drain waiting to happen. For example, take broad match keywords with high cost-per-click (CPC) bids. Those ads gobble up your spend on clicks that never convert, which is like fishing with expensive bait in the wrong pond. Not testing different bidding approaches or rotating ad copy? You’re leaving valuable performance data on the table. Google offers smart bidding options like Target CPA (cost-per-acquisition) and Maximize Conversions that actually learn from your conversion data, but only if you let them work and monitor their progress.
Fix: Audit your bidding strategies regularly and align them with what you’re actually trying to achieve. Test concrete changes like switching from manual CPC to automated smart bidding, and then track the results. Use your conversion data to guide bid adjustments and refine ad copy for better performance. Consistency matters here: check in weekly, not monthly. You also need to set realistic expectations for Google’s machine learning to do it’s work. Automated bidding needs time to learn, which usually means 2-4 weeks of data gathering (AKA ad spend) before you’ll see meaningful optimization. Stay proactive with your strategy, and you’ll squeeze more value from every dollar while avoiding wasteful clicks that go nowhere.
13. Choosing the Wrong Campaign Types and Goals
Mistake: Selecting campaign types or goals that don’t align with your actual business objectives.
Why it’s a problem: Mismatched campaigns waste budget fast. Running display campaigns when you need appointment bookings can result in activity (impressions, clicks) but the success of you campaign misses the mark. Setting “maximize clicks” when you need qualified leads results in numbers that look good on paper but don’t translate to revenue. Each campaign type serves a specific purpose: Search targets active intent, Display builds awareness, Video tells stories, Performance Max casts a wide net with machine learning. The wrong choice means you’re optimizing for the wrong outcome while competitors capture your ideal clients.
Fix: Audit your campaign alignment quarterly (not yearly because markets shift). Map each campaign type to your actual business goal. For example, brand awareness pairs with Display or Video; immediate bookings match with Search campaigns optimized for conversions (not clicks or impressions). Use Google’s campaign templates a a starting point, but customize your goals based on reality. As you get comfortable tracking what matters most, you will find that your campaigns with proper goals will outperform scattered efforts every time. Our advice, start with one well-targeted Search campaign before expanding to other types. Your budget works harder when every dollar has a clear job description.
And Our Biggest No-No Of All: #14 Blindly Accepting Google’s Auto-Applied Recommendations
Mistake: Applying all of the suggested campaign changes without thinking them through first.
Why it’s a problem: As an advertising partner for your therapy practice, Google has many recommendations to improve your campaigns. But, you have to spend a few minutes reviewing each one asking yourself if you believe they will make a difference. You are the subject-matter expert on your clients, not Google. If you blindly auto-apply the campaign changes, you run the risk of reducing the impact of your campaign.
Fix: Review each suggested change and decide for yourself if it has merit, value or the potential to positively impact your success rates. If the answer is you’re not sure, spend a little time reviewing exactly what the change will do to your campaign and then adjust your ads.
Now you know the biggest Google Ad mistakes that clients make and from here, you can adjust. If you remember that every click on one of your ads is a chance to connect with someone who needs your help, you start to really understand the importance of getting your ads right. By avoiding these fourteen mistakes, you can stretch your ad budget further, reach the right clients at the right time, and build trust from the very first interaction. When your campaigns are set up strategically, Google Ads can become a steady, predictable source of new clients who are a perfect fit for your practice.
And of course, if you want expert guidance to launch or improve your campaigns, schedule a free consultation and we will create a plan that drives meaningful results for your practice.
