Can You Advertise Ketamine Therapy on Google?

What this means for you

• An in-person ketamine clinic can run Google Search ads on clinic and consultation intent today, and may name ketamine in US ad text and landing pages without certification.
• Bidding on "ketamine" as a keyword is keyword-targeting a prescription drug term. In the US that needs Google certification.
• Telehealth or at-home ketamine is a prescription drug service. It needs LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification and Google's own certification before ads serve.
• Ketamine is not FDA-approved for any psychiatric disorder, so ads and pages make no depression or anxiety cure claims. Compounded ketamine is compounded, not FDA-approved.
• Health ads cannot use your own audience lists. Remarketing, customer match and lookalikes are off for this category.

MedScale Health, a paid acquisition agency for telehealth brands and clinics, plans Google campaigns for ketamine clinics and telehealth programs. This page sets out the Google policies that apply to ketamine therapy, what each model can run, and the claims that end campaigns. This page is marketing guidance, not medical or legal advice. Platform policies change, so check the sources listed at the end before acting on a specific rule.

What ketamine is, for advertising purposes

Ketamine is a prescription drug and a Schedule III controlled substance (21 CFR 1308.13). An FDA warning letter from June 2026 sets out its approval status plainly: FDA-approved ketamine is an injection indicated as a general anesthetic, and ketamine is not FDA-approved for the treatment of any psychiatric disorder. Esketamine, a related drug sold as Spravato, is FDA-approved as a nasal spray for treatment-resistant depression in adults, used with an oral antidepressant, and carries a boxed warning.

That matters because clinics that offer ketamine for depression, anxiety or PTSD are using it off-label. An ad or page that promises ketamine will treat or cure those conditions makes a claim the FDA has not approved.

Drug terms: naming ketamine versus bidding on it

Google's restricted drug terms policy for the United States, Canada and New Zealand lets advertisers use prescription drug terms for promotional purposes, in line with local law, without certification in ads and landing pages. Certification is required to keyword-target those terms, and certain business types, including online pharmacies and telemedicine providers, need certification regardless.

For an in-person clinic, that means "ketamine infusion therapy" can appear in ad text and on the landing page. Keyword targeting is different. Google's examples of certification types are online pharmacy, addiction services, telemedicine, health insurance and pharmaceutical manufacturer, so an in-person clinic should confirm with Google whether it qualifies before planning campaigns on ketamine keywords. Until then, campaigns bid on clinic intent: treatment-resistant depression options, depression treatment clinic, and the city name.

Telehealth and at-home ketamine

Google restricts the promotion of services related to the online prescribing, dispensing and sale of prescription drugs, and names telemedicine providers as an example. In the United States, Google allows telemedicine providers accredited through LegitScript's Healthcare Merchant Certification Program, and the advertiser must also be certified by Google. Google says it errs on the side of caution with landing pages that appear to facilitate online prescribing. A page that offers an online assessment followed by ketamine shipped home is squarely in scope.

Two more layers apply. Prescribing a controlled substance by telemedicine without an in-person evaluation relies on the DEA's temporary flexibilities, which the fourth extension (Federal Register document 2025-24123) keeps in effect through December 31, 2026. And Google's unapproved substances policy bars products that have been subject to any government or regulatory action or warning. The FDA has issued compounding risk alerts on compounded ketamine nasal spray (February 2022) and on compounded ketamine products, including oral formulations, for psychiatric disorders (October 2023). At-home ketamine products made by compounding pharmacies are compounded, not FDA-approved, and ads for them carry that exposure on top of certification.

Addiction treatment is a separate certification

Google restricts the promotion of recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services, including clinical addiction treatment providers. In the United States, advertisers must be certified as an addiction services provider through LegitScript and also certified by Google. A ketamine clinic that markets treatment for alcohol or drug use disorders is in scope. Services unrelated to drug and alcohol addiction are outside that policy.

Audiences: health ads cannot use your lists

Google treats health as a sensitive interest category for personalized advertising, and its examples include counseling for depression and anxiety. Advertisers promoting in that category cannot use advertiser-curated audiences: customer match, your data segments (remarketing), lookalike segments and custom segments. Predefined Google audiences, such as in-market and affinity segments, remain available, and nobody under 18 is eligible for personalized ads. For a ketamine clinic, search intent and broad targeting do the work, and a patient list is never uploaded.

Claims and pages that pass

• Name the treatment and the setting: "Ketamine infusion therapy, given in our clinic by licensed clinicians."
• State eligibility and screening plainly, and say that a licensed provider decides whether the treatment is appropriate.
• Leave out cure, success-rate and timeline claims for depression, anxiety or PTSD.
• Describe compounded products as compounded, not FDA-approved, wherever they are named.

What MedScale does

MedScale Health builds Google campaigns for ketamine clinics on clinic and consultation intent, writes ads and landing pages that name the treatment without promising outcomes, and tracks booked consultations server-side. MedScale tracks server-side under a BAA with neutral event names, and no names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs go to any ad platform. Where a telehealth model needs LegitScript and Google certification, MedScale's certification help runs the filing. No approval or result is guaranteed. Start with the free growth audit at medscale.health/audit.