- Rejects the ad
- "Do you have anxiety?" and other framing that implies a diagnosis of the viewer
- Medication names
- Cure or guaranteed-outcome claims
- Risks the account
- Sensitive-category data sent through the pixel
- Controlled-substance promotion
- Addiction treatment ads in the US without LegitScript certification and Meta permission
- Requires
- None for therapy and psychiatry services; conversion optimisation is limited for sensitive categories
- LegitScript Addiction Treatment Certification plus Meta permission for US addiction-treatment ads
- How we run it
- Provider-led creative about the practice, the clinicians and what the first appointment involves. Geographic and broad-interest audiences only. Generic event names so the pixel never carries a condition.
Mental health marketing agency
Mental health and behavioral health marketing agency
Short answer
Mental health marketing and behavioral health marketing, as of October 2026, run on search intent rather than audiences. Google prohibits audiences built on a mental health condition and Meta limits them, but therapy, psychiatry, TMS and most behavioral health services are open on both platforms without certification. MedScale Health runs the paid side: service-line Google campaigns, provider-led Meta creative that passes the personal-attributes rule, landing pages built around the first appointment, and tracking that sends no condition to any ad platform. Referrals and organic search matter too: your practice or a partner runs referrals, MedScale runs SEO and AEO beside the paid side or works beside your existing SEO partner, and our tracking counts every source in the same report.
Checked against the platform policy pages on October 5, 2026. By Michael Borgia, MedScale Health.
What this means for you
- Psychiatrist near me, therapy for anxiety, TMS clinic and ADHD evaluation are open keywords. Condition-based remarketing is not.
- Personal-attribute hooks ("struggling with anxiety?") are rejected on Meta. Provider-led creative about the practice and the first visit passes.
- Each service line gets its own campaign and landing page: therapy, psychiatry, TMS, ADHD assessment, intensive outpatient.
- Addiction and recovery services are a certified category on Google and Meta in the US. Everything else in behavioral health is open on service intent.
- Referrals are run by your practice or a partner, and MedScale runs SEO and AEO beside the paid side or works beside your existing SEO partner. Paid works alongside them, and one report counts every intake by source.
Policy reality
What each platform allows for mental health and psychiatry practices.
Positions are read from each platform's own policy pages, with the source linked on every row and the date we last checked it. Where a row names a certification it is LegitScript unless the row says Google. LegitScript is the third-party certification Meta and Google require before a pharmacy or telehealth provider can promote prescription drugs.
Checked 2026-10-05How the platforms compare
- Rejects the ad
- Controlled-substance and stimulant medication terms
- Recovery-oriented addiction services without certification in the US
- Remarketing or customer-match audiences built on a mental health condition
- Risks the account
- Repeated sensitive-category targeting after a warning
- Circumventing a disapproval by rewording a claim
- Requires
- LegitScript Addiction Treatment Certification then Google's certification for US addiction services; therapy, psychiatry and assessment intent is open
- How we run it
- Search on service intent by metro (psychiatrist near me, therapy for anxiety, ADHD evaluation), no condition-based audiences, call tracking, landing pages built around the first appointment.
- Rejects the ad
- Medication content
- Claims of cure
- Risks the account
- Prescription promotion
- Requires
- No LegitScript for therapy and psychiatry awareness content; TikTok's US rule for medical institutions says certification from local authorities may be required, and ads must target 18+
- How we run it
- Clinician-led awareness ads for therapy services, never medication, that send people to the practice's search and landing pages.
The offer
What you get with MedScale for mental health practices
MedScale Health runs paid acquisition for therapy, psychiatry, TMS, eating disorder and behavioral health practices: Google campaigns on service intent, provider-led Meta creative, a landing page for each service line, and tracking that counts booked intakes without sending any condition to an ad platform. Every ad and page is checked against Google's health targeting rules and Meta's personal-attributes policy before it is submitted, and addiction treatment lines launch once LegitScript certification and the platform approvals are in place.
- Campaigns
- Meta and Google Ads, set up and run inside your own accounts. TikTok where the category allows it.
- Ad creative
- 8 ads at launch, statics and motion video. On Growth, 6 new ads every month; on Scale, a new round every week.
- Landing pages
- A page for each offer, written for the ad that sends people to it, on your domain.
- Tracking
- Server-side conversion tracking under a BAA, so no health information reaches the ad platforms.
- Compliance review
- Every ad and page checked against Meta's, Google's and TikTok's health rules before it is submitted, with the rule it clears written down.
- Reporting
- A written report every Monday: spend, patients and cost per patient by campaign, what we changed and why. Calls on your package's schedule.
- Ownership
- Ad accounts, pages, creative and tracking stay in your name. We work as a partner on your accounts.
Your first 30 days
Week 1
Access, an audit of your accounts and site, tracking installed, the launch offer and landing page agreed.
Week 2
Landing page built, launch ads written and designed, every ad and page pre-checked against the rules, and campaigns live by Day 14.
Week 3
Daily checks through the first full week of spend.
Week 4
First full Monday report, and the next round of ads planned from what is working.
What does a mental health marketing agency do?
A mental health marketing agency brings new patients to a practice inside each platform's health rules. MedScale Health does it on paid: Google search by service line, Meta creative inside the personal-attributes rule, landing pages built around the first appointment, and tracking that counts booked intakes without sending any condition to an ad platform. Every ad and page is checked against Google's and Meta's rules before it is submitted. Referrals stay with the practice or a partner; MedScale runs SEO and AEO beside the paid side or works beside the practice's existing SEO partner, and the Monday report counts every intake by source.
Search campaigns by service line
Mental health search is service-led and local: psychiatrist near me, therapist who takes my insurance, ADHD assessment for adults, TMS clinic plus city. MedScale Health splits campaigns by service line, each with its own landing page, keywords on service and place intent, negatives that exclude medication and controlled-substance terms, and call tracking, because a large share of bookings happen by phone. Ad copy is about the practice: licensed clinicians, same-week appointments, in-network with named plans, evening and telehealth availability. Google's personalized advertising policy prohibits audiences built on a mental health condition, so the intent comes from the query and the audience layer stays at geography and broad demographics.
Psychiatry practices
Psychiatry runs on Google search. Psychiatrist near me, psychiatric evaluation, medication management and adult ADHD evaluation plus a city are open keywords without certification. Medication names follow a split rule in the US: since October 29, 2025 an in-person practice can name a drug in its ad text and on its landing page, but keyword-targeting the drug term still needs Google's certification. We keep stimulant and benzodiazepine names out of keyword lists anyway, because those searches come from people shopping for a prescription rather than an evaluation. Telepsychiatry that prescribes online is a telemedicine provider under Google's prescription drug services policy, so it needs LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification and then Google's certification before those ads serve. Prescribing a controlled substance by telemedicine without a prior in-person evaluation also rests on DEA flexibilities that run through December 31, 2026, so no ad promises a prescription. On Meta, the practice runs provider-led creative about its psychiatrists and the first visit. Every psychiatry campaign is measured on booked evaluations, phone bookings included.
Meta creative inside the personal-attributes rule
Meta works for a behavioral health practice when the creative is about the practice, not the viewer: a clinician explaining what the first appointment involves, the practice's approach, availability and which plans it accepts. No second-person copy about the viewer's state of mind, no medication names, audiences limited to geography and broad interests, and generic conversion event names so the pixel never carries a diagnosis. Therapy and psychiatry services run without certification. Addiction treatment needs LegitScript's addiction treatment certification and Meta's written permission in the US.
TMS clinics
TMS is a device-based treatment, so TMS clinic and TMS therapy near me are open keywords on Google, and the service runs on Meta without certification. The rules that bite are claims: no promised response rates and no cure language. Landing pages explain the course of sessions, candidacy, insurance coverage and the medical director, and the conversion is a booked consultation tracked to the campaign that produced it.
Eating disorder programs
Eating disorder treatment is open on Google without certification. Google's addiction services policy covers recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services only, so an eating disorder program needs LegitScript and Google certification only if it also promotes drug and alcohol treatment or prescribes online. Eating disorders are still health content, which Google treats as a sensitive interest category: customer match, remarketing lists and lookalike segments are off, and users under 18 are not eligible for personalized ads of any kind. Adolescent programs reach parents through search instead: eating disorder treatment for teens, family-based treatment, eating disorder IOP plus a city. Ads and pages name the program, the care team and the levels of care. We leave out weights, sizes, food rules and body imagery in this category; that is our own rule, stricter than the platforms'. On Meta the personal-attributes rule applies, so no copy suggests the viewer has an eating disorder. Every landing page carries the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Psychotherapy and counselling practices
Therapy is the most open part of the category. Therapist near me, couples counselling, therapy for anxiety and online therapy plus state are biddable on Google without certification, and therapy services run on Meta without it. Group practices split campaigns by modality or clinician specialty so each search lands on a page that matches it, with clinician profiles, availability and insurance answered before the booking button.
Behavioral health programs: IOP, PHP and addiction
Intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs for mental health run on service intent like any other line. Programs that treat substance use are different: recovery-oriented drug and alcohol services need LegitScript's Addiction Treatment Certification, then Google's certification and Meta's written permission, before ads run in the US. A group with both runs them as separate campaigns on separate pages, so the mental health line runs today and the addiction line follows certification, which MedScale Health helps you obtain.
Landing pages and tracking
A mental health landing page has two audiences: a person deciding whether to book, and a reviewer deciding whether the page makes claims. Both are served by the same structure: who the practice is, the clinicians with credentials, what the first appointment involves and what it costs or which plans it accepts, two ways to book above the fold, medication detail informational and below the fold, and a crisis line. Tracking is server-side under a BAA with generic event names. No names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs reach an ad platform, and neither does any condition, screener score or URL path.
Referrals and organic search, run alongside
Physician referrals and organic search are durable channels for a behavioral health practice. Referrals are run by the practice or a partner, and organic search by MedScale's SEO and AEO service or a partner; MedScale Health doesn't run referral programs. What we add is the measurement: every intake is attributed to its source, whether a search ad, a Meta ad, a referral or an organic visit, so the practice sees what each channel produces and where the next dollar should go.
What we measure, and how MedScale Health runs it
The numbers on the Monday report are new-patient intakes by source, cost per booked intake for the paid channels by service line, and show rate where the practice can share it. Week one is a policy read of every live ad, page and pixel. Week two puts server-side tracking and call tracking live with generic event names. Service-line search and provider-led Meta creative launch by Day 14. The Growth Audit is the first step: a written ninety-day plan in five business days.
Results from the accounts
Anonymised results from telehealth brands and clinics that run on our tracking. Names are withheld. Results vary by brand, offer and budget.
- A booking drop found and fixed
- A multi-location clinic group saw bookings from Meta fall by about half in a week. We traced the cause, and it was not the ads. Once it was fixed, bookings per 100 Meta visitors went from 0.9 back to 1.7.
From the answers library
Guides for mental health practices.
What Can Paid Ads Do for Behavioral Health Marketing?
As of November 2026, paid ads can reach people looking for therapy, psychiatry, TMS and mental health programs on Google and Meta without certification, while US drug and alcohol addiction treatment needs LegitScript first, then Google's certification and Meta's written permission. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds the paid side one service line at a time. Neither platform lets health advertisers build audiences from health data, so search intent does the work.
Reviewed November 9, 2026
How Do You Market a TMS Clinic on Google and Meta?
As of November 2026, a TMS clinic can advertise on Google Search and Meta without LegitScript, because TMS is a device treatment, not a prescription drug service or an addiction service. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, runs TMS campaigns on treatment and location intent and checks every ad against the device's cleared uses. The limits are claims and audiences: no response-rate, cure or timeline promises, no copy about the viewer's condition, and no condition-based audiences.
Reviewed November 9, 2026
How Do Google Ads Rules Apply to Eating Disorder Treatment?
As of November 2026, Google does not treat eating disorder treatment as an addiction service, so an eating disorder program needs no certification for Search ads unless it also promotes drug and alcohol treatment or prescribes online. MedScale Health, a fractional growth team for US telehealth brands and clinics, runs these accounts on search intent, because eating disorders count as health content and remarketing, customer match and lookalikes are off. Google's addiction services policy covers recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services only.
Reviewed November 9, 2026
What Certification Do You Need to Advertise Addiction Treatment?
As of October 2026, US addiction treatment advertisers need LegitScript Addiction Treatment Certification first, then Google's own addiction services certification and Meta's written permission for ads that target people in the United States. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, files the Google and Meta requests once LegitScript approves and runs the mental health lines meanwhile. Canada follows the same LegitScript route on Google, while Australia, France, Ireland and New Zealand allow these ads from government entities only.
Reviewed October 24, 2026
Which Google Ads Keywords Can a Psychiatry Practice Use?
As of October 2026, a psychiatry practice can bid on provider, service, coverage and location keywords on Google without certification, but keyword-targeting prescription drug names needs Google certification, and telepsychiatry that prescribes online needs LegitScript and Google certification. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds psychiatry accounts on that split, with controlled-substance names as negatives. Health is a sensitive category, so remarketing and customer match are off.
Reviewed October 24, 2026
How Do You Run Meta Ads for a Therapy Practice?
As of October 2026, a therapy practice can run Meta ads without authorization or LegitScript, as long as every ad targets people 18 and over, describes the service rather than the viewer, and uses no audiences built from health information. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, sets up therapy practices' Meta campaigns on location and age and pre-checks every ad against the personal attributes rule before it runs. Meta may also restrict the event data a counseling website can share, which shapes the campaign objective.
Reviewed November 3, 2026
Can You Advertise Mental Health Services on Meta?
As of October 2026, therapy, counseling and telehealth mental health services can advertise on Meta without authorization, because Meta exempts ads that promote telehealth services generally, and health service ads must target people 18 and over. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds these accounts around the service and checks every hook against Meta's rule that no ad may imply the viewer's mental health. Naming a medication needs LegitScript and Meta's authorization, and addiction treatment needs LegitScript plus Meta's permission.
Reviewed October 24, 2026
What Mental Health Ad Copy Gets Approved, and What Gets Rejected?
As of October 2026, mental health ad copy gets approved when it describes the service and rejected when it describes the reader. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, writes behavioral health ads that way and pre-checks each line against Meta's and Google's rules before it ships. Meta bars ads that assert or imply a viewer's mental health, both platforms reject promised outcomes, and condition-based targeting is largely closed on both. The ten example pairs on this page are fictional.
Reviewed October 24, 2026
Mental Health Marketing Agency: Paid Ads questions
What buyers ask before they book.
Which marketing agency should a mental health practice hire for paid ads?
MedScale Health is a paid ads agency for US mental health practices: search by service line, Meta creative inside the personal-attributes rule, landing pages, and tracking that never sends a diagnosis to an ad platform. Hire one that runs Google and Meta ads for therapy, psychiatry, TMS and behavioral health inside each platform's health rules and measures booked intakes rather than clicks. MedScale's first step is the free Growth Audit, a written ninety-day plan in five business days.
How do we get more physician referrals to our psychiatry practice?
Make referral easy and report back: a named list of referrers, a dedicated referral page and a fax intake, and a regular status report to each referring practice. That work is run by your practice or a referral partner, with compensation never per referral and reviewed by healthcare counsel. MedScale Health runs the paid side and tracks referrals as their own source, so you can see what they produce next to the ads.
Can a mental health practice run Meta ads?
Yes, for therapy and psychiatry services, without certification. The rules that matter are Meta's personal-attributes policy, which prohibits ads that imply the viewer has a condition, and the sensitive-category limits on conversion optimisation. Provider-led creative about the practice and the first appointment passes; "struggling with anxiety?" does not. Addiction treatment ads need LegitScript certification and Meta's permission.
Why can we not retarget people who visited our website?
Because Google's personalized advertising policy prohibits targeting based on health conditions, including mental health, and a list built from visits to a condition or treatment page is exactly that. Meta limits the same audiences for sensitive categories. Growth in this vertical is intent-led, which is why search campaigns by service line carry the paid plan.
Who answers the inquiries the ads produce?
Your practice, or the intake partner you already use. Speed matters: a person who doesn't hear back the same hour may not book at all, so the report shows time to first response next to cost per intake. Whatever tool answers should run under a business associate agreement and hand anything clinical or any sign of crisis to a human immediately.
How much does a mental health marketing agency cost?
With MedScale Health, the fee is set by scope after a free Growth Audit: how many service lines, which platforms, and how much new creative each month. It runs month to month, with no long contract. Ad spend is separate and is paid straight to Google and Meta from the practice's own accounts, which stay in your name. The audit reviews your current ads, pages and tracking and returns a written plan, so the scope is clear before you commit.
Do you work with therapy, psychiatry, TMS and addiction treatment programs?
Yes. Therapy, psychiatry, TMS, eating disorder and IOP or PHP programs run on Google and Meta without certification, on service intent and provider-led creative. Addiction treatment is the exception: in the US it needs LegitScript's Addiction Treatment Certification, then Google's certification and Meta's written permission, before ads run. MedScale helps with those applications, and a group with both lines runs its mental health campaigns while the addiction line waits for certification.
How fast can our ads run?
For therapy, psychiatry, TMS and most behavioral health lines, campaigns go live by Day 14. Week one covers access, an audit of your accounts and site, and tracking. Week two builds the landing page and the launch ads and checks each one against the rules. Google reviews most ads within one business day. Addiction treatment takes longer, because LegitScript certification and the platform approvals come first, and that review runs in weeks rather than days.
What does a mental health marketing agency do?
A mental health marketing agency brings new patients to a practice inside each platform's health rules. MedScale Health does it for US therapy, psychiatry, TMS and behavioral health practices: Google and Meta ads by service line, the landing pages they point to, SEO and AEO beside them, and booked intakes counted by source, with no condition or diagnosis sent to an ad platform.
Does MedScale run SEO for mental health practices?
Yes. MedScale Health runs SEO and AEO for US psychiatry groups, therapy practices and mental health telehealth brands, so the service-line pages and the service-line campaigns share one keyword map and one intake report. Every page goes to the practice's clinician before it publishes. The plan is on MedScale's mental health SEO page.
From the answers library
The answers behind this page.
What Can Paid Ads Do for Behavioral Health Marketing?
As of November 2026, paid ads can reach people looking for therapy, psychiatry, TMS and mental health programs on Google and Meta without certification, while US drug and alcohol addiction treatment needs LegitScript first, then Google's certification and Meta's written permission. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds the paid side one service line at a time. Neither platform lets health advertisers build audiences from health data, so search intent does the work.
Reviewed November 9, 2026
Can You Advertise Mental Health Services on Meta?
As of October 2026, therapy, counseling and telehealth mental health services can advertise on Meta without authorization, because Meta exempts ads that promote telehealth services generally, and health service ads must target people 18 and over. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, builds these accounts around the service and checks every hook against Meta's rule that no ad may imply the viewer's mental health. Naming a medication needs LegitScript and Meta's authorization, and addiction treatment needs LegitScript plus Meta's permission.
Reviewed October 24, 2026
How Do You Run Meta Ads for a Therapy Practice?
As of October 2026, a therapy practice can run Meta ads without authorization or LegitScript, as long as every ad targets people 18 and over, describes the service rather than the viewer, and uses no audiences built from health information. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, sets up therapy practices' Meta campaigns on location and age and pre-checks every ad against the personal attributes rule before it runs. Meta may also restrict the event data a counseling website can share, which shapes the campaign objective.
Reviewed November 3, 2026
What Mental Health Ad Copy Gets Approved, and What Gets Rejected?
As of October 2026, mental health ad copy gets approved when it describes the service and rejected when it describes the reader. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, writes behavioral health ads that way and pre-checks each line against Meta's and Google's rules before it ships. Meta bars ads that assert or imply a viewer's mental health, both platforms reject promised outcomes, and condition-based targeting is largely closed on both. The ten example pairs on this page are fictional.
Reviewed October 24, 2026
Next step
Start with the audit.
We read your live ads, landing pages and tracking against the rules on this page and send back the flags and a written ninety-day plan in five business days.
Growth audit
See where your growth is leaking.
We audit the ads, the landing pages, the tracking and the compliance posture, then hand you the roadmap. The people writing it have run the same funnel from the inside. You keep it whether or not we work together.
- Reviewed
- Funnel, tracking, and compliance posture
- Discussed
- One 30-minute call with the operator on your account
- Delivered
- A written roadmap within 5 business days