Mental Health (Psychology and Counselling): Google Ads Cost Benchmarks (Australia)
What a click costs in Mental Health.
At least 90,440 monthly searches across 15 core Mental Health terms, with pricing in AUD on the 9 terms Google prices. Part of our healthcare Google Ads cost benchmarks, refreshed quarterly.
These indicative benchmarks vary by auction and location. Costs move with suburb, season and competition. Check estimates for your own catchment before planning a budget.
The numbers
Mental Health keyword pricing, Q3 2026.
Searches/mo (minimum)
90,440+
Core terms only; real demand is largerTop-of-page bid range
$3.25 to $11.81
Weighted average CPC
$6.89
Indicative CPL
$55 to $90
† Search volume is a third-party clickstream estimate (Australian database, same quarter) because Google withholds planning data on the term. Those rows carry no bid or CPC figures because none exist to publish, and on terms both sources report, the third-party estimates typically run below Google's averages, so treat every daggered volume as conservative.
How to read it
What the Mental Health numbers are saying.
A high-value niche, and the split inside it matters. Condition searches like "anxiety treatment" are cheap and low-competition; the service searches ("psychology near me", "counselling", "therapist near me") carry the volume and the intent, and cost more. An established local clinic typically stabilises around $55 to $90 per lead, while national telehealth-only runs roughly 50 to 100 per cent higher because it competes against the whole country rather than one suburb.
Mental Health carries the 12th cheapest weighted click price of the 20 priced niches in this dataset at $9.28 top-of-page. The volume concentrates in "psychology near me" at 33,100 searches a month, and the priciest term Google reports is "therapist near me" at $11.81. The weighted average CPC sits below the top-of-page estimate, which is the normal pattern: plan on the ceiling. Accounts often land under it as quality score builds, though auction conditions can push the other way.
Read the search volume as a minimum rather than a market size. Google publishes pricing for only 9 of the 15 commercial Mental Health terms listed; the rest carry third-party volume estimates because Google withholds its planning data, and no keyword set can exhaustively cover every query variation anyway.
Illustrative first-year planning scenario for a new clinic
Cost per lead calculator
Turn the click price for Mental Health into a cost per lead.
Prefills the click price using the selected industry benchmark.
Volume-weighted across the niche's priced keywords. Edit it if you know your own.
How many clicks it takes to produce one enquiry or booking.
Not every enquiry books. How many leads become one client?
What a typical client is worth across their whole relationship with your business, using your own numbers.
Indicative cost per lead
$93
Above the Mental Health indicative CPL range of $55 to $90
CPC used
$9.28
Cost per new client
$186
Client value multiple
Add value
Clicks per lead
10
At $9.28 a click and 1 in 10 converting, a lead costs about $93. At a 1 in 2 close rate, a new client costs about $186.
Indicative only. Real CPCs are set by a live auction and move with location, season and competition, and conversion rates depend on the offer, website and account build. This is a planning aid, not a quote or a projection of results.
Mental Health FAQs
Straight answers from the data.
How much does Google Ads cost for a psychology or counselling clinic in Australia?
In our Q3 2026 analysis, top-of-page bids across the 9 priced Mental Health keywords run from $3.25 to $11.81, with a search-volume-weighted average CPC of $6.89. Every price is set by a live auction and moves with location, season and competition, so treat these as indicative ranges rather than a rate card.
What is a good cost per lead for a psychology or counselling clinic on Google Ads?
As an indicative market benchmark, a stabilised, well-built Mental Health account typically lands around $55 to $90 per lead. Expect the first month or two to run 2 to 3 times higher while the account learns. Location, offer, brand and account quality can put an individual clinic outside this range in either direction.
How much should a psychology or counselling clinic spend on Google Ads per month?
Google suggests evaluating Smart Bidding over a window containing at least 30 conversions. If you want that read monthly, at the indicative $55 to $90 cost per lead it means roughly $1,650 to $2,700 a month in ad spend. That is evaluation guidance, not a platform minimum. A typical starting budget for a single-site clinic in this niche is $1,000 to $2,500 per month.
Figures are indicative market ranges from our Q3 2026 dataset, rather than client campaign results.
Keep exploring
Every niche, one dataset.
Bids move suburb by suburb, and your budget needs local estimates. Talk to a team that runs healthcare Google Ads all day, including for psychology and counselling clinics, and we'll look at the real numbers for your area before you spend a dollar.
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