Google Ads Negative Keywords for Therapists
Five categories of search that never become a client. Each one can reach your ad today. Here is the list, and the steps to paste it into your account.
Why negatives decide whether a therapy account makes money
A therapy account rarely loses money on the wrong specialty. It loses money on the right specialty answered to the wrong person.
Someone types free therapy near me. Your ad is a fair answer to that search. You pay for the click. That person was never going to pay for a session.
The same thing happens with a student looking for a placement and a person looking for a worksheet. Both searches read like the work you do. Neither one books.
A search that can become a client
- Names a presenting issue
- Names a place or a schedule
- Comes from someone who can pay for a session
- Asks about booking or a first appointment
A search that never books
- Asks for free or low cost help
- Comes from a student or a job seeker
- Wants a worksheet or a technique
- Wants a definition or a comparison
- Is a crisis
Negatives are the one part of an account that lowers spend without lowering reach to real clients. They do not change your budget or your bids. They remove searches you have already decided cannot become a client.
The five categories to exclude
These are the five groups we see in every therapy account. Each one has real examples from search terms, and a plain reason it is not a client.
| Category | What it looks like in the search terms report | Why it is not a client |
|---|---|---|
| Free and low intent | free therapy near me, cheap counselling, no cost, sliding scale only | The person needs a service you do not sell at that price. |
| Study, job and training intent | therapist jobs, how to become a therapist, practicum placement, supervision | The person wants the career or the training, not the session. |
| Instructional and do it yourself | how to, worksheets, techniques, self help, meditation script | The person wants to treat themselves. A practice must never pay for that. |
| Third party and research | reddit, quora, wikipedia, pdf, template, quiz, review of, vs, scam | The person is gathering or comparing. Nothing on the page is the answer. |
| Crisis and emergency | crisis, emergency, suicide, self harm, hotline, 988, urgent, hospital | The person needs a crisis service now. A paid ad is the wrong door. |
The house rule on do it yourself searches
A practice must never pay for people who intend to treat themselves. A worksheet, a technique or a meditation script is a person who will not book this month. It is a hard rule, not a preference.
The crisis searches belong somewhere else
Crisis, suicide, self harm and 988 searches belong with crisis services, not with a paid ad. A person in that moment needs a free line in the first second. Excluding these searches is the right call and the safer one. It also keeps an ad away from the most sensitive searches a clinic can attract.
The list, ready to paste
Everything below goes in as a negative phrase keyword. A term in quotes is phrase match in Google Ads. Add it exactly as written at campaign level. One term per line.
Phrase and exact only. Do not add these as broad negatives yet. A broad negative can block a good search from the same word, and you will not see it happen until your inquiries drop.
How to apply it, and how often to review it
Where you add a negative matters as much as which term you add. Do it in the practice account, at campaign level, and start with phrase and exact.
Open the practice account
Sign in to the account itself. Add negatives at campaign level.
Never use the manager account
A manager account holds many practices. A negative added there is not this practice's decision.
Do not import a shared list
A list built from another practice carries another practice's choices and its market.
Phrase and exact first
Broad negatives can block good searches. Add broad only after you have watched your own search terms.
Review on a fixed date
Weekly while the account is new. Monthly once it settles.
Promote only what cannot book
If a search term brought one inquiry, leave it alone.
Review the search terms report once a week for the first four to six weeks. After that, once a month is enough. Each review covers the window since the last one, and you write down what you added and what you left.
A new search term becomes a negative only when it cannot become a client. A term that brought one inquiry stays, even if it looks odd. The inquiry is the evidence.
The honest limit of a starter list
This list is a starting point, not a finished one. It covers the searches we see in every therapy account. Your practice will have searches of its own. Your area, your specialties and your fees decide which ones reach you. After four weeks, your own search terms report is a better list than this page.
Where to go next
- How therapists win with Google Ads The walk through guide, seven sections, one idea each.
- The toolkit Every guide and worksheet in one place.
- How it works What we do in the first 90 days.
- Results Numbers from accounts we manage.
- Pricing What a month of management costs.
- The calculator Four questions, then the inquiries your budget should produce.
- The blog Guides and case studies for therapy practices.
Want a second pair of eyes on the account
Send us the account and we will read the search terms report with you. You will see which searches are paying for themselves and which are not.
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