Setup beats spend
Paid ads can fill a new location's schedule faster than anything else. They can also burn a month of budget on clicks from families outside your service area or your insurance networks. The difference is almost always setup, not spend.
Should an ABA clinic run paid ads at all?
Run ads to families when you have open, staffed capacity and a website that turns visits into inquiries. If you already have a waitlist, ads aimed at families just make it longer and frustrate the people on it.
A waitlist usually means a staffing bottleneck, and paid ads work there too: aimed at RBT and BCBA candidates instead of parents. See how to hire and keep RBTs for what those ads should point to.
Google Ads or Meta ads?
- Google search ads reach families who are actively looking, searching terms like "ABA therapy near me" or "in-home ABA" plus a city. Intent is high and the audience is small, which suits a clinic with a defined service area.
- Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) reach parents who aren't searching yet. They're better for awareness, events, and recruiting than for filling intake next month.
For most clinics the first dollar belongs in Google search, targeted tightly to where you can actually serve families.
What rules apply to healthcare ads?
Health advertising has extra rules on both platforms, and they shape your strategy more than your budget does.
- No health-condition audiences. Google restricts personalized advertising based on health conditions, and Meta removed detailed targeting options tied to health topics in 2022. You can't build an audience of "parents of autistic children."
- Don't imply you know the viewer's situation. Meta's personal attributes policy rejects ads that assert or imply a health condition, so copy like "Is your child autistic?" tends to get disapproved. Describe your services instead.
- Employment ads are a special category. On Meta, job ads fall under a special ad category that limits targeting by age, gender, and zip code.
Policies change, so check each platform's current healthcare and personal attributes rules before you launch.
How should you target and budget?
Set your geographic radius to realistic drive time for center-based services, or to your actual service area for in-home. Use keywords that pair your service with your area, and add negative keywords early: jobs, certification, training, salary, and courses keep job seekers and students out of your family campaigns.
Start with a fixed monthly test budget you can afford to learn with, and keep recruiting ads in their own campaigns with their own budget. Judge spend by cost per intake, not cost per click. A cheap click from a family outside your networks costs more than an expensive one that starts services.
Where should the ads send people?
To a page that matches the ad, not your home page. An in-home ad should land on your in-home page, with your service area, the insurance you accept, and the intake form on the same screen.
Keep advertising pixels off intake pages unless your counsel has approved the setup. Our ABA clinic website guide covers why.
How do you tell if ads are working?
Follow each family from click to start of services: cost per inquiry, inquiry-to-intake rate, and intake-to-start rate. Review the search terms report weekly, since it shows exactly what people typed before clicking, and add negatives for anything irrelevant.
If ads bring in families with plans you don't accept, put your insurance networks in the ad copy. Fewer clicks from the right families beats more clicks from the wrong ones.
Frequently asked questions
Can I retarget people who visited my website?
Be careful. Google restricts remarketing based on health-related browsing, and placing ad pixels on healthcare pages raises HIPAA questions. Many clinics skip retargeting entirely or limit it to recruiting pages.
Should I advertise when I have a waitlist?
Not to families. Put that budget into recruiting instead, since the waitlist usually means you need more staff, not more demand.
Can I run ads to recruit RBTs?
Yes, and it's often the best use of paid social for a growing clinic. On Meta, job ads fall under the employment special ad category, which limits targeting options, so lean on clear pay and schedule details in the ad itself.
Do I need an agency to run ads?
Not to start. You need someone who checks the search terms report weekly, adjusts negatives, and tracks results to intakes. That can be you for a small campaign.