How to Choose a Medical PPC Agency for Your ABA Clinic

An ABA owner once showed me a proposal from a medical PPC agency. The deck was polished. The client logos were dentists and med spas. Nothing on autism, ABA, or behavioral health.

That gap matters. A medical PPC agency that mostly runs ads for dental implants and cosmetic treatments may not understand what makes an ABA search different from a cosmetic procedure search.

Here is how to vet a PPC agency for an ABA clinic, so you do not end up funding someone’s learning curve with your ad budget. Before you shop for a partner, it helps to know what good PPC management should include, so you can tell whether an agency is actually doing it.

Why a generic medical PPC agency is not always the right fit

Most medical PPC agencies are built around high-margin, elective services. Dental, dermatology, med spa, cosmetic surgery. The buyer researches calmly and compares options over weeks.

ABA is different. A parent searching for services is often stressed, often on a waitlist timeline, and often confused about insurance and diagnosis steps before they can even start.

An agency that has never run ABA campaigns may not know which search terms actually convert, or how to write ad copy that speaks to a parent instead of a generic patient. Our guide to Google Ads for ABA clinics shows the kind of parent-focused setup a strong partner should already understand.

That does not mean you need an agency that works only with ABA clinics. It means you need one that can show real, specific experience with families searching for a stressful, time-sensitive service, not just healthcare in general.

An agency with strong dental or dermatology results is not a bad sign on its own. The question is whether they can translate that skill to a buyer whose search behavior looks nothing like someone booking a teeth cleaning.

A good way to test this in the sales call itself is to ask how they would set up a campaign for your clinic specifically. A generic answer about “targeting your ideal customer” is a warning sign. A specific answer about parent search behavior and ABA search terms is a good one. This is exactly the kind of ABA-specific work my team does through our ABA ads service, so I know a real answer sounds different from a rehearsed one.

Take notes during that call and compare them across two or three agencies before you decide. The agency that answers with real specifics, not just confidence, is usually the one that will manage your account the same way.

Questions to ask before you sign

Ask a few direct questions before you sign anything.

Have you managed ABA or autism-related accounts before? Ask for at least one example, even anonymized.

What is your process for reviewing search terms and negative keywords? A real answer includes a cadence, like weekly or every two weeks.

How do you report results, and how often? You want a straight answer on cost per lead, not just impressions and clicks.

What happens if the campaign underperforms in the first 60 days? A confident agency has a clear answer, not a vague reassurance.

Can I see a sample report before I sign? Any agency worth hiring can show you what their monthly report actually looks like, with the account names removed. If they cannot, that alone is worth pausing on.

Red flags in the sales pitch

A few phrases should slow you down in any PPC sales pitch. “We guarantee leads” is one. Nobody can guarantee lead volume on a platform they do not control.

A long minimum contract with no easy exit is another. A confident agency should be willing to earn a renewal, not lock you in before you have seen a single month of results.

Vague reporting is a third. If a proposal talks mostly about impressions and reach instead of cost per lead, that is a sign the agency is optimizing for a metric that does not pay your bills.

Pressure to sign the same day is a fourth. A real proposal can survive a week of you thinking it over. Urgency in a sales pitch usually protects the salesperson, not you.

What a fair contract looks like

A fair PPC contract for an ABA clinic includes a management fee that is clearly separated from ad spend, a month to month or short initial term, and a written report every month with real numbers.

You should own your own Google Ads and Meta Ads accounts, not the agency. If the relationship ends, your account and its history should stay with you.

Ask who has admin access to your accounts and make sure it is documented in writing. Some agencies build campaigns under their own master account, which makes it hard to leave later without starting from zero.

How to judge results in the first 90 days

Give any new agency 90 days before you draw conclusions. The first 30 days are usually setup and learning. Costs often run higher in month one than month three.

By day 90, you should be able to see a clear cost per lead trend, a growing negative keyword list, and at least one round of ad or landing page testing.

If none of that is visible by day 90, it is a fair time to have a hard conversation, or start looking elsewhere.

Write down what you expect to see by day 90 before the campaign even launches. It is much easier to hold an agency to a standard you set at the start than to argue about performance after the fact. The Five Principles of ABA Ads workbook gives you a self-scoring sheet you can use to check any agency’s work.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an agency that only works with ABA clinics?

No. You need one that can show real experience with families searching for a stressful, time-sensitive service. Strong dental or dermatology results are not a bad sign on their own. The question is whether they can translate that skill to an ABA parent’s search behavior.

What questions should I ask before signing?

Ask whether they have run ABA or autism accounts, how often they review search terms and negative keywords, how they report cost per lead, and what happens if the campaign underperforms in the first 60 days. Also ask to see a sample monthly report with the account names removed.

What are the biggest red flags in a PPC sales pitch?

Guaranteed leads, a long lock-in contract with no easy exit, vague reporting that leans on impressions instead of cost per lead, and pressure to sign the same day. A real proposal can survive a week of you thinking it over.

Should I own my own ad accounts?

Yes. You should own your Google Ads and Meta Ads accounts, not the agency. If the relationship ends, your account and its history stay with you. Ask who has admin access and get it documented in writing.