This post was inspired by a recent podcast conversation with Jake Gorman, COO of MGMT Digital, a specialized behavioral healthcare marketing agency.
With deep expertise in helping mental health and substance use treatment centers grow, Jake revealed key lessons on why relying solely on SEO isn’t enough—and how integrating conversion data across channels leads to smarter ad spend and sustainable growth.
Below, you’ll find a strategic, practitioner-level playbook for expanding your reach, improving lead quality, and optimizing ROI in behavioral health marketing.
One of the most common traps behavioral health organizations fall into is putting all their eggs in one marketing basket—often SEO. That can work temporarily, but it’s risky. “If they drop in organic rankings … you can see that census would also take a dip,” warns Jake. When your admissions depend solely on organic search success, fluctuations in algorithms or competitive moves can jeopardize your entire pipeline.
Instead, build a marketing ecosystem that wields multiple channels—SEO, PPC, social, directories, branding—to reach audiences at different stages of the funnel. This ensures your admissions engine doesn’t collapse if one tactic underperforms. A diversified funnel adapts to changing trends and maintains momentum across channels.
For behavioral health marketing, where urgency, trust, and privacy concerns are paramount, omnichannel coverage ensures you stay top of mind when someone is ready to act.
Before you throw budget behind campaigns, begin with a high-level audit of your branding, site structure, and positioning. The traffic you generate—paid or organic—ultimately funnels to your website. If that site isn’t optimized for conversion, your marketing dollars leak.
Key areas to evaluate:
Jake’s priority: “We take a look at the brand … make sure the messaging on the site actually resonates with the end user.” If the site fails the audit, he doesn’t hesitate to rebuild it before launching campaigns. When spent dollars land on weak pages, the ROI collapses.
In behavioral health, facility location still matters. Even for centers that accept out-of-state clients, dominating your local footprint is foundational. Jake asserts: “If you’re not ranking well … in your local market, then there’s no sense to … move into a national campaign first.”
Here’s how to structure your SEO ladder:
Traffic is important, but intent is more important. Some topics—“how long does cocaine stay in your system”—generate high analytical metrics, but poor conversion if people visiting are researching, not ready to enter treatment. The trick: aim for keywords that reflect readiness. Jake says:
“We’re not always just worried about that trend line going up … we’re actually focused on making sure … ranking for transactional keywords … higher conversion rate.”
Focus on quality intent over vanity traffic.
A high-performing facility often operates across 5–6 marketing channels. Jake typically builds a mix including:
When budgets are limited, start with bottom-funnel channels first: Google search. Jake suggests dedicating roughly 70% of your budget to tactics close to conversion (search ads), reserving the rest for brand and awareness channels. If a facility already has SEO strength, you might lean less on paid and more on sustaining awareness channels.
One key nuance: scaling must be incremental, not abrupt. “You don’t want to turn it all off and then restart … you have to go through the learning phase again.” Ads accounts retrain. Instead, make modest cuts (20–50%) when needed, not full shutdowns.
“We only make small adjustments either up or down … turning everything off … is just not how it works.”
Even awareness campaigns must remain active at a basic level so the algorithm remains primed.
Clicks and impressions are vanity metrics without meaningful conversion tracking. In behavioral health marketing, the real power lies in tying online conversions to admissions through a hybrid tracking architecture.
Jake’s strategy revolves around two classes of conversions:
Once you reach sufficient volume—about 150 online conversions—you can shift from click-based bidding to conversion-based bidding in Google Ads. At that point, the algorithm optimizes toward users who match profiles of past converters. But you must continually feed it quality data, including offline outcomes.
To do that, you must:
“Conversion tracking is very, very important … you also want to integrate … your CRM … integrate call tracking metrics with Google Ads,” explains Jake. When you close that feedback loop, you can weed out low-quality leads and amplify performance.
Not everyone converts immediately. Many prospects are unsure, researching, or discussing options with loved ones. Your job is to stay in front of them without being pushy.
MGMT Digital’s approach involves:
Jake emphasizes: “We don’t use AI to generate content … we try to make the content digestible and resonate with the end user.” The goal isn’t hard selling—it’s being present when a prospect is ready to act.
While search and social continue to dominate, Jake highlighted several rising opportunities worth watching:
Brands that optimize now for AI-augmented search may gain early advantage. Jake notes: “If you’ve already got a well-optimized article … you have a chance of being placed in the AI overview.”
Here’s your strategic checklist for making omnichannel lead generation work in behavioral health:
In Jake’s words:
“Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket … there are multiple avenues … if utilized correctly.”
If you’re a marketing practitioner in behavioral health, this is your map. Over time, you’ll optimize which channels outperform, shift budgets dynamically, and continuously refine conversion feedback loops.
To dive deeper, explore Recovery.com’s articles on behavioral health and treatment trends, including resources like “The Most Common Addictions in the U.S.” and “Exploring Harm Reduction Strategies.” For insights specifically on generating high-quality recovery leads, see posts like “Proven Strategies for Generating High-Quality Recovery Leads.”
Want to connect with Jake? Check him out on LinkedIn or visit MGMT Digital to learn how their team can help you execute an omnichannel marketing strategy built for behavioral health growth.