Takeaways
- The 55 rehab and behavioral health searches in this benchmark add up to 337,190 US searches a month.Source: SEMrush US database, pulled October 28, 2026 (download the data)
- The median cost per click across the 35 searches with click cost data is $17.35.Source: SEMrush US database, pulled October 28, 2026 (download the data)
- 20 of the 55 searches show no click cost, including "rehab near me" and "drug rehab near me".Source: SEMrush US database, pulled October 28, 2026 (download the data)
- "detox near me" costs $35.21 a click, the highest of any search here with at least 1,000 monthly searches.Source: SEMrush US database, pulled October 28, 2026 (download the data)
- Median click cost by level of care: residential $22.48, general and near-me $21.74, outpatient $16.57, detox $14.55, mental health $11.24.Source: SEMrush US database, pulled October 28, 2026 (download the data)
- Across 3,500+ healthcare campaigns, the average addiction recovery click costs $3.46 and the average lead costs $120.30.Source: LocaliQ, Healthcare Search Advertising Benchmarks, updated January 13, 2026
- Across $16.5M in rehab ad spend, Webserv measured $406 per lead, $2,552 per VOB and $16,608 per admission.Source: Webserv, State of Rehab Marketing 2025, accessed October 28, 2026
- LegitScript charges $1,395 to $1,595 per facility to apply and $2,550 to $3,095 per facility each year.Source: LegitScript, Addiction Treatment Certification pricing, accessed October 28, 2026
- A single facility pays LegitScript up to $4,690 in its first year, before any ad spend.Source: Our math from LegitScript's published fees (smaller operators pay the top of each range)
- Webserv publishes admissions consulting fees of $3,500 to $15,000 a month plus a $7,500 to $15,000 setup.Source: Webserv, admissions consulting cost, updated October 2, 2026
- Lead to Recovery publishes local SEO from $750 a month per location and PPC from $1,000 a month.Source: Lead to Recovery, pricing, accessed October 28, 2026
- RehabAdmit charges a flat $5,000 to $25,000 a month with no minimum term.Source: RehabAdmit, agencies compared (our own pricing; see disclosure)
- At the median click cost, an 8.09% click-to-inquiry rate and a 15.9% inquiry-to-VOB rate, one VOB costs about $1,349.Source: Our math; conversion rates from LocaliQ (healthcare search average) and Webserv (measured lead to VOB)
- Running campaigns, we see a detox or residential admission from Google Ads or directories cost $2,000 to $5,000 in-network and $7,000 to $15,000 out-of-network.Source: What we see running campaigns for treatment centers (RehabAdmit)
Disclosure: RehabAdmit sells rehab marketing, and our own pricing is in the takeaways. Every other number links to the company or dataset that published it, fetched October 28, 2026. Ranges from our own campaigns are labeled as ours.
How much does rehab marketing cost in 2026?
Rehab marketing cost has four parts: the price of each click, the cost of qualifying to advertise, the agency fee, and how many clicks it takes to produce a VOB and an admission. Each section below covers one part, and the takeaways above give the numbers.
- Click costs by search and level of care
- The cost of qualifying for Google Ads
- Published agency fees
- Cost per VOB and cost per admission
How much does a click cost for rehab searches?
Click cost depends most on the level of care: among levels of care, residential and general rehab searches cost the most per click and mental health searches the least. Insurance searches cost more per click but few people search them. The table groups the 55 searches by category with each group's monthly volume and click cost range.
| Category | Searches | With click cost | US searches / month | Click cost range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General and near me | 12 | 8 | 138,800 | $16.82 to $27.20 |
| Detox | 9 | 9 | 47,100 | $10.13 to $35.21 |
| Residential and inpatient | 7 | 4 | 31,700 | $7.92 to $28.90 |
| Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 8 | 5 | 65,000 | $6.48 to $20.90 |
| Mental health and dual diagnosis | 9 | 3 | 32,380 | $8.80 to $13.35 |
| Insurance and payer | 4 | 2 | 520 | $34.88 to $59.27 |
| Specialty programs | 6 | 4 | 21,690 | $5.39 to $12.09 |
Every search, with its estimated click cost and keyword difficulty (0 to 100):
| Search | Category | US searches / month | Cost per click | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| rehab near me | General and near me | 14,800 | No data | 70 |
| drug rehab near me | General and near me | 18,100 | No data | 70 |
| alcohol rehab near me | General and near me | 9,900 | $24.58 | 60 |
| addiction treatment near me | General and near me | 4,400 | No data | 66 |
| rehab centers near me | General and near me | 22,200 | $16.82 | 70 |
| drug rehab | General and near me | 18,100 | $21.02 | 95 |
| alcohol rehab | General and near me | 14,800 | $22.45 | 71 |
| rehab centers | General and near me | 12,100 | $17.99 | 80 |
| addiction treatment | General and near me | 12,100 | $17.89 | 93 |
| addiction treatment centers | General and near me | 6,600 | $23.50 | 85 |
| alcohol treatment centers | General and near me | 4,400 | $27.20 | 64 |
| drug treatment centers | General and near me | 1,300 | No data | 85 |
| detox near me | Detox | 9,900 | $35.21 | 44 |
| drug detox | Detox | 8,100 | $11.99 | 65 |
| alcohol detox | Detox | 12,100 | $14.55 | 57 |
| detox centers | Detox | 2,900 | $27.11 | 78 |
| alcohol detox near me | Detox | 6,600 | $28.91 | 66 |
| medical detox | Detox | 3,600 | $17.35 | 54 |
| opiate detox | Detox | 1,000 | $12.12 | 66 |
| fentanyl detox | Detox | 1,600 | $10.13 | 43 |
| benzo detox | Detox | 1,300 | $12.09 | 36 |
| inpatient rehab | Residential and inpatient | 8,100 | No data | 69 |
| residential treatment center | Residential and inpatient | 1,900 | No data | 42 |
| inpatient drug rehab | Residential and inpatient | 4,400 | No data | 67 |
| residential rehab | Residential and inpatient | 1,000 | $7.92 | 71 |
| luxury rehab | Residential and inpatient | 5,400 | $28.90 | 57 |
| 30 day rehab | Residential and inpatient | 1,000 | $23.17 | 31 |
| inpatient rehab near me | Residential and inpatient | 9,900 | $21.79 | 66 |
| iop near me | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 6,600 | $20.90 | 17 |
| intensive outpatient program | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 14,800 | No data | 34 |
| outpatient rehab | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 9,900 | $16.57 | 61 |
| php program | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 8,100 | $6.48 | 18 |
| partial hospitalization program | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 9,900 | $6.83 | 26 |
| outpatient drug rehab | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 2,900 | No data | 72 |
| intensive outpatient program near me | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 2,900 | No data | 32 |
| suboxone clinic near me | Outpatient, IOP, PHP and MAT | 9,900 | $19.13 | 28 |
| dual diagnosis treatment | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 3,600 | $13.35 | 45 |
| mental health treatment centers | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 2,400 | No data | 50 |
| mental health facilities near me | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 12,100 | $8.80 | 76 |
| inpatient mental health facilities | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 1,000 | No data | 36 |
| residential mental health treatment | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 1,300 | No data | 38 |
| mental health iop | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 880 | No data | 23 |
| depression treatment centers | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 4,400 | $11.24 | 34 |
| anxiety treatment centers | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 1,300 | No data | 23 |
| eating disorder treatment centers | Mental health and dual diagnosis | 5,400 | No data | 61 |
| rehabs that take insurance | Insurance and payer | 90 | $34.88 | 45 |
| rehab that takes medicaid | Insurance and payer | 260 | No data | 16 |
| drug rehab that accepts insurance | Insurance and payer | 0 | $59.27 | 0 |
| rehab centers that accept aetna | Insurance and payer | 170 | No data | 29 |
| sober living near me | Specialty programs | 14,800 | $5.39 | 50 |
| teen rehab | Specialty programs | 1,600 | No data | 52 |
| rehab for veterans | Specialty programs | 1,000 | No data | 49 |
| couples rehab | Specialty programs | 2,400 | $12.09 | 40 |
| christian rehab | Specialty programs | 590 | $10.23 | 54 |
| holistic rehab | Specialty programs | 1,300 | $9.11 | 26 |
Download: rehab-keyword-click-costs-2026-10.csv (CSV). Free to reuse with a link to this page.
Why do some rehab searches show no click cost?
SEMrush shows no click cost when it has no auction data for a search, which is not the same as a free click. Our read: Google lets only certified providers run addiction treatment ads, so some of the biggest rehab searches have too few bidders for a clean estimate. Plan those terms from your own Google Ads account data instead.
Why do campaign benchmarks show lower click costs than keyword tools?
A campaign average blends every click in an account, including cheap long-tail and brand searches, while a keyword tool estimates the price of one search (our read). LocaliQ's averages also do not reconcile with each other: its click cost divided by its conversion rate does not equal its cost per lead, which suggests each figure is averaged across accounts separately. Use them as a direction, and use keyword-level estimates to budget specific searches.
What does it cost to qualify for Google Ads as a rehab?
Google requires LegitScript certification to advertise recovery-oriented drug and alcohol addiction services. Its policy says "you must be certified as an addiction services provider by the LegitScript Certification program" (Google Ads healthcare policy, accessed October 28, 2026). LegitScript prices by facility count "with lower fees available at higher volumes," so a single-location center pays the top of each range in the takeaways.
How much do rehab marketing agencies charge?
Most rehab marketing agencies do not publish prices, so the few published fees are the only ones a buyer can check before a sales call. In our comparison of eight agencies, 3 publish no fees at all (rehab marketing agencies compared). Published fees also cover different scopes: some are per location, some per channel and some cover admissions work rather than ads, so compare scope before price.
How much does a VOB cost?
Two conversion rates move the cost of a VOB more than the click price does: the share of clicks that become a call or form, and the share of those inquiries that verify benefits.
Formula: cost per VOB = cost per click ÷ click-to-inquiry rate ÷ inquiry-to-VOB rate.
- Cost per click: the median from our dataset.
- Click to inquiry: LocaliQ's average conversion rate for healthcare search ads. Assumption: rehab converts like healthcare overall.
- Inquiry to VOB: Webserv's measured lead-to-VOB rate across its 2025 client accounts.
Those inputs put one inquiry at about $214. If your intake team verifies 25% of inquiries, the rate Web Tonic, an agency, cites for healthy accounts, the same clicks buy a VOB for about $858. Intake speed and qualification are the cheapest levers you have.
How much does an admission cost?
Network status moves the cost of an admission more than anything else: out-of-network admissions cost several times more than in-network ones in our campaigns. Webserv measured a 35.9% rate from viable VOB to admit (Webserv 2025), so most viable VOBs still do not become admissions. Track your own cost per admission by channel, network status and level of care. Measuring it is good practice; how you pay vendors is a separate question (see our EKRA guide).
How was this benchmark built?
- Click costs and volumes: SEMrush phrase_these, US database, pulled October 28, 2026. We picked 55 searches across seven categories: general and near-me, detox, residential, outpatient, mental health and dual diagnosis, insurance and specialty programs.
- Medians: calculated only over searches with a reported click cost. Searches without one are listed as "No data", not zero.
- Third-party figures: fetched from each publisher's page on October 28, 2026, quoted as published.
- Our math: shown with its inputs so you can rerun it with your own rates.
- Our ranges: the admission ranges come from our own campaign work for treatment centers, not a published study. They apply mostly to detox and residential.
Related: rehab marketing cost per admission · rehab marketing agencies compared · which rehab marketing agencies AI recommends