South Carolina at a glance
| Rule | South Carolina | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| PSYPACT (psychologists) | Yes | 8 October 2026 |
| Counseling Compact (counselors) | Yes, not live yet | 8 October 2026 |
| Social Work Licensure Compact | Enacted, not issuing licenses yet | 8 October 2026 |
| Health-data or health geofencing law | None | 30 September 2026 |
| Privacy law treating health data as sensitive | None | 30 September 2026 |
South Carolina licensing boards’ advertising rules
Ads, websites and directory profiles all count as advertising to a licensing board. These are the South Carolina rules we check copy against, with links to the official text. Boards update their rules, so read the current version before you rely on a summary.
South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology
- Psychologists' public statements, including directory listings and TV or radio ads, may not be false, fraudulent, misleading or deceptive, create unjustified expectations of favorable results, or imply unusual, unique or one-of-a-kind abilities. (S.C. Code Regs. 100-6(A)(3))
South Carolina Board of Examiners for Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors and Psycho-Educational Specialists
- Professional counselors' listed practice information, such as degree, license, services and office details, must not contain false, inaccurate, misleading, partial, out-of-context or otherwise deceptive material or statements. (S.C. Code Regs. 36-22(F)(3))
- Marriage and family therapists may not advertise a specialization unless they have the education and supervised experience, in settings meeting recognized professional standards, to practice in that specialty area. (S.C. Code Regs. 36-24(H)(7))
Telehealth across South Carolina's borders
South Carolina is a PSYPACT state. A psychologist whose home license is in South Carolina can apply for PSYPACT's telepsychology authorization and then see clients by telehealth in the other PSYPACT states, so ads can reach clients there too.
South Carolina has enacted the Counseling Compact, but it wasn't live here yet when we checked. Once it is, a licensed professional counselor based here can apply for privileges to practice in other member states instead of a separate license in each.
It has also enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact, which isn't issuing multistate licenses yet; the compact's commission expects its licensing system in 2027.
Physicians, psychiatrists included, need a license in each state they treat patients in; the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact can speed that up where a state takes part.
Telehealth ads should only reach places where the clinician can legally treat: see PSYPACT and Counseling Compact states.
Practices near a state line often see clients from next door. North Carolina and Georgia each have their own page.
Health data, tracking and South Carolina law
South Carolina has no comprehensive consumer privacy law or consumer health data law in effect as of 30 September 2026. Federal rules and a practice's own HIPAA duties still apply.
This is not legal advice.
How the states compare: state health-data laws.
What patients search for in South Carolina
Searches a month that name a South Carolina city, with the average cost per click, from Ahrefs (checked between 30 September and 5 October 2026). A dash means too few to measure; “near me” searches aren't counted. The Statewide row is searches that name the state.
| City | Therapist | Psychiatrist | Ketamine | IOP | Weight loss | Functional med. | Concierge | GI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenville | 350 $4.00 | 400 $2.50 | 80 | – | 90 $2.50 | 100 $1.60 | 50 $1.60 | 350 $1.50 |
| Columbia | 400 $5.00 | 200 $3.00 | – | – | 20 $2.50 | 50 $1.00 | 10 | 300 $1.70 |
| Charleston | 400 $6.00 | 200 $3.50 | – | 10 $0.80 | 90 $3.50 | 70 $0.90 | 40 $1.50 | 80 $1.30 |
| Myrtle Beach | 100 $1.90 | 150 $3.00 | 30 | – | 90 $1.90 | 50 $0.70 | – | 90 $1.20 |
| Mount Pleasant | 150 $4.00 | 30 $2.50 | – | – | 10 | 10 | – | 30 $1.30 |
| Statewide | 60 $4.50 | 30 $3.00 | – | 70 $0.40 | – | – | – | – |
Of the cities measured, Greenville gets the most of these searches. Its biggest single search, “psychiatrist greenville sc”, gets about 400 a month. To turn a cost per click into a cost per booked patient, put your own numbers into the patient acquisition cost calculator.
Across the searches measured here, South Carolina patients look most for therapists (about 1,460 a month), then psychiatrists (1,010). Greenville alone accounts for 34% of them. A click on a therapist search here costs about $4.70 on average, above the $4.00 median across the 306 therapist searches measured on our state pages.
Fill The Lobby is a remote US healthcare marketing agency; the ads and pages we write for practices are checked against rules like these. See how we handle compliance.
Sources
- PSYPACT, compact map, checked 8 October 2026
- Counseling Compact, member map, checked 8 October 2026
- Counseling Compact, 10 states now offering privileges, checked 8 October 2026
- Counseling Compact, Pennsylvania becomes the 40th member, checked 8 October 2026
- Social Work Licensure Compact, enacted in 35 states, checked 8 October 2026
- Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, participating states, checked 14 October 2026
- IAPP, US State Privacy Legislation Tracker, checked 30 September 2026
- Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US search volumes and cost per click, checked 30 September 2026
- South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology, checked 5 October 2026
- South Carolina Board of Examiners for Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors and Psycho-Educational Specialists, checked 5 October 2026