Therapist marketing: how new clients find and choose you

How people actually look for a therapist

The biggest therapy searches are "near me" searches, and the phrasing tells you what people want. Here is US demand for the main therapy searches:

Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026. Google groups "therapist near me" and "therapy near me" as one cluster; top-of-page bids for it run $7.71–$29.28.

Three things stand out. The generic search dwarfs everything else, so your Google listing and directory profiles matter more than any one specialty page. People who name a population (couples, children, families) are telling you who the client is, and deserve a page that answers them. And "psychiatrist near me" is a different need: someone looking for a prescriber. If your group includes prescribers, see marketing for psychology and psychiatry practices.

"Trauma therapist near me", "EMDR therapy near me" and "grief counseling near me" returned no Keyword Planner data, so we don't estimate them. Describe that work on your site and profiles anyway: people often arrive through a broader search and then read for fit.

Then comes comparison. A prospective client opens a few profiles and websites looking for the same answers: do you work with people like me, how do you work, what does it cost, do you take my insurance, can I see you soon, and how do I start. Every channel below either answers those questions or sends people somewhere that does.

The channels that fill a caseload, in order of effort

Start at the top; move down once the earlier steps work.

1. Google Business Profile. Free, about an afternoon to set up, and it shows on Maps and local results.
2. Psychology Today profile. $29.95 a month as of October 2026, per its sign-up page (opens in a new tab). The writing matters more than the fee.
3. Your website. The one place you control fully, and where every other channel should point.
4. Referral relationships. Primary care, pediatricians, psychiatrists, school counselors and EAPs. Slow to build, steady after.
5. Insurance panels. Volume at the payer's rates and paperwork; a deliberate trade-off, not a default.
6. Paid ads. Fast and measurable, but only worth it once the steps above convert visitors into consult requests.
7. Content and AI visibility. Pages that answer real questions, written so search engines and AI assistants can read them.

If you want a baseline before choosing, a free marketing audit scores your website, Google listing, AI visibility, social and ads from public information.

Your route through this hub

• Websites for therapists: what clients check, and how builders, therapy-site platforms and rebuilds compare.
• Psychology Today listing cost: the current fee, profile writing and whether it pays for itself.
• Google Business Profile for therapists: home offices, telehealth-only practices, group listings and review replies.
• How to get more therapy clients: a sequenced 90-day plan with checkpoints.
• Therapy advertising options: Google, Meta, directories and local options, with each one's limits.
• Google Ads for therapists: keyword themes, negatives, crisis searches and consult tracking without PHI.
• Facebook ads for therapists: what Meta's personal-attributes rule means for therapy copy and targeting.
• Social media for therapists: posting without blurring professional boundaries.
• Reviews for therapists: ethics, HIPAA and replies that never confirm a client.
• HIPAA compliance for therapists: forms, pixels, testimonials and messaging on the marketing side.
• A CRM for consult requests: keeping every inquiry in one place and answering it quickly.
• AI marketing for therapists: where AI tools help a practice and where they don't.
• Therapy marketing ideas: specific ideas by channel and cost, each with a compliance note.
• Choosing a therapist marketing agency: questions to ask and red flags to avoid.

The Psychology Today, Google Business Profile, HIPAA and CRM guides are where therapy differs most from other specialties.

Your website: the page every other channel points to

A Psychology Today profile, a Google listing and an ad all end with the same click: your website. It should answer the comparison questions faster than the other tabs the reader has open:

• Who you see: a page per population or concern (anxiety, couples, trauma, children and teens), written for the reader.
• How you work: CBT, EMDR, DBT or whatever you practice, described plainly, without promising outcomes.
• Fees and insurance: session fees, panels you're on, whether you provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement, and any sliding scale.
• Where you can see people: office location and the states where you're licensed for telehealth.
• Availability and next step: whether you have openings, and a short consult form or phone number.
• Crisis information: a visible note that you don't provide emergency care, pointing to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (opens in a new tab) (call or text 988, 24/7) and 911.

Keep the consult form short. Name, contact details, preferred times and insurance are enough to schedule a call; asking for symptoms or diagnoses creates protected health information (PHI) you must then safeguard. The websites guide in the route list above covers page plans, builders and form design in detail.

Directories and listings: Psychology Today, Google and insurance panels

Listings are where many people first see your name. Three kinds matter:

Psychology Today. Its sign-up page lists an intro video, personal statement, photo gallery, client-matching filters, call and email tracking and a protected phone number for $29.95 a month, with no contract. The fee is low; the risk is a generic profile that reads like everyone else's.

Google Business Profile. Free, and it puts you on Maps. Google's eligibility guidelines (opens in a new tab) require in-person contact with customers during stated hours and exclude online-only businesses, which matters for telehealth-only practices.

Insurance panel directories. A panel puts you in the payer's provider search: volume, at the payer's rates and with its paperwork. Decide on purpose, and revisit once your caseload is full.

Keep your practice name, address, phone and credentials identical across all of them and your website. Search engines and AI assistants cross-check these details, and a mismatch makes you look like two different practices. For other directories worth claiming, see online listings for practices.

Ads for therapy: what Google and Meta allow

Search ads still work for therapy: someone types "couples therapy near me" and sees your ad. What platforms restrict is using what they know about a person's mental health to decide who sees an ad.

• Google treats health as a sensitive interest category and names "counseling services for mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and addiction" as an example. For it, Google's personalized advertising rules (opens in a new tab) don't allow advertiser-curated audiences: your data segments (remarketing lists), Customer Match, lookalikes and audience expansion. Keyword and location targeting remain available.
• Meta bans ads that assert or imply a personal attribute, including physical or mental health. Its own policy examples (opens in a new tab) reject "Depression getting you down? Get help now." and accept "Depression counseling".

The practical rule: describe the service, never the reader. "Couples counseling in Austin, evening appointments" works on both platforms; "Is your marriage falling apart?" doesn't. The advertising and Google Ads guides above cover budgets, keywords and negatives.

AI assistants are now part of the search for a therapist

People also ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews for recommendations. These tools assemble answers from what they can read on the open web: practice websites, directory profiles and listings. A therapist they can't read is left out of the answer.

Google says there are no additional requirements (opens in a new tab) to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond ordinary search best practices: indexed pages, important content in text, and structured data that matches the visible page. For a therapist, that means plain-text pages stating who you see, where, how and under which licenses, plus profiles that agree.

To know what assistants say about you, ask them your clients' questions regularly. More in AI visibility for practices.

Ethics and privacy rules that shape therapy marketing

Two overlapping rule sets apply: your professional ethics code and HIPAA. What each code says about testimonials, checked October 22, 2026:

The ACA's ethics page (opens in a new tab) says the 2014 code remains current while a revision is underway, so check for an update before relying on the wording.

On the privacy side, three practices need extra care:

• Condition-based retargeting. An audience built from readers of your depression or trauma page turns a page view into a health inference. Both ad platforms restrict it.
• Tracking pixels on consult and intake pages. HHS's online tracking guidance (opens in a new tab) warns that such disclosures can reveal "frequency of visits to a therapist". A federal court vacated part of that guidance on June 20, 2024 (the part about IP addresses on unauthenticated public pages), and HHS says it is evaluating next steps. The parts about pages where people type a reason for seeking care, or book an appointment, still stand.
• Client stories. Using a client's words or story in marketing needs a signed HIPAA authorization under 45 CFR 164.508 (opens in a new tab), and your ethics code still bars soliciting it. Examples on your site should be clearly fictional composites.

Psychotherapy notes, the notes you keep separately about session content, have their own protection: 45 CFR 164.501 (opens in a new tab) defines them, and 164.508(a)(2) requires an authorization for almost any use or disclosure. Marketing should never come near them. For the full rule set, see HIPAA marketing rules.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor.

Handling consult requests so none slip through

Marketing that works produces messages: forms, voicemails, directory emails, Google calls. Practices that convert them share a few habits.

• One place for every request. Forms, Psychology Today emails and voicemails should land somewhere one person checks daily, not in three inboxes.
• A reply-time target. Set one, such as one business day, and track it. Someone who wrote to four therapists often books with the first who answers.
• A short first reply. Confirm availability, fees and the next step. Don't ask for clinical history by email.
• A source on every request. "How did you hear about us?" on the form tells you which channel to keep paying for.
• A crisis line in auto-replies. Any automated acknowledgment should say you don't monitor messages around the clock and point to 988 and 911.

Where Medfy fits for a therapy practice

Medfy is AI marketing for independent practices, built HIPAA-compliant by design. It covers the full path above, not one channel. The base plan is $349 a month:

• Website: your site rebuilt and hosted on your own domain, with a page per service, structured data and HIPAA-compliant forms.
• Listings and reporting: Google Search Console, Analytics and Business Profile in one view, plus first-party analytics for calls, forms and directions.
• AI visibility: every week Medfy asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions clients ask, and shows whether they name you and who they suggest instead.
• Patient CRM and inbox: every consult form and message in one access-controlled place.
• SEO articles: weekly drafts you approve; one channel among several.

Optional add-ons are Google Ads management and Meta ads with AI creatives, $199 a month each, with copy written for healthcare ad policies. Ad spend goes directly to Google and Meta, and ad platforms never receive patient data. Medfy signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with your practice. It does not send review requests, post to social media or send email and text campaigns. You can see a free preview of your rebuilt website before paying; details are on Medfy pricing.

Frequently asked questions

How do therapists get clients without a big ad budget?

Start with the free and low-cost channels that match how people search: a complete Google Business Profile, a specific Psychology Today profile, a website that answers fit, fees and availability, and two or three referral relationships with local physicians, pediatricians or school counselors. Reply to every consult request within one business day. Add paid ads only after those basics work, and judge them by cost per new client, not clicks.

Is Psychology Today still worth it for a private practice?

For most practices, yes, as long as the profile is specific and you measure it. As of October 2026 a listing costs $29.95 a month, or $359.40 a year, so the test is simple arithmetic: compare that with what one new client is worth to you. Ask every new client how they found you, check the profile's call and email tracking, and rewrite or cancel it after three quiet months.

Can therapists use client testimonials on their website?

Mostly no. The APA, ACA, NASW and AAMFT ethics codes all bar soliciting testimonials from current clients or others vulnerable to undue influence, and the ACA code extends that to former clients. HIPAA adds a second layer: using a client's words in marketing requires a signed authorization. Unsolicited public reviews are different, but a reply must never confirm that the reviewer is your client.

Is it HIPAA compliant to retarget visitors who viewed therapy pages?

Treat it as off-limits. Google lists counseling for depression, anxiety and addiction as a sensitive health category and doesn't allow advertiser-curated audiences, such as remarketing lists, for it. Meta bans ads that imply knowledge of someone's health. HHS guidance also warns that tracking code on pages where people type a reason for seeking care can disclose protected health information to the ad platform.

Do people use ChatGPT to find a therapist?

Some do, and Google now shows AI-generated overviews in its results too. We don't know of a reliable public count of how many people search this way, so don't plan around a number. What you can control is what those tools find: a clear website, a matching Psychology Today profile and Google listing, and pages that state your specialties, location and licensure in plain text.

How much should a private practice spend on marketing?

Work backward from your open hours rather than a fixed percentage. A Google Business Profile is free and a Psychology Today listing is $29.95 a month as of October 2026. If you test Google Ads, a click on 'therapist near me' averages $24.19 in the US, so $1,000 buys about 40 clicks. Decide what one new client is worth to your practice before you spend anything.