SEO for Therapists: How a Private Practice Gets Found on Google

The facts here come from primary sources: Google Business Profile Help's Business eligibility and ownership guidelines, Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Tips to get more reviews and Manage customer reviews; Google Search Central's SEO Starter Guide, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Do you need an SEO? and Local business structured data; the American Counseling Association's 2014 ACA Code of Ethics; and schema.org's MedicalBusiness and Psychiatric entries, all checked on 14 November 2026. We quote the ACA code because it is written for counselors; psychologists, marriage and family therapists and social workers follow their own profession's code and state board rules, so check yours. The rest is our view from building websites for service businesses.

The short answer

Therapy SEO is mostly local SEO with extra care for privacy. If you see clients in an office, set up a Google Business Profile for it (and for each therapist where Google's practitioner rules fit), give your main specialties their own pages written the way clients describe their problems, give each clinician a real page with accurate credentials, keep the practice name, address and phone the same everywhere, and handle reviews without ever confirming that someone is a client. Be wary of anyone who promises the top spot: Google says "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."

What the website itself needs (fees, booking, privacy on contact forms, a crisis note) is in our therapist website guide. This page sticks to getting found in unpaid search results.

Google says local results "are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity", and "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."

Business Profiles: who qualifies

Google's eligibility rule is short: "To qualify for a Business Profile, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours." A practice with an office where clients come for sessions fits. A few details matter for therapists:

• Each therapist can have a profile. Google describes an individual practitioner as "a public-facing professional, typically with their own customer base", with doctors, dentists and lawyers as examples. A practitioner "should create their own dedicated Business Profile" if they work in a public-facing role and "can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours". Google adds: "Support staff should not create their own Business Profiles."
• Group practices get one more profile. Where several practitioners work at one location, Google says "The organization should create a Business Profile for this location, separate from that of the practitioner", and the practitioner's profile title "should include only the name of the practitioner".
• One profile per therapist, not one per specialty. Google: "A practitioner shouldn't have multiple Business Profiles to cover all of their specializations." No separate "anxiety" and "trauma" profiles.
• No keywords in the name. Google says "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile." "Jane Smith, LPC" is fine; "Jane Smith Anxiety Therapy Pasadena" is not, unless that is the real registered name on your signage.
• Titles have to be true. Google allows a practitioner name to "include title or degree certification (for example Dr., MD, JD, Esq., CFA)". The ACA code is stricter about "Dr.": counselors do not imply doctoral-level competence "by referring to themselves as “Dr.” in a counseling context when their doctorate is not in counseling or a related field."
• Shared or rented offices. Google says a virtual office "isn't eligible for a Business Profile", and a co-working office qualifies only if it "maintains clear signage, receives customers at the location during business hours, and is staffed during business hours". In our view, a therapist who sublets a room one day a week should check these rules first.

For categories, Google asks you to "Choose the fewest number of categories it takes to describe your overall core business" and says "Do not use categories solely as keywords". Our Google Business Profile guide covers setup and verification, and Business Profile services covers listing what you offer.

Telehealth-only practices

Many therapists now see some or all clients by video. Google's list of businesses that are not eligible for a Business Profile includes "Brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses." Under the in-person rule above, a practice with no office where clients are seen does not qualify.

Our view for telehealth-only practices: put the weight on the website. Say plainly which states you are licensed in and can see clients from, write the specialty pages below, list the practice in the directories your profession uses, and earn links from local organizations you actually work with. One clear "Online therapy for clients in California" page is better than dozens of thin city pages that only swap the town name; our guide to local SEO for service-area pages explains when area pages help and when they do not. A hybrid practice keeps a profile for its office.

Specialty pages in clients' words

Google's SEO Starter Guide says: "Think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece of your content. Users who know a lot about the topic might use different keywords in their search queries than someone who is new to the topic." A clinician thinks "generalized anxiety disorder" or "EFT for couples"; a client often types "can't stop worrying" or "marriage counseling". Write for the client and explain the clinical term once.

Our view on what a specialty page should hold:

• One page per main specialty or client group you really work with (anxiety, depression, trauma, couples, teens, grief), not a page for every term on a list.
• What the problem looks like from the client's side, how you work with it, what a first session is like, and the format (in person, video or both).
• A plain, readable URL. Google notes that "Parts of the URL can be displayed in search results as breadcrumbs", so /anxiety-therapy/ beats /page?id=12.
• No promised outcomes. The ACA code asks counselors to represent their services "in an accurate manner that is not false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent", and that includes what a page says therapy will achieve.

Link each specialty page to the clinicians who offer it and to your booking or contact page. Our guide to internal linking and anchor text covers how.

Clinician pages and E-E-A-T

Mental health is the kind of topic Google treats with extra care. Its helpful content guidance says its systems "give even more weight to content that aligns with strong E-E-A-T for topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people", adding "We call these "Your Money or Your Life" topics, or YMYL for short." Of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust, Google says "trust is most important."

In practice that means a page for each clinician with their real name and photo, license type and state, training, the client groups they work with, and how they work. The ACA code says counselors "claim only licenses or certifications that are current and in good standing" and "clearly differentiate between earned and honorary degrees." Articles on the site should carry the author's name and credentials. Our therapist website guide covers how to show license numbers and link to the state board's lookup page.

Therapist directories (our view)

Directories and insurance network listings often rank for "therapist near me" themselves. We have no source saying a listing improves your own Google ranking, so treat directories as a second way to be found. What we suggest:

• Choose the few directories your profession and your clients actually use, plus your insurance panels' provider search if you take insurance.
• Use the exact practice name, address and phone from your website and Business Profile in every listing, and update all of them when you move or change your number.
• Skip paid "citation packages" that list you on hundreds of unrelated sites.

Apple Maps and Bing are worth claiming too; see Apple Business Connect and Bing Places.

Reviews and confidentiality

Reviews are where usual local SEO advice and therapy ethics part ways. Google's own rule applies to everyone: "Offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews, change reviews, or remove negative reviews is considered fake & misleading content and is strictly prohibited." The ACA code goes further for testimonials: counselors who use them "do not solicit them from current clients, former clients, or any other persons who may be vulnerable to undue influence." In our view that rules out asking clients for Google reviews.

People will still review you on their own. When you reply, remember what Google says happens: "Your reply is publicly posted" and "The person who wrote the review is notified when you reply." Google's general tips ask businesses to "Address the reviewer by name and acknowledge their specific feedback", which does not fit therapy: a reply that thanks someone for coming to sessions confirms they are a client. Google's tips also say "Never share a reviewer's private information", and the ACA code says counselors "take precautions to avoid disclosing confidential information through public social media."

Our view: reply rarely and in general terms, for example "Thank you for your feedback. We can't discuss anyone's care online. If you'd like to talk, please call the office." If a review breaks Google's policies, flag it; our Business Profile reviews guide covers how. The testimonial rules for your website are in our therapist website guide.

Structured data for a therapy practice

Google's local business documentation says to "Use the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type possible". On schema.org, MedicalBusiness has subtypes such as Physician, Physiotherapy and Psychiatric, but none for counseling or psychotherapy. Psychiatric is described as the branch of medicine "concerned with the study, treatment, and prevention of mental illness", so it fits a psychiatry practice, not a counseling one.

Our view: a counseling or therapy practice uses MedicalBusiness with its real name, address, phone, opening hours and URL, matching the Business Profile; a psychiatry practice can use Psychiatric. Do not add review stars about yourself. Our local business schema guide has a worked example.

Where to start (our view)

1. Check eligibility: an office where you see clients during stated hours. Telehealth only? Skip to the website steps.
2. Claim and verify the practice profile, then one profile per public-facing therapist, with true names and titles and few categories.
3. Make name, address and phone identical on the website, profiles and directory listings.
4. Write one page for each main specialty, in clients' words, with no promised outcomes.
5. Give each clinician a page with license, state and training.
6. Agree on a short, general review reply and never confirm a client relationship.
7. Add MedicalBusiness structured data and check it with Google's Rich Results Test.
8. Watch searches and clicks in Google Search Console.

The same local frame for other health practices is in SEO for chiropractors and SEO for dentists, and the basics for any business are in small business SEO basics. If you want a therapy website built with these pieces in place, see our website development service or the full list of services, which includes SEO.

Frequently asked questions

Can a telehealth-only therapist have a Google Business Profile?

Not by Google's rules as written: a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, and online-only businesses are listed as ineligible. Focus on the website, specialty pages and directories instead.

Should each therapist in a group practice have their own profile?

Each public-facing therapist who can be reached at the verified location during stated hours can have one, plus a separate profile for the practice. Support staff should not, and no therapist should have one profile per specialty.

Can I ask clients to leave Google reviews?

The ACA code says counselors do not solicit testimonials from current or former clients, and Google bans incentives for reviews. In our view, do not ask clients for reviews, and reply to any review without confirming the writer is a client.

What schema type should a therapy practice use?

Schema.org has no counseling or psychotherapy type. In our view a therapy practice uses MedicalBusiness with details that match its Business Profile; Psychiatric fits a psychiatry practice.