The Counselors Showing Up in 'Therapist Near Me' Searches All Do These Things

When someone decides they want to speak with a therapist, the search journey typically starts on Google — not with a referral call, not with a directory browse, but with a phrase like 'anxiety therapist near me' or 'couples counselor in [city]'. The intent is immediate and geographically anchored.

Industry benchmarks consistently show that healthcare searches with local intent convert at higher rates than general searches. For counseling practices, this matters because the person searching has usually already made the decision to seek help — they are choosing who, not whether.

Local SEO is the set of practices that determine whether your name appears when that search happens. It operates through three main channels:

• Google Business Profile (GBP) — the listing that drives Map Pack visibility and the knowledge panel on branded searches
• Directory citations — structured profiles on platforms like Psychology Today, TherapyDen, GoodTherapy, and the AAMFT directory that signal legitimacy and consistency to Google
• Local organic results — your website's city- and specialty-specific pages that rank below the map pack

Each channel requires a different type of work, but they reinforce each other. A well-optimized GBP profile supported by consistent directory citations and a website with clear location signals performs significantly better than any single element alone.

For counselors in smaller markets, strong local SEO can create a durable visibility advantage that holds for years. In competitive metro areas, it determines whether you're a visible option or invisible to someone who would benefit from working with you.

Note: This page addresses general local SEO principles for counseling practices. For guidance on advertising compliance under ACA ethics and state licensing board rules, see our dedicated compliance resource.

Your Google Business Profile is the most visible real estate in local search. It's what appears in the Map Pack — the three-listing block Google shows before organic results — and it's what populates when someone searches your practice name directly.

Most counselors have a GBP listing. Far fewer have a fully optimized one. Here's what complete optimization looks like:

1. Claim and verify your listing — If your practice is unclaimed, competitors or outdated information may be filling that space. Verification is done via postcard, phone, or Google's video verification process.
2. Choose the right primary category — For most counselors, this is 'Mental Health Service' or 'Counselor.' Adding secondary categories (e.g., 'Marriage Counselor,' 'Psychotherapist') increases relevance for specialty searches without diluting your primary signal.
3. Write a business description that reflects your actual specialty — Include your modalities (CBT, EMDR, DBT), populations you serve (teens, couples, LGBTQ+ affirming), and geographic area. Avoid generic language like 'compassionate care' without specific context.
4. Add all relevant attributes — Online appointments, accessible parking, LGBTQ+ friendly, languages spoken. These filter options affect who finds you.
5. Upload real photos — Exterior shots for wayfinding, office interior for comfort signaling, and a professional headshot. Listings with photos receive more profile views, in our experience with healthcare clients.
6. Set accurate hours, including holiday hours — Mismatched hours generate user frustration and may suppress your listing in relevance scoring.
7. Use the Services section — List each service type (individual therapy, couples counseling, EMDR) as a separate service with a brief description. This feeds directly into specialty-search matching.
8. Post to your GBP regularly — Monthly posts on mental health topics (without providing clinical advice) signal an active, maintained listing. Avoid promotional language that could conflict with ACA advertising ethics guidelines.

GBP ranking is driven by three factors Google has publicly identified: relevance (does your profile match the search?), distance (how close is your office to the searcher?), and prominence (what does Google know about your reputation?). You can influence all three.

Citations are any online mention of your practice's name, address, and phone number (NAP). When your NAP is consistent across authoritative directories, Google's confidence in your business information increases — and that confidence translates into better local rankings.

For counselors, citations fall into two categories: general business directories and mental health-specific directories. Both matter, but for different reasons.

Mental Health-Specific Directories

These platforms carry the highest relevance signal for counseling searches and often generate direct client inquiries independent of Google:

• Psychology Today — The most widely recognized therapist directory among prospective clients. A complete profile here drives both referral traffic and citation authority.
• TherapyDen — Particularly strong for counselors with specialties around identity, culture, or social justice. Profiles are detailed and filterable.
• GoodTherapy — An established directory with both consumer-facing traffic and citation value for local SEO.
• AAMFT Therapist Locator — Essential for marriage and family therapists. Carries professional credibility signals relevant to Google's EEAT framework.
• Open Path Collective — Relevant if you offer sliding-scale services; also a legitimate citation source.

General Business Directories

These matter for NAP consistency and general citation volume:

• Google Business Profile (primary)
• Bing Places for Business
• Apple Maps / Apple Business Connect
• Yelp (even if you don't actively manage it, it's visible)
• Healthgrades and Zocdoc (where applicable by service type)

NAP Consistency: The Non-Negotiable

If your practice name appears as 'Dr. Sarah Chen, LCSW' on GBP and 'Sarah Chen Counseling LLC' on Psychology Today, those are treated as different entities. Inconsistency across directories suppresses local ranking. Audit every major listing annually and correct discrepancies — especially after a practice address change, phone number update, or rebrand.

For practices with multiple clinicians or multiple office locations, each location needs its own consistent citation footprint. Do not list a home office or telehealth-only address as a physical location on directories that require in-person service.

Reviews are one of the strongest signals in local search prominence scoring. They also sit at the intersection of client confidentiality and professional ethics — which is why many counselors avoid them entirely, leaving a real visibility gap.

The good news: ethical review solicitation is possible. The key is understanding what the ACA Code of Ethics Section C.6 and your state licensing board's advertising rules actually prohibit — and what they don't. (This is educational framing, not legal or ethics advice. Always verify current rules with your licensing board and legal counsel.)

What Ethical Review Solicitation Looks Like

• Passive invitations — A note in your intake paperwork or email footer mentioning that reviews help others find your practice, without directing or pressuring clients to leave one
• Post-discharge acknowledgment — Some counselors include a brief, non-pressuring note to former clients (after termination) that they welcome reviews if clients feel comfortable sharing their experience
• Third-party review platforms with no therapeutic relationship implications — Directing general audiences (non-clients) to your Google profile for any general impressions

What to Avoid

• Asking current clients directly during the therapeutic relationship — this creates dual-relationship risk and power imbalance concerns
• Incentivizing reviews in any form
• Responding to negative reviews in ways that disclose protected health information, even implicitly

Responding to Reviews Ethically

When responding to any review — positive or negative — never confirm that the reviewer is or was a client. A compliant response acknowledges feedback without confirming the therapeutic relationship: 'Thank you for sharing your experience. We're glad people in our community feel supported in finding care.'

Reviews on Google directly affect your Map Pack ranking through the prominence signal. In our experience working with counseling practices, even a modest number of authentic, recent reviews creates a measurable visibility difference in competitive local markets.

The shift toward telehealth has created a genuine complexity for local SEO. Many counselors now serve clients across an entire state via telehealth while maintaining one physical office — or none. Google's local search infrastructure was built around physical proximity, which creates strategic decisions every telehealth-enabled practice needs to make deliberately.

Physical Office Locations

If you have a physical office where clients visit, you should have a GBP listing set to show your address. Your local ranking for searches near that address will be strongest within a radius Google determines based on population density and competition. In urban areas, that radius is smaller. In rural markets, a single optimized listing can dominate a much wider area.

Service Areas in GBP

GBP allows you to specify service areas by city, county, or ZIP code. For counselors who conduct telehealth, adding service areas signals to Google which locations you serve beyond your office address. However, Google gives less Map Pack prominence to service-area businesses without a verified physical address. Use service-area settings as a supplement, not a substitute, for physical location optimization.

Telehealth-Only Practices

If you operate without a client-facing physical office, Google's guidelines require you to hide your address and use service-area settings only. This limits Map Pack eligibility for proximity-based searches but doesn't prevent local organic visibility — which is where a strong website strategy with state-specific service pages becomes essential.

Multi-Location Practices

Each physical location should have its own verified GBP listing, its own citation footprint, and its own dedicated page on your website. Do not attempt to serve multiple locations from a single GBP listing. Google detects this pattern and it suppresses overall visibility across all locations.

Group practices with multiple clinicians can list the practice entity (not individual clinicians) in GBP. Individual clinicians may maintain separate professional profiles on directories like Psychology Today, which does not conflict with the group GBP listing.

Local SEO for counselors isn't a one-time setup. It's a system of overlapping signals that requires initial configuration and periodic maintenance. The practices with consistent local visibility have usually done the work in a specific order that matches effort to impact.

Highest Impact First

1. Claim and fully complete your GBP listing — Categories, services, photos, description, hours. This takes two to four hours and has the highest immediate return of any local SEO action.
2. Audit your NAP consistency — Search your practice name and phone number. Identify every listing where your NAP appears and correct discrepancies. Pay special attention to Psychology Today, GoodTherapy, and Yelp.
3. Build out your core directory profiles — Psychology Today, TherapyDen, GoodTherapy, AAMFT (if applicable), Bing Places, and Apple Business Connect. Each profile should be complete, not placeholder-level.

Ongoing Maintenance

• Post to GBP monthly with general mental health awareness topics (review ACA guidelines before posting promotional content)
• Monitor for duplicate GBP listings — these emerge after address changes and suppress ranking
• Update hours on all platforms if your schedule changes
• Review your Psychology Today profile annually to reflect current specialties and availability

When Local SEO Alone Isn't Enough

In highly competitive markets — major metro areas with high therapist density — local SEO optimization alone may not be sufficient to drive consistent new client inquiries. That's where a comprehensive SEO strategy that includes local optimization, on-site content, and authority building works as an integrated system rather than isolated tactics.

If you want to understand how local SEO fits into the full picture for counseling practices, the next step is reviewing what a comprehensive SEO for your counseling practice engagement actually involves — including realistic timelines and what to expect in competitive markets.