SEO for therapists and counsellors · Canada and the USA
SEO means getting your practice to show up when people search. We put therapists at the top of Google Maps, Google search and AI answers for the searches people make when they’re ready to book: couples therapy, anxiety, trauma, and plain “therapist near me”. Solo practice or a team of ten.
GuaranteePage one in 60 days, or we keep working free.
30 minutes on Google Meet. For practices doing $20k a month or more.
(01) A practice we rank
Shoreside Therapies is a therapy practice in Glendale, Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee. On March 10 it didn’t show up on Google for “marriage counseling near me”. On March 30 it was first.
Shoreside Therapies · Glendale, WI
Google searchSix searches. Twenty days. Four of them from nowhere.
Positions in Google’s normal results, as the ranking tool Ahrefs recorded them on March 10 and March 30, 2026.
Read the Shoreside case studySame practice
Google MapsFirst on the map for “Therapist Near Glendale Wisconsin”. Up from #2.
Someone who types this knows exactly who they want to talk to. Shoreside is the first name they see.
(02) What people type
“Therapist near me” is the big one. But plenty of people type the problem or the kind of therapy they want, and a different practice wins each of those.
Every month in the USA
368,000
searches for “therapist near me”. Most people pick from the first few names they see.
The first screen on a phone
Source: Google Ads monthly search estimates for the USA, pulled October 2026.
Searches a month, USA
Add a town or a specialty to any of these and it becomes a new search with its own top three. That’s why every kind of therapy you want more clients for gets its own page.
Counselor near me
60,500
90,500
Searches a month in the quietest and the busiest month of the last year. People reach out in waves. Your page has to be ranking before the wave, not after it.
Couples therapy near me
40,500
60,500
Same swing for couples. When more people go looking, the practices already at the top get the calls.
All figures: Google Ads monthly search estimates for the USA, pulled October 2026.
(03) How people choose a therapist
Reaching out to a therapist is a big step. People take it alone, usually after hours, and they choose the practice that makes them feel understood before the first call.
Three ways a new client finds a therapist on Google
The “near me” search
They type “therapist near me” or “female therapist near me” and look at the map. A few names, a few stars, a few photos. Won by: a Google Maps listing near the top, for the practice and for each therapist in it.
The problem search
They know what’s wrong, or what kind of help they want. “Anxiety therapist.” “Couples therapy” and their town. They open a few pages and read. Won by: a page for that kind of therapy that says who you help, what a first session is like, your fees, and whether you see people online.
The name check
A doctor, a friend or a directory gave them your name. They search it before they reach out, or ask ChatGPT who’s good nearby. Won by: your name owning the first page about you, and showing up in AI answers.
(04) What we do
Every plan covers the three places people look: Google Maps, the normal Google results and AI answers in ChatGPT and Google. We weight the work to the clients you most want to see.
Your Google Maps listings
The free listing that puts you on the map, with your hours, photos and reviews. We set it up for how your practice actually works: the right categories, every service from couples work to trauma, online sessions if you offer them. In a group practice, each therapist who sees clients there can often have a listing too, so one practice can show up as several names on the map. Reviews are one thing Google weighs, and in therapy they’re a judgement call, so your plan never rests on them. Google also weighs how well your listing and pages match the search and how often trusted sites mention you. We work on all of it.
One group practice, on the map
Your Practice
Counselling service
Dr. A. Rivera
Psychologist
J. Chen, LMFT
Family counselor
An illustration. Names are examples.
A page for every kind of therapy you offer
A services page with one line per specialty has little to show for any single search. So each one gets a page of its own, written in the words people actually type, for the person who needs it.
What one specialty page holds
Couples therapy in [town]
A page for every place your clients live
Your clients don’t all live on your street, and if you see people online they may be across the state or province. A page for each town or area you want clients from, so you show up when someone types their own town.
Trust a new client can check
Nobody tells a stranger their story on a hunch. We put your licence, your training, your approach and your fees where people look for them, keep your practice name, address and phone the same on every directory, and get you mentioned on sites people already trust.
AI answers
People now ask ChatGPT and Google’s AI who to see. We work on getting your practice named in those answers for your area and your specialties, and track where you’re named every month.
“Who’s a good couples therapist near me with evening appointments?”
A few well regarded practices in your area: Your Practice …
Your rankings and enquiries, every month
Where you rank for each specialty and area, how many people called or sent an enquiry from Google, and what we’re doing next.
(05) Google’s rules for therapy practices
Two of Google’s rules for therapy. Both point to the free map.
A listing for the practice. And one for each therapist.
A group of five can be six names a client might find. We set every one up to Google’s rules as written today.
Source: Google Business Profile Help, “Guidelines for representing your business on Google”, read October 2026.
Mental health ads can’t follow people around.
Google treats counselling for things like anxiety and depression as sensitive. Those ads can’t be aimed at:
The free map listings and results under the ads have none of these limits. That’s where we put you.
Source: Google Ads Help, “Health in personalized advertising”, read October 2026.
Ads stop when the budget does. A top map ranking doesn’t.
As seen in and rated on
(06) Before you sign
Proof, guarantee, contract, price, AI. Here are our answers.
Can you show me a therapy practice you rank, with dates and positions?
Yes. Shoreside Therapies went from not ranking to #1 for “marriage counseling near me” between March 10 and March 30, 2026, and from #2 to #1 on Google Maps for “Therapist Near Glendale Wisconsin”. Both are above.
What happens if it doesn’t work?
No visible improvement in 20 days: your payment back plus $200. Qualifying keywords not on page one of Google in 60 days: we keep working free until they are.
How long is the contract?
No long-term contracts.
What does it cost?
Usually $1,497 to $5,000 a month for Google Maps, the normal Google results, or both. Work across several websites usually starts at $5,000 a month.
Is getting named in AI answers extra?
No. It’s included in every plan.
Your specialties on page one in 60 days, or we work free until they are.
Guarantee 01
20days
If you don’t see visible improvement in your key metrics within the first 20 days, we refund $200 on top of returning your payment for that period.
What we measure: your traffic, what that traffic is worth, how much authority your site and its pages carry, and how many other sites link to you, against the day we start.
Guarantee 02
60days
If your qualifying keywords aren’t on the first page of Google within 60 days, we keep working for free until they are.
What counts: at least one high-value search for your business on page one of Google.
No long-term contracts. Results keep you here. Paperwork doesn't.
Your next step
On a 30 minute call we look up what people in your area type to find a therapist, from couples therapy to anxiety, show you which practices they find today, and what it would take to put yours there.
Bring with you
We search your market live
The way your customers do, in the towns you serve.
We show who's above you, and why
On Google, on Maps and in the AI answers.
You leave with a road map
Yours to keep. If we can help, we'll invite you to work with us.
For established businesses doing at least $20,000 a month.
(07) Questions
What therapists and practice owners ask us before they start.
Book my free strategy callSEO means getting your practice to show up when people search. For a therapist that's three places: Google Maps when someone types therapist near me, the normal list of Google results when they type couples therapy and their town, and the answers ChatGPT and Google's AI give when someone asks who to see.
Keep both. But a referral still ends in a search: the person who was given your name looks you up before they reach out, and if what they find is thin, they keep looking. And the person with no referral picks from whoever shows up first.
Often, yes. Google's rules let a public-facing practitioner have their own listing when clients can reach them at the verified location during stated hours. The practice keeps its own listing too, and each therapist's listing carries only their name. A practice with one therapist uses one shared listing, named practice name, colon, therapist's name. We set them up to Google's current rules.
You can, with limits. Google treats mental health ads as sensitive, so you can't aim them at your own client list, at lists of people who visited your website, or at lookalikes of either. The free map listings and results underneath the ads have no such limits.
Yes, if you want more clients for each. Each is a different search with different practices at the top, and someone choosing a therapist wants a page that speaks to their situation: who it's for, what the first session is like, fees, online or in person. One line on a services page can't do that.
Yes. We start with the area around your office and the places you most want clients from, build a page for each, and widen from there across the places you can see clients. How fast each area comes depends on who you're up against there. On the call we'll show you who ranks in each of your areas today.
No. Reviews are one thing Google weighs, and the first thing a new client reads, but whether and how you ask is your call under your own professional rules. Your plan doesn't rest on them. Google also weighs how well your listing and pages match the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how well known your practice is across the web. We work on all of it.
If you don't see visible improvement in your key metrics within the first 20 days, we refund $200 on top of returning your payment for that period. If your qualifying keywords aren't on the first page of Google within 60 days, we keep working for free until they are. Broad searches in big cities take longer to win than one specialty in one town.
Usually $1,497 to $5,000 a month for Google Maps, the normal Google results, or both. Work across several websites usually starts at $5,000 a month. No long-term contracts. Getting named in AI answers is included in every plan.
Yes, it's part of every plan at no extra cost. We work on getting your practice named when people ask those tools for a therapist in your area, track where you're named every month and show it in your report.
We guarantee page one, in writing: visible improvement in your key metrics within 20 days or your payment back plus $200, and your qualifying keywords on page one of Google within 60 days or we keep working for free until they are.
No. No long-term contracts. We keep clients by keeping them ranked.
Therapy and counselling practices, solo or group, doing $20,000 a month or more, in Canada or the USA. We take on 15 new clients a month, so every one of them gets the work done properly.
