What Is Going on With Psychology Today?

Did you see this article by Jeanne Pinder that’s been going around the therapist Facebook groups? No worries if you haven’t gotten to it yet…

I READ IT SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but it is long. May Jeanne Pinder’s pillow always be cool. With almost every therapist in private practice freaking out over why Psychology Today referrals are so dreadfully down, this journalist-crusader was able to get Psychology Today (and some of the practice management companies/platforms like Grow Therapy) on the record about the Great Psychology Today Debate (conspiracy theory): Do the platforms have some sweetheart deal with PsychToday??

In this blog, I’m going to summarize what I learned is probably true about the Great Psychology Today Debate and what I think therapists can (should?) do with their PsychToday account.

To the Truthmobile!

What I Learned

1) Usage of PsychToday by consumers hasn’t waned.

Pinder got PsychToday to say on the record that “there has been no overall decline in directory visits and no material change in [therapist] contacts on the platform.” That means the dropoff in referrals most likely cannot be attributed to fewer clients using the platform (although one quoted therapist’s big-tech friend did some digging and determined that PsychToday’s traffic did seem to be down about 10% — hardly enough to explain what therapists have been experiencing).

2) Companies like Grow Therapy clearly think PsychToday is worth investing in.

Practice management companies like Grow, Alma, Rula, and others who cover the PsychToday cost of $30/month for ALL their therapists have determined that’s a worthwhile marketing investment, with important caveats — they want to manage the profile (to varying extents) and the resulting sales call.

This tells me two things:

• Their big-data-powered, VC-funded teams have crunched the numbers and determined PsychToday is a valuable enough marketing channel to warrant a big chunk of budget, but

• Only if the therapists aren’t handling the important parts (profile optimization and sales calls).

I will come back to this point in just a bit! But first, the most important thing I learned from Pinder’s article…

3) There is no conspiracy. It’s just all about the numbers (and the money).

On the record, PsychToday makes the following claims:

• Profiles are only given to individual therapists.

• Everyone pays the same price for a profile.

• Everyone gets the same “directory tools.”

• Platform therapists do not receive privileged ranking/visibility.

Also on the record, Grow Therapy said:

• “There is no payment-based shortcut to the order of listings. It is likely some mix of profile completeness, location, key words, etc.”

Going to circle back to that last part in a bit, but I think these statements are quasi-monumental, and here’s why:

Many therapists have attributed the noticeable drop in PsychToday referrals to the influx of platformed therapists onto the directory, and inferred that there is some deal between PsychToday and the platforms to privilege those therapists’ listings.

If that were IN ANY WAY the case, I highly doubt the PsychToday spokesperson would go on the record with a former New York Times reporter and lie.

If they did, and it came to light that individual therapists were being told they were given a fair shake on the platform for $30/month but in fact the scales were being tipped toward platformed therapists, there would be a massive class-action lawsuit. It’s a risk I doubt PsychToday would take.

However . . . look at what information IS and ISN’T being shared.

The PsychToday spokesperson shares with Pinder that there is “no overall decline” in traffic of clients to the site. They also share that the cost of a PsychToday profile hasn’t changed since 2004.

But nowhere do they suggest how many more therapists there are on the platform these days.

The spokesperson tries this little reframe: “We view the directory as a shared network: as more therapists join, the network becomes more valuable for everyone, and keeping the cost stable is part of our commitment to that principle.”

Sure.

They can try to spin it as much as they want, but the reality is that $30/month to be a big fish in a small pond back in 2004 was a way better deal than $30/month to be a small fish in a big pond in 2026.

And I think that’s what’s happened. There’s just a lot more therapists on PsychToday these days! Perhaps that’s mostly (or entirely) due to the platforms encouraging/mandating their therapists use it. Or perhaps it’s just that more therapists are entering the workforce, or going into private practice. Who knows.

But there’s no conspiracy. It’s just numbers.

So what should therapists do about Psychology Today??

I think what’s been revealed in Pinder’s article has important implications for your own PsychToday strategy.

1) It’s probably worth $30/month.

Remember, well-funded and well-researched companies who have evaluated the therapist marketing landscape think it’s worth investing $30/month per therapist for PsychToday. I mean, they’re not giving therapists a $30/month stipend to take other therapists out to coffee or make flyers for doctors’ offices. That’s probably data you can use.

2) Manage your profile well.

Most companies that pay for their therapists’ PsychToday profile also demand the ability to “manage” it to some extent, probably because it’s worth the money only if it’s managed well. The Grow Therapy spokesperson attributed the success of platformed therapists on PsychToday to “some mix of profile completeness, location, key words, etc.” The PsychToday spokesperson revealed that “profiles that are complete, client-focused, transparent, and professionally presented — including strong photos and video — tend to perform well.”

There’s tons of scuttlebutt about what, exactly, an “optimized” PsychToday profile looks like. I don’t think anyone REALLY knows what helps. But, based on this article and other scuttlebutt, here are some elements I’d encourage you to consider:

• “Profile completeness”
  Everyone knows about the three main paragraphs of copy (1360 characters) on a PsychToday profile. Did you realize that there are FIVE other copy opportunities that add up to 1560 characters?? Most people don’t complete them because, on the backend when you’re filling out your profile, it’s unclear how it will display on the profile. But they’re REALLY visible. And there are lots of other spots on the profile that you might skip over because it seems to be overkill - but these are missed opportunities!
  
  🎁 I created an Annotated PsychToday Template to break down every single component of your profile so you don’t miss any - click here if you want me to email it to you, free of charge. 🎁
  

• Location
  You’re allowed two locations - your main location and a secondary location, but you’re also allowed two “nearby areas.” This is how the cities, counties, and zip codes are populated. My hunch is that companies like Grow or Rula have this part down to a science - they likely use lots of targeted consumer geolocation data to optimize this part. Most individual therapists just put in “wealthy” zip codes, but if you wanted to really get your money’s worth, you could do some research on how marketers use data to determine which zip codes in which to advertise.

• Key words
  Again, this is the bread-and-butter of professional marketers like the ones employed by the practice management companies. They likely are working with huge datasets that help them determine what key words sell well in which zip codes. You can do this, too - it takes determination, patience, and an interest in learning about keyword research, but it’s possible.

• Update frequency
  One of the long-standing anecdotal reports about “what works on PsychToday” is frequently updating your profile. Some therapists swear that simply changing a word or even a punctuation mark here or there gooses the ratings a bit, at least for awhile. Theoretically, it makes sense - PsychToday’s business model is entirely dependent on ranking very high on Google’s search results. Google likes fresh content (because users/consumers like fresh content). So it makes sense that Google would privilege websites with updated content, and PsychToday might reward therapists who help them in that endeavor. It can’t hurt to tweak your profile regularly.

• “Strong photos and video”
  I’m not convinced that just having a video actually leads to improved rankings on PsychToday, but the PyschToday representative specifically told Pinder that “strong photos and video” contribute to profiles that “tend to perform well.” For a million reasons, I completely believe this. So you must have a good, professional headshot for your profile picture, and IF you’re going to upload a video (which I don’t think is always the right choice for everyone), it must also be good.

📸 Learn why you need a professional headshot and why you may not need a video in my live Zoom workshop, The Camera-Ready Therapist! I will be sharing tips, tricks, and how-to’s from my professional acting days to make getting photo+video content way less cringe. 📸

3) Don’t botch the conversion.

The practice management companies are also notorious for replacing platformed therapists’ contact info with their own, so all calls are routed to the company’s reception service. I think this accomplishes three goals:

• It routes the call immediately to a live person. The entire field of marketing is focused on getting in front of consumers who want to buy when they’re ready to buy, and the entire field of sales is about capitalizing on those opportunities when they present themselves. A consumer who has reached out to a therapist is a hot lead, and if a sale is the goal, it’s a massive lost opportunity to let the call go to voicemail or unreturned at all.

• The call is handled by a professional salesperson, which most therapists are not. Most therapists want to approach this first contact from a purely clinical stance, and while I admire the ethical integrity behind that intention, it’s not always the best way to run a business. A professional salesperson in this capacity has likely been trained to screen for clinical issues, but their first priority is to land the client (“convert” the “lead” into a “sale”).

• If the client-therapist fit isn’t there for whatever reason, these salespeople are generally trained to get the client matched to another therapist on the platform. In this way, the platform’s financial investment in the PsychToday profile is still worth it - the platform still benefits even if the original therapist does not.

So what can an individual therapist do to not squander a lead?

• Set up systems and processes to improve responsiveness to clients when they reach out. Whether it’s something like an email or text autoresponder or even hiring a reception service for yourself, you can optimize your PsychToday investment by improving your ability to respond quickly.

• Get comfortable with the sales part of a consult call. Learn to communicate who you are as a therapist, what kind of work you do, and how that potential client can benefit. It’s not about convincing anyone of your worth - it’s about listening to their needs and being able to convey how you can help (this is what I work on with my coaching clients).

• Strategically develop your referral network so you can refer to therapists who can valuably refer to you in turn. There’s no way for an individual therapist to capture the financial benefit of a wrong-fit consult call in the same way the platforms handle it, but being able to refer to other therapists can have its own (more indirect) rewards.

Please please please remember - a sale of your therapy services is beneficial to every party involved! If you feel icky thinking about getting new clients as a sales process, you must shift your perspective (and I can help with this part, too!).

Recap!

OK so, here’s what we learned:

• Consumers are still using Psychology Today.

• Platforms with big data and big budgets think a Psychology Today profile is a worthwhile investment.

• If your PT referrals are down, it’s not because PT is downranking you in favor of platformed therapists.

And here’s what you should do:

• Have a Psychology Today profile.

• Update it regularly.

• Fill it out completely with compelling, client-centered copy.

• Have a good professional headshot that accurately represents your professional persona (what I call your Interpersonal Brand).

• Maybe have a video, and if you do, make sure it’s good.

• Strategically select locations and keywords.

• Get good at sales/consult calls.

🚨 Bonus tip! 🚨 Track your own Psychology Today metrics. The analytics they provide you are trash. They’re not granular enough to be useful in any way. Create your own spreadsheet, and on Day 1, make sure you write the date. Then update all the metrics regularly, noting the date every time. Every day if you’re trying to track the influence of something, like whether that new headshot you uploaded is helping. Or you could do every week if that’s more tenable.

Of course, none of these Psychology Today insights will help unless you know what you’re trying to say in your profile — that’s where Interpersonal Branding comes in! Learn more about my program and set up a free consult call to see how Interpersonal Branding can help you define and communicate your professional persona.