Marketing a psychology practice.

Who chooses a psychologist, and how do they search?

The need

Psychotherapy for adults, couples, children and families, and psychological testing, such as ADHD, learning and neuropsychological evaluations.

Urgency

Ongoing care for a long-term condition

Payment

Insurance and self-pay

Who chooses

The patient and a referring physician both weigh in

A client looking for therapy usually searches for a therapist nearby or for a condition, then scrolls a directory looking at photos, approaches and fees. They want someone who treats their specific concern, who feels approachable in a short profile, and whose fee or insurance they can manage. Many psychologists are out of network, so the profile has to explain superbills and sliding scales plainly.

Testing is chosen differently. Pediatricians, schools, neurologists and attorneys refer for evaluations, and parents compare wait times and what the report will cover. A practice that tests has a referral business inside its therapy business.

The searches are telling. People type therapist far more often than psychologist, so a psychologist's profile and website should use both words and explain the difference in training without disparaging other licenses.

Which directories matter for a psychology practice?

For therapy clients one directory dominates, and the general doctor sites matter far less than they do for physicians. The map listing still matters for an office with a sign on the door.

• Psychology Today Subscription

  $29.95 per month

  Where most private-pay therapy clients look. The flat monthly fee and the absence of a contract make it the first listing to buy; write the profile in the client's words and keep openings current.

• Google Business Profile Free

  Worth claiming for an office address so the phone number and hours are right. Do not solicit reviews from current clients; the ethics code note below explains why.

• Zocdoc Per new patient

  Fee per new-patient booking; amount not published

  Books clients by insurance plan, so it suits an in-network practice with openings. The fee applies to each new client booked.

How each site charges is as recorded in the listing site directory, read on the site’s own pages; each name opens its full listing.

Do search ads make sense for a psychologist?

Rarely as the first channel. LocaliQ's mental health benchmark is $4.22 (benchmark, LocaliQ, 2026) a click, but only 1.85% (benchmark, LocaliQ, 2026) of clicks turn into a call or form, so each lead costs about $228.11 (worked out from the benchmark, LocaliQ, 2026), often more than a month of a directory listing.

Ads can earn their keep for a specific service with a waiting list elsewhere in town, such as adult ADHD testing or a specialized trauma therapy, sent to a page that explains the process, the fee and the wait. Keep conversion tracking off the intake form, for the reasons in the rules below.

Open the calculator on the Mental Health benchmark

Which channels fit a psychology practice?

Three channels do almost all the work. A complete directory profile for each clinician brings in self-referred therapy clients. Relationships with pediatricians, schools and physicians bring testing referrals and harder cases. A website with a page for each service and population served answers the questions clients are too shy to ask on the phone. Speaking to schools, employers and community groups helps too, as long as nobody is solicited in person afterwards.

Questions to ask

• How many new client inquiries arrived last month, and from which directory or referrer?
• Does every clinician's profile state fees, insurance and openings accurately?
• Is anything on the website asking current clients for reviews or testimonials?
• How long does a family wait for a testing appointment, and does the website say so?

Which rules apply to psychologists' marketing?

Psychologists answer to the federal rules every practice follows and to their profession's ethics code, which goes further than federal law on testimonials and solicitation.

State medical boards add their own advertising rules, and they vary by state; the state medical board index links each one.

What should a psychology practice budget for marketing?

Mostly the directory fee and the time spent on referrers. A therapy client may attend weekly for months, so the value of a new client is high; enter the session fee, the sessions a typical client attends in a year and how long clients stay in the calculator to see what one is worth.

Use the paid search lines as a warning more than a plan: at the mental health conversion rate, ads usually cost far more per new client than a directory profile.