If you’ve been side-eyeing your Psychology Today profile lately… you’re not wrong. It’s more crowded, more competitive, and definitely not the client-generating machine it once was.

But here’s the reframe: just because it’s changed doesn’t mean it’s useless.

In this episode, I’m breaking down what’s actually true about Psychology Today in 2026—what it can do for your practice, what it can’t, and why I still believe every therapist should have a profile (yes, even now). We’re talking realistic expectations, surprising ROI, and the behind-the-scenes role it’s playing in your visibility—especially in the age of AI search.

I’m also walking you through what’s actually working on profiles right now—so if a right-fit client does land on yours, it’s doing its job.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

1️⃣ Why Psychology Today is no longer a “fill your practice” tool—but is still worth every penny

2️⃣ The unexpected way your profile is boosting your credibility in AI search (even if clients never contact you through it)

3️⃣ The key elements of a high-performing profile—from specificity to client-friendly language to the pieces most therapists are skipping

Resources & Links Mentioned:

1. The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com
2. PsychToday Success Pack: https://walkerstrategyco.com/ptsp
3. Confident Copy: https://walkerstrategyco.com/cc

Connect + Subscribe

Enjoying the podcast? Subscribe so you never miss an episode—and feel free to share it with a fellow therapist who’s building their private practice. Explore more marketing support for therapists: The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com.

About Marketing Therapy

Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by me, a marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.

Hey.

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Hey.

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Welcome back to Marketing Therapy.

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Let's talk about psych today.

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Oh, psych today.

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It sure has been put through its

paces over the years, hasn't it?

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When I started working with therapists

seven years ago, which is wild.

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It was the Glory Days of Psych.

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Today, I have distinct memories and

screenshots of helping clinicians

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optimize their profiles, and the

next day or the next week, getting an

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email from them that they had gotten

3, 4, 5 clients since we made that

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update like in a couple of days time.

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Those were the glory days, and

my friends, I don't have to tell

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you this, the glory Days of psych

today in that regard are over.

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But does that mean you

shouldn't still be on it?

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And my hot take on that is no, you

absolutely should still be on psych today.

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So in this episode, we're gonna talk

about why you need to be on psych today

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and what you need to know about how it's

working today, what it's offering you

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in terms of your marketing authority

that you might not be aware of.

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And then also how to optimize your

profile so that if and when it is found

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by a right fit client, you stand out

and you do get that one or two or three

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clients per year that make it worthwhile.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Like I said, I don't have to tell

you, the site today has changed.

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It is more crowded than it has ever been.

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You are right.

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VC backed organizations are on

there, Alma rule, headway, whatever.

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They're all on there.

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Yes, I hear you.

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I agree.

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That does not mean it's

no longer worth using.

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The reasons, however, that

you should use psych today are

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different than they used to be.

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It is absolutely unrealistic

to expect psychology today

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to fill your practice today.

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A handful of clinicians might say

that that is their reality and

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that is fantastic, but depending

on that, right now is not wise.

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Psych today is not going

to fill your practice.

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You are not going to get five clients

in the next week from it, most

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likely, but it absolutely still has

a place in your marketing strategy.

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Two reasons.

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The first, the ROI, like, we just cannot

argue with the math on this, okay?

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If you have a session fee of even $150

and you see clients for just six months.

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That client is worth between $2500 and

$4,000 in revenue to your practice.

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Do you know how much you're

spending on site today?

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A year?

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$360.

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You're spending $30 a month, $360 to

potentially, even if all you get is one

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client all year long to make between

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We just cannot argue with the math.

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And I think because the number of

inquiries has slowed down so significantly

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on site today, clinicians have decided

it's not worth it to be on it at all.

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Y'all.

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If this was Instagram and you

were hustling, creating content,

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dancing on stories, making reels

multiple hours a week, every week

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to get one client per year, yeah.

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I would say that's not worth it.

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Psych today where you write a really good

profile, maybe update it occasionally

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and otherwise get to sit back and relax.

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It's such a low effort, low hanging

fruit strategy that again, if you

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only get one client per year is

just putting you in the black.

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Right.

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In terms of time and money.

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So the ROI is just really, really solid.

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And you know what?

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Psych today does still work.

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According to our state of the industry

survey from last year, 72% of therapists

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who use psych today have gotten a

client from it in the last six months.

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70% of private pay, fully

booked therapists, okay?

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Therapists who charge a premium

fee and are fully booked.

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70% of them who use psych today have

gotten a client in the last six months.

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So you can say it only

works for insurance.

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The data doesn't show us that.

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You can say it doesn't work at all.

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The data doesn't show us that either.

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Psych today still works

for most clinicians.

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And again, if you have the expectation

going in that this might only generate

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1, 2, 3 clients per year, then you

have a really healthy expectation for

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something that's going to take you,

especially if you use like our site

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Today, success Pack an Hour to optimize.

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And then you pretty much get to set it

and forget it for the rest of the year.

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Alright?

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We just can't argue with that.

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It is consistently in the top five

referral sources across the board,

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across different demographics,

different fee structures,

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different caseload statuses, psych.

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Today's still up there.

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It's still working.

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Okay.

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So one client per year

pays for the entire year.

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You cannot expect this to fill

your practice, but you sure can

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expect it to offer a positive ROI.

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All right.

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Let's talk about the other thing that

Psych Today is doing for you, and

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this one you might not know about,

and quite frankly, I envy Psych today

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and how it has positioned itself.

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Because despite its bad pr, despite

the fact that these VC companies are

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on there, it feels more saturated.

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Clinicians are struggling with it.

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They've set themselves up to be somewhat

irreplaceable right now in the age of ai.

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Okay.

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This is something that did not

matter seven years ago when

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I started helping therapists.

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It didn't matter three years ago.

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It didn't really matter two years ago

or even one, but today, it matters.

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Your psych today profile

matters because of AI search.

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Okay?

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Platforms like Psychology Today that

are very, very, very credible and high

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authority carry directory authority

that they can pass on to you when

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someone goes looking for a therapist

using chat, GBT or another AI tool.

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AI systems are deciding who to

surface based on who appears

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credible, who has authority, who

is established on trusted platforms

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that they already know are credible.

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Site today is one of those.

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And so when your name is associated

with those high authority websites,

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some of that credibility transfers.

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So just by having a presence on a

high authority site like Psychology

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today, you are increasing the authority

signals you are sending to ai.

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Let that sink in for a minute.

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So even if a client never contacts

you directly through site today, even

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if you never actually get a client

from it this year, that platform can

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still be strengthening your overall

credibility online in the eyes of ai.

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So until we see evidence, otherwise,

my advice is very simple and that

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is that every therapist should be on

Psychology Today, even if it's just

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a $360 expense for you because of the

potential it offers you in the age of ai.

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Like I said, chances are

you're still gonna be positive.

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ROI just one client in a year or two

or three would make up for it, but I

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do believe in 2026, like it or not.

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Every therapist should be on

Psychology Today for these two reasons.

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Okay.

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That's my hot take.

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Now, how do you take

advantage of psychology today?

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How do you make the most of it?

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How do you make sure that

when your profile is seen,

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it does something for you?

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How do we increase your chances of

attracting those right fit clients?

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Because like I said, the data shows us

that people aren't just sitting around

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twiddling their thumbs on site today.

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They actually are getting clients,

even if it's just a handful per year.

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So over the last seven years,

i've been able to hone a framework

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for psych today that still works.

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I heard from a confident copy student

last week that she updated her profile

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with what she wrote in the program and she

got a referral from a private pay client.

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Alright, I'm still seeing

this framework work.

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If you want access to that framework, the

site today success pack is literally $27.

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Less than a month on site today.

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Go grab it.

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It'll walk you through this in detail,

but let me go through some of the

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elements that we're seeing still

perform on site today, even now.

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The very first one is specificity.

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You have heard me say this word, we should

count how many times I've said it on

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marketing therapy in the last six months.

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Specificity is your greatest asset

right now, and in an absolute sea of

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other directory profiles, we cannot

overstate how powerful specificity is.

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Okay.

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Most profiles on site today

are trying to treat everything

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they're spraying and praying.

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They're trying to be all things to

all people so that if someone clicks

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on them, maybe they'll resonate.

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That is not the appropriate

approach right now.

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Everyone ends up sounding the same.

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They all blend in, and every

single profile feels like Groundhog

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Day to clients on a directory.

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Blending in is the absolute

worst possible outcome.

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I want you to stand out and I

want you to jump off the page to

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the right fit clients, and it's

only gonna happen sometimes again.

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That's our expectation going into this.

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We're not expecting to get

15 new clients this month.

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We're expecting to get one a year, two a

year, and for it to still be worthwhile.

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So my recommendation here is

to write for one single type of

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client or one particular focus

area or specialty in your practice.

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Okay.

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This requires of course, that you know

what that is that you know who your

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ideal client is and you know what your

different specialties and focus areas are.

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But it's not even necessarily about

writing your entire niche into this

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profile, but one specific angle on it.

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In confident copy.

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We often coach our students to write a

couple different versions tailored to

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the different types of clients that they

serve or their different focus areas

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so they can rotate them and they can

have these Uber, Uber specific profiles

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out there that are again, jumping

off the page to the RightFit client.

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So we're not writing one about anxiety.

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We're not writing one about trauma.

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We're not writing one about EMDR.

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We are writing to the postpartum anxious

working mom who is laying awake at night

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wondering how she's gonna keep doing this.

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Or the couple who.

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Just found out that one of them was

unfaithful, but have decided that

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they still want to make this work.

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Or the woman who just got out of a toxic

relationship for the third time and is

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ready to finally break this pattern.

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Okay.

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We are writing super, super,

super specific versions.

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Specificity is what will make someone

stop scrolling on psych today.

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Right now, and again, we're not

expecting to be all things to all people.

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We never are in our marketing,

but especially on psych today.

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So consider having those multiple

versions geared toward your

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different types of clients.

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You could rotate them on a regular

basis, which is a great way to

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keep your profile fresh and you

can really just see what resonates.

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There might be certain ones

that people call and are really,

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you know, stating back to you.

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They are excited about

or stood out to them.

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Okay, so specificity is huge.

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Element number two.

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This one will come as no surprise,

client friendly language, y'all.

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No more clinical terminology.

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Stop telling me the laundry list of

acronyms of methods that you use.

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Okay?

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We are keeping this so, so, so

friendly and relevant using the

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language that your clients are

actually saying when they come to you.

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So we wanna talk about how your client

is actually experiencing the problem.

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What is it like to lay awake as a

working mom with postpartum anxiety,

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struggling to bond with your baby, or

keep functioning in day-to-day life?

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What does that look like?

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Paint that picture.

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And then when you talk about how

you're gonna work, which in our Psych

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Today Success Pack and Confident copy

frameworks, you know, happen later

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in the profile, that's where you're

gonna share more about your approach

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through that client friendly lens.

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Kind of like what we talked about

last week in the about page episode,

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but making sure that we're setting

expectations about what it is that you

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can offer, how you work and what changes

in their life after they work with you.

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We're casting some vision about what it

is that they actually wanna see change,

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and then using yourself as the bridge

to help them get there right as the

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guide that can do that work with them.

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So you're not mentioning attachment

wounds here, unless of course your

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clients actually use that language or not,

including the laundry list of acronyms.

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This is not an alphabet soup situation.

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You have such limited character counts

to actually form this connection.

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Please don't waste it on clinical jargon.

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Okay?

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Use the language your clients

actually say out loud.

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Element number three,

you have to have a video.

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Yes.

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Even you, I have met, I think three

therapists in my seven years that

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were excited about making their video.

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So if you're not welcome to the

club, you still need to make one.

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Okay?

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Clients want to see and hear you.

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We actually know that that helps

form some additional connection.

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It can be a really helpful way and

people getting a sense of your vibe.

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It lowers the barrier for reaching out.

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But above all site today favors

really complete profiles.

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And one of the biggest elements

of a profile is your video.

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If you don't have one yet, that is your

immediate action item, go make one.

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It's 15 to 20 seconds of your life.

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You're probably gonna have

to film quite a few of them.

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Your whole camera roll on

your phone might be made up of

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different takes, but you can do it.

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It does not have to be perfect confident.

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Copy and cite today's success pack.

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Both have a script to help

you, but you gotta do it.

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You absolutely have to do it.

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Reiterate your specialty.

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Invite them to reach out,

be warm, be yourself.

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Your profile is going to

be effective right now.

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Similarly, the other element

is you need a complete profile.

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We know this, that psych today

favors profiles that are filled

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out as completely as possible.

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That means your intro to new client's

statement, your video, your video caption,

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your profile images if you have one,

especially if you're in person, your

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finances, quote your specialties quote.

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Every single section, if you can write

something, write something, okay?

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You don't have to use

all the character counts.

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We include guidance on what to say

in each of those in the PyschToday

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Success Pack, and then of course

in the full confident copy program.

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And you might not need to write 400

characters about your specialties.

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That's okay, but we need to

have something there, okay?

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So make sure that if something

could be clicked on, filled out,

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otherwise occupied or optimized

on your website, that you do it.

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Okay.

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Finally, this is something not related

to words, but holy cow, does it matter?

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You need a strong and

professional headshot.

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Okay?

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No selfies, no far away photos,

no vacation pictures where

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you crop out your friend.

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Okay?

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This needs to be.

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Close cropped on your face so that

if someone's scrolling on mobile,

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they're still able to see you.

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It needs to feel professional.

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It does not have to be stuffy.

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We can still have personality,

we can still have vibe.

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Okay?

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But it needs to be professional.

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It needs to be well lit, high quality.

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That's important because when

I'm scrolling site today,

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you know the three things.

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I can see your picture.

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Your name and your hook, which

are the first one to two sentences

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of your profile that are the most

powerful elements of what you write.

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That's not a whole lot to decide

whether or not I'm gonna click in.

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Right?

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So that headshot needs to

pull some weight for you.

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Make sure that it's representing you well

and that it isn't inviting people to doubt

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you, but to bolster the confidence, right,

that they want to have in their therapist.

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A couple more things.

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You need a clear call to action

at the end of your profile.

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There are so many things you

can click on on Psych today.

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I mean, pull up a profile right now.

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Pull up your own profile.

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There's so many things I

could click and so it can be

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counterintuitive to think, well, I'm

not gonna tell people what to do.

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It's obvious sort of, there are so many

options available to them and make it

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clear what you want them to do next.

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The last sentence of your profile,

the last sentence of your video

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should tell people what to do.

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Visit my website to

schedule a consultation.

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Click the link below because

it currently is placed below to

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email or call for a consultation.

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Tell them what to do.

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Use some of your precious real estate

to tell people what to do because

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they very well may be overwhelmed.

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So always end with a call to action

letting 'em know what the next step is.

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Okay.

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Final thing, and I'm mentioning this

because I heard this from a group

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practice owner fairly recently.

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In our Get Booked Out Facebook group

group practices need individual profiles.

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If you are a group practice owner,

you might be tempted to just pay

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a single $30 a month for a profile

that shares about your entire team.

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What did we just talk about earlier?

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Specificity, right?

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And how powerful specificity is.

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You cannot be specific about an

entire team on a single profile.

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So I strongly recommend that

every single one of your

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clinicians have personal profiles.

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If you aren't interested or aren't

able to currently spend that then maybe

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you rotate a single profile version

for each of your different clinicians.

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Not ideal, but would be an option, but

the fact is when I get on site today

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and I'm looking for a therapist, I'm

looking for a person, not a practice.

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Right.

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We are looking for as close to a

one-to-one connection as we possibly

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can form, and I'm gonna scroll right

on by a headshot with a team or a logo.

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Ooh, even worse, a logo as the headshot

and the name of your practice is the name.

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Like that's just, we are

missing out on connection there.

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Okay?

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So make sure that your profiles

are geared toward individuals, even

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if you have to get a little bit

creative about how you do that.

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Okay?

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It will convert better.

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Alright, so that's my hot take on psych

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We might see the signals to AI change.

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We might see the performance change,

but as of right now, I stand behind it.

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Psych today, not magic.

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Psych today, not going

to fill your practice.

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Psych today.

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Still worth it for $30 a month

and very little effort after you

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create that original version and

put some work into optimizing it.

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It is one of the only marketing

strategies that is effectively working

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for you on autopilot, and even if it

doesn't bring in a client for you this

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year, what it's offering you in terms

of AI authority is still worthwhile.

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That's why I think every single therapist

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and should be leveraging it well, so

don't just slap something up there.

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Let's at least make use of it, right?

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That's why in our PyschToday

Success Pack and Confident Copy, we

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guide you through how to do that.

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So make sure that if you're not making

use of it, that you do that, but

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then also enter into this strategy

with appropriate expectations.

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Understanding that a handful of

clients per year is incredibly strong

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performance and still a worthwhile

strategy for you in your practice.

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Something that is literally

working for you in the background.

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This is one small but very, very powerful

piece of your visibility online today,

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even more so than it's been in years past.

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Right?

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Okay.

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If you are interested in grabbing

our framework for this, like I

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said, the PyschToday Success Pack

is a really easy low cost resource.

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We'll drop the link for that in the

show notes, and then Confident Copy,

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of course, is gonna guide you through

deeply understanding your niche,

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articulating your focus areas, creating

a website that pulls its weight.

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And then leveraging what you write for

your website to optimize site today, which

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like I said, I heard from a student just

last week that she received a perfect fit

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private pay referral through site today.

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So both those links are in the show notes.

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If you know that you need help in

this area, but one way or another,

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I think this is worth it for you.

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So noodle on that.

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Let me know if you have questions.

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I welcome your thoughts in our

Facebook group or on Instagram,

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whatever that might be.

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I hope this one was helpful for you.

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I'll see you next week.