Should Therapists List on Psychology Today or Have Their Own Website?
By Amber Castro, Brand + Web Designer for Therapists | AFOTIK Creative Studio, Orange County, CA
TLDR: Psychology Today used to do more heavy lifting. It still has its place. But if your practice's online presence begins and ends with a profile, you're building on someone else's foundation. And lately, that foundation is getting a little shaky.
Something has been coming up a lot in conversations with therapist clients lately. More than a few have mentioned that referrals from their Psychology Today profile have slowed down noticeably. A couple have cancelled their listings altogether.
That got me thinking about a question I hear constantly from therapists who are considering their first real website, or finally committing to a rebrand: Do I actually need my own website, or is my Psychology Today profile enough?
Here's the honest answer: it depends on where you're building toward, not just where you are right now.
What Psychology Today Does Well
Let's be fair. Psychology Today is a legitimate tool and there are real reasons therapists have relied on it.
It's a high-authority domain. When someone searches "therapist in [city]," a well-filled Psychology Today profile has a real shot at showing up on page one of Google; often better than a brand new website would. That's not nothing.
It also functions as a directory, which means people who are specifically searching within Psychology Today are already in a certain mindset: they're looking, they're ready, and they're comparing. You don't have to do as much work to bring them into that headspace.
And here's something most designers won't tell you: if your Psychology Today profile links back to your website, that's a backlink from a high-authority domain. That's genuinely useful for your SEO. It tells Google that a credible source vouches for you.
So no, the answer isn't "cancel your profile and be done with it."
What Psychology Today Can't Do
Here's what a directory profile structurally cannot do, no matter how well you fill it out.
It can't sound like you.
A profile gives you a text box. It gives every therapist in your city the same text box, the same layout, the same photograph dimensions, the same categories. You can write a beautiful bio in that box. But the person reading it is also reading the bio above yours and the bio below yours, and they all look the same.
Your ideal client doesn't want a therapist who helps everyone. They want a therapist who understands them, specifically. The one who names their exact experience so precisely that it feels like you already know them before they've reached out. A directory profile can gesture at that. A well-built website can actually do it.
It can't build toward the practice you're becoming.
This is the piece I find myself coming back to most often in conversations with therapists. It's easy to stay in "good enough for now" mode. The profile is fine. The referrals are okay. The task of building something better feels overwhelming, or expensive, or like something you'll get to eventually.
But what I see underneath that hesitation, a lot of the time, isn't really about timing or budget. It's something quieter. A question of whether the investment is warranted. Whether the practice is "there yet." A kind of low-grade embarrassment about claiming the space a real website represents.
Here's what I'd want every therapist sitting in that hesitation to hear: we're not building for the practice you have right now. We're building for the therapist you are becoming, or already are and haven't fully claimed yet.
That's a different project entirely.
What Your Own Website Does That a Profile Can't
A good therapy website is not just a fancier version of a Psychology Today profile. It's a different thing doing a different job.
It speaks directly to the person you most want to reach
The therapists who see the most inquiries from their websites have one thing in common: their site speaks to a specific person in a specific situation. Not "adults dealing with life transitions." The 34-year-old who has held everything together for so long that she's forgotten what it feels like not to be exhausted, who's tried one therapist before and felt like a case study rather than a person, and who is searching at 11pm because that's the only quiet moment she has.
When someone reads copy that sounds like it was written for them, the decision to reach out feels less like a risk and more like a relief.
It builds trust before the first session
The people who most need therapy are often the ones for whom reaching out is the hardest thing. They're scared of being judged. They're scared of spending time and money on something that won't help. They're scared of ending up with someone who doesn't get it.
A website that feels personal, grounded, and clearly designed for someone like them does real work before you've ever spoken. It says: this is a safe place to land. A template profile with a headshot and a list of modalities doesn't say that.
It's an asset you own
A Psychology Today profile exists on Psychology Today's platform, on their terms, at their price, performing at the mercy of their algorithm. That's fine when it's working. It's a problem when it isn't, and lately, for a number of therapists, it isn't.
Your website is yours. The content, the design, the copy, the SEO, the traffic. Yours. That's a different kind of investment.
So: Both, or Just One?
My actual opinion: both, when you're ready for a website.
Keep the Psychology Today listing. It's an authority signal, it's a backlink to your site, and it reaches people who are specifically searching in that directory. It's not either/or.
But stop treating the profile as a substitute for a real web presence. It was never designed to be one. It's a listing in a directory, and directories are not built to tell your story, speak to your specific client, or build the kind of trust that turns a browser into a person who picks up the phone.
What to Look for When You're Ready to Build
If you're a therapist thinking about building or rebuilding your website, a few things worth knowing before you hire anyone:
The designer you work with should want to know who you are before they touch a single font choice. Your website shouldn't look like every other therapy website because your practice doesn't work like every other therapy practice. The process should involve real conversations, real questions, and someone who takes the time to understand what's underneath the work you do.
The website should speak to your ideal client in language that feels specific, warm, and real. Not stock-photo-of-woman-on-beach specific. Actually specific. The kind of copy where your ideal client reads it and thinks, "how did she know?"
And the whole thing should feel, when it's done, like an extension of the space you've created. Even if you're fully virtual. Especially if you're fully virtual.
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Yes, indirectly. Psychology Today is a high-authority website, so their directory pages often rank well in Google search results. If your profile links back to your own website, that's also a useful backlink signal for your SEO. It's worth keeping for that reason alone, even if direct referrals have slowed.
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Pricing changes, so it's worth checking their current rates directly at psychologytoday.com. What matters strategically is whether the cost is worth it relative to what you're getting from it, and whether your own website is doing the work that a profile never could.
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You can, but you're capping your potential. A profile gives every therapist the same format, the same layout, the same experience. Your own website lets you speak directly to the person you most want to work with, in your voice, with your story. Those are very different things. Therapists who rely only on a profile are also entirely dependent on a platform they don't control.
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A well-built website that speaks specifically to your ideal client and is optimized for search will absolutely bring in clients over time. The timeline depends on your market, your SEO, and how well the site is written. It's not instant, but it compounds in a way a directory listing doesn't.
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More so, not less. When you don't have a physical location for people to walk past or a local presence for in-person word-of-mouth, your website is doing even more of the trust-building work. A virtual practice that relies solely on a Psychology Today profile is leaving a lot of potential connection on the table.
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A few signals: Are you getting inquiries from people who already feel like they know you? Are they using language that mirrors what's on your site? Do they mention finding you through Google? If the answer to all of those is no, the site may not be doing the job it should. A website that's working filters in the right clients and builds enough trust that reaching out feels like the obvious next step.
Amber Castro is the founder of AFOTIK Creative Studio, a brand and web design studio in Orange County, CA specializing in women-led small businesses, therapists, and wellness practitioners. AFOTIK builds brands and websites that feel like an extension of the people behind them, not a template doing its best.
If you're a therapist ready to stop relying on a profile and start building something that sounds like you, The Haven (website design) and The Story (brand + web) are both open for inquiries →
