For therapists and group practices
Psychology Today vs your own website: they do different jobs
The directory gets you seen by people already looking. The website gets you found by name for what you do, answers their questions, and keeps the client relationship with the practice. Most therapists need both; the question is what each is for.
Arclo builds practice websites, so read the second half accordingly. Psychology Today pricing is from their sign-up page, checked September 2026.
The directory
Psychology Today
What it does
- Puts you in front of people already looking for a therapist, filtered by city, insurance and specialty, for $29.95 a month with no contract.
- Works from day one. There is nothing to build and nothing to rank.
- Is where most therapists' clients still come from. Heard's 2026 survey of private practices found the large majority get clients through directories.
What it doesn't
- Make you findable under your own name for your own specialty. "EMDR therapist in [city]" on Google goes to whoever has a page for it, and the directory's page, not yours, is what ranks.
- Give you the relationship. The client found the directory, not you; when a clinician leaves a group practice the profile goes with them.
- Let you answer the questions that turn a browser into a booking: what the first session is like, what you charge, whether you take their plan, who you are.
The asset
Your own website
What it does
- Ranks for your specialties in your city, so a search that names what you do lands on you rather than on a list of forty profiles.
- Is where the directory sends them. A profile with a website link is a two-step funnel: they click through to check you out before they call.
- Holds the pages a profile can't: clinician bios, fees and insurance, what to expect, telehealth, each specialty on its own page.
- Belongs to you. The domain, the copy, the rankings and the inquiry all accrue to the practice, not to a platform.
What it doesn't
- Work instantly. A new page takes weeks to months to rank, and a generic "therapist in [city]" page may never beat the directories. Specialty pages are where a site wins.
- Replace the directory on day one. Keep the $29.95 listing until your own inquiries make it redundant, and let the data decide.
How to run both
The practices that get the most from the directory are the ones whose website finishes the job the profile starts.
1
Put the website on the profile
The website link sits on every profile. A client who clicks it and finds nothing, or finds a site that looks abandoned, ends the conversation right there.
2
Match the specialties
Whatever you list on the profile should have a page on the site that answers the client's actual questions: cost, the first session, insurance, who it is for.
3
Make the site do what the profile can't
Clinician bios, telehealth, fees, a request form that texts the front desk. The profile gets attention; the site turns it into an appointment.
4
Track where inquiries come from
A tracked phone number on the site and a source field on the request form tell you, each month, how many clients came from the directory and how many from search. That number, not a hunch, decides whether to keep paying for either.
Questions therapists ask
Not on a hunch. Keep both until the monthly numbers show the directory is no longer sending clients you would not have found otherwise. At $29.95 a month with no contract, the listing is cheap insurance; the mistake is treating it as your marketing rather than one channel.
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