We've had a quiet few weeks. But that stops today.
In reviewing the data for the past week, there are two outliers: HenceWell and FindingHelpNow.
Let's take them one at a time.
HenceWell.com
HenceWell suddenly appeared in our Top 30... And I've never heard of it before. Looking more closely, they are just shy of 64 thousand therapist profiles. That's a lot of profiles.
They offer various paid tiers for therapists to have their profile included in their directory, with various "benefits". Interestingly, they don't have a "claim your profile" button like most therapist directories, which is typically the only time a website will acknowledge "hey, we know we included your profile without your permission, so... do you want to claim it now?" Instead, HenceWell tells you to file a ticket or email them if you have any issues with your listing.
Could 63,963 therapists have manually signed up and created profiles on what appears to be a relatively new therapist directory, all within the last few weeks? ... Maybe? Or these profiles came from somewhere else. It's easy enough to find identical wording and photos on other therapist directory websites, although I only spot-checked a few.
FindingHelpNow.com
FindingHelpNow is our second surprise of the day. It's not yet in our Top 30, but it did make quite a leap in popularity, which is why it's now on my radar. They appear to have over 24,000 therapist profiles.
This one is a bit different, because FindingHelpNow explicitly states: "Browse Licensed Therapists (Sponsored by BetterHelp)"... And each profile provides a link that takes you directly to that therapist's BetterHelp page. Oh, an important part here: It provides an affiliate link, meaning that there's some sort of kickback to this website when folks use that affiliate link and ultimately decide to use BetterHelp.
Assuming they have BetterHelp's permission to use therapist profile data in this way, it's an interesting issue to consider. There are other websites that also closely mirror BetterHelp directory data, providing affiliate links to their BetterHelp profiles. Over time, we might see BetterHelp therapists have their first page of search results consumed by multiple directory listings that ultimately link back to their BetterHelp profiles. (A good SEO strategy for BetterHelp... but unsure if it's good for the therapist or the client!)
To be clear: I can't speak to the intentions of these websites... If they truly are looking to help improve access to mental health, help folks find therapists in a better way, etc. But when I look at the data, I see tens of thousands of therapist profiles. And that's great for SEO (as these results show) -- and I just hope that it's great for the therapists and clients too. (I am skeptical.)
Let's take a closer look at the numbers.
Top 30 Websites for Therapists
These domains show up the most when searching for a specific therapist by name.
| Website | Domain Popularity | Search Result Position | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 1 week | 4 week | Average | 1 week | 4 week | |
| psychologytoday.com |
72.2
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 0.6 |
2.5
|
▲ 0.3 | 0.0 |
| linkedin.com |
71.6
|
▼ 3.3 | ▼ 6.1 |
8.8
|
▼ 1.1 | ▼ 1.4 |
| facebook.com |
51.2
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 2.1 |
17.5
|
▲ 0.8 | ▲ 1.8 |
| instagram.com |
37.6
|
▲ 0.8 | ▲ 2.7 |
17.0
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 2.4 |
| zocdoc.com |
31.2
|
▲ 0.8 | ▼ 1.0 |
9.8
|
▼ 1.6 | ▼ 1.7 |
| mapquest.com |
26.8
|
▼ 1.4 | ▼ 5.8 |
18.2
|
▼ 2.5 | ▼ 1.9 |
| healthgrades.com |
22.2
|
▼ 0.1 | ▼ 0.8 |
19.8
|
▲ 1.0 | ▲ 1.2 |
| headway.co |
19.2
|
▼ 0.4 | ▼ 0.9 |
7.8
|
▼ 0.7 | ▼ 0.5 |
| npidb.org |
19.0
|
▼ 1.2 | ▼ 4.8 |
19.1
|
0.0 | ▼ 0.2 |
| therapyfinder.com |
17.7
|
▼ 0.1 | ▼ 1.6 |
13.9
|
▼ 1.5 | ▼ 1.2 |
| yelp.com |
15.6
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 0.2 |
21.2
|
▲ 0.8 | ▲ 0.6 |
| youtube.com |
15.4
|
▲ 0.7 | ▲ 0.2 |
24.5
|
▼ 1.2 | ▲ 0.6 |
| mind-diagnostics.org |
14.6
|
▲ 0.3 | ▲ 0.8 |
4.8
|
▼ 0.3 | ▲ 0.1 |
| rocketreach.co |
14.0
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 2.8 |
18.3
|
▼ 1.1 | ▲ 1.6 |
| sharecare.com |
14.0
|
▲ 0.6 | ▼ 2.1 |
19.2
|
▲ 1.0 | ▲ 2.4 |
| therapyden.com |
13.6
|
▲ 0.7 | ▲ 0.6 |
14.0
|
▼ 2.5 | ▼ 2.8 |
| zoominfo.com |
13.0
|
▼ 0.1 | ▼ 1.8 |
20.2
|
▼ 2.1 | ▲ 0.1 |
| npiprofile.com |
12.7
|
▼ 1.0 | ▼ 3.8 |
28.2
|
▼ 0.6 | ▲ 4.1 |
| researchgate.net |
12.6
|
▼ 0.5 | ▼ 0.8 |
36.0
|
▼ 0.5 | ▲ 3.2 |
| therapist.com |
11.8
|
▲ 1.3 | ▲ 0.4 |
13.6
|
▼ 4.2 | ▼ 1.6 |
| growtherapy.com |
10.9
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 2.1 |
21.3
|
▲ 3.9 | ▲ 5.6 |
| 7cups.com |
10.7
|
▲ 0.1 | ▼ 2.0 |
11.1
|
▼ 0.9 | ▲ 1.1 |
| medicalnewstoday.com |
8.8
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 3.2 |
11.2
|
▼ 0.4 | ▲ 1.1 |
| webmd.com |
8.0
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 1.8 |
25.6
|
▲ 1.4 | ▲ 4.1 |
| hencewell.com |
7.8
|
▲ 7.3 | ▲ 7.3 |
17.3
|
▲ 3.3 | ▼ 3.1 |
| tiktok.com |
7.8
|
▼ 0.5 | ▼ 0.7 |
43.0
|
▲ 3.0 | ▲ 6.8 |
| helloalma.com |
7.8
|
▼ 0.5 | ▼ 0.5 |
6.2
|
▲ 1.9 | ▲ 1.7 |
| pleasework.dev |
7.7
|
0.0 | ▼ 1.8 |
20.8
|
▲ 2.0 | ▲ 7.4 |
| hhs.gov |
7.6
|
▲ 0.8 | ▲ 0.6 |
15.3
|
▲ 0.9 | ▼ 0.6 |
| healthline.com |
7.2
|
▲ 0.1 | ▼ 1.4 |
9.6
|
▲ 2.4 | ▲ 2.6 |
This is what first clued me into HenceWell. Also, this is the biggest multiple-week drop I've seen for LinkedIn!
Top 10 Biggest Shifts in Domain Popularity
These therapist directories and other websites are now appearing more (or less) frequently when people search for specific therapists' names.
Compared to 1 week ago:
| Website | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|
| hencewell.com | 7.75 | ▲ 7.33 |
| linkedin.com | 71.60 | ▼ 3.30 |
| findinghelpnow.com | 5.83 | ▲ 2.25 |
| mapquest.com | 26.75 | ▼ 1.42 |
| therapist.com | 11.83 | ▲ 1.33 |
| therapysolutionsforkids.com | 5.42 | ▲ 1.25 |
| npidb.org | 19.00 | ▼ 1.25 |
| onlinetherapy.com | 5.00 | ▲ 1.17 |
| npiprofile.com | 12.67 | ▼ 1.00 |
| growtherapy.com | 10.92 | ▼ 0.83 |
Compared to 4 weeks ago:
| Website | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|
| hencewell.com | 7.75 | ▲ 7.33 |
| linkedin.com | 71.60 | ▼ 6.10 |
| mapquest.com | 26.75 | ▼ 5.83 |
| npidb.org | 19.00 | ▼ 4.75 |
| findinghelpnow.com | 5.83 | ▲ 4.58 |
| npiprofile.com | 12.67 | ▼ 3.83 |
| medicalnewstoday.com | 8.83 | ▼ 3.25 |
| rocketreach.co | 14.00 | ▼ 2.83 |
| usnews.com | 5.75 | ▼ 2.67 |
| instagram.com | 37.58 | ▲ 2.66 |
This is where I first spotted FindHelpNow. Or should I say, this is where I first found FindHelpNow.
Domain Presence in the Top 10
This is a breakdown of the most common domains found at each search result position. The first 10 positions are the most critical, as they appear on the first page, so this breaks it down for positions 1 through 10.
| Website | Search Result Position | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#1
|
#2
|
#3
|
#4
|
#5
|
#6
|
#7
|
#8
|
#9
|
#10
|
|
| psychologytoday.com | 45.1% | 19.7% | 5.4% | 4.4% | 4.1% | 4.7% | 6.2% | 6.4% | 6.7% | 6.6% |
| mind-diagnostics.org | 5.3% | 2.7% | 2.9% | 1.4% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| linkedin.com | 1.3% | 3.8% | 8.7% | 9.7% | 10.9% | 6.9% | 5.0% | 4.8% | 5.9% | 4.0% |
| headway.co | 1.0% | 4.4% | 2.6% | 2.0% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| humantold.com | 0.9% | 2.6% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| zocdoc.com | 0.7% | 3.3% | 9.9% | 6.3% | 3.9% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 1.9% | 2.1% | 1.5% |
| growtherapy.com | 0.6% | 3.0% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.9% |
| helloalma.com | 0.6% | 1.7% | 2.7% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.3% |
| mapquest.com | 0.3% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 2.1% | 2.2% | 1.9% | 2.2% | 2.2% | 2.1% |
| facebook.com | 0.2% | 1.2% | 2.3% | 3.7% | 3.7% | 3.0% | 4.1% | 4.1% | 4.2% | 3.9% |
| instagram.com | 0.2% | 0.7% | 1.9% | 3.8% | 3.6% | 3.4% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 2.2% |
| healthgrades.com | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.7% | 1.0% | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1.7% |
| therapyfinder.com | 0.0% | 0.2% | 1.4% | 0.8% | 2.2% | 2.6% | 2.0% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 1.2% |
| All Others | 43.6% | 55.6% | 58.6% | 62.9% | 64.3% | 69.6% | 72.2% | 72.7% | 71.3% | 74.4% |
Nothing crazy here, as usual.
I think I've written enough for this week... These two websites are definitely something I'll be keeping an eye on. And if you have any more information, or if you're a therapist that has a profile at one of these, please get in touch! I'd love to hear if they had your permission.
Thanks and have a nice week ahead.
Jon
