This week’s theme is less about big algorithm changes and more about something simpler (and easier to overlook): abandoned profiles.
Just because you stopped logging into a particular website (like a social media website) doesn’t mean the profile disappeared. And when someone searches for you by name, those abandoned pages can still show up.
That’s what caught my attention this week with a small but noticeable uptick from X/Twitter. Many therapists left Twitter long ago, especially after the platform changed hands. But unless an account was deleted or made private, those profiles are often still live. And they’re still being indexed. So when a prospective client searches your name, they might land on a profile you haven’t touched in years, linking out to a platform that feels very different from when you last used it.
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 | |
| linkedin.com |
77.7
|
▼ 0.7 | ▼ 1.3 |
7.4
|
▲ 0.1 | ▼ 0.6 |
| psychologytoday.com |
72.8
|
▼ 1.3 | ▼ 0.8 |
2.5
|
▲ 0.5 | ▲ 0.2 |
| facebook.com |
53.2
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 0.1 |
19.2
|
▼ 0.3 | ▼ 1.1 |
| instagram.com |
34.9
|
▼ 1.6 | ▼ 1.8 |
14.7
|
▲ 1.8 | ▲ 2.3 |
| mapquest.com |
32.6
|
▲ 2.2 | ▲ 0.8 |
16.3
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 0.5 |
| zocdoc.com |
32.2
|
▲ 0.2 | ▲ 1.4 |
8.0
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 0.1 |
| npidb.org |
23.8
|
▲ 1.1 | ▲ 1.8 |
19.0
|
▲ 0.9 | ▼ 0.2 |
| healthgrades.com |
23.1
|
▼ 1.5 | ▲ 4.0 |
21.0
|
▲ 0.1 | ▲ 0.8 |
| headway.co |
20.1
|
▼ 0.1 | ▲ 0.4 |
7.3
|
▼ 0.9 | 0.0 |
| therapyfinder.com |
19.2
|
0.0 | ▼ 1.8 |
12.7
|
▲ 0.4 | ▼ 1.0 |
| rocketreach.co |
16.8
|
0.0 | ▲ 0.2 |
19.8
|
▲ 0.3 | ▼ 0.1 |
| npiprofile.com |
16.5
|
▼ 0.8 | ▲ 3.8 |
32.4
|
▲ 0.4 | ▲ 1.1 |
| sharecare.com |
16.1
|
▲ 0.1 | ▼ 1.0 |
21.6
|
▼ 0.8 | ▲ 0.6 |
| yelp.com |
15.8
|
0.0 | ▲ 0.4 |
21.8
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 0.2 |
| youtube.com |
15.2
|
▼ 0.8 | ▲ 0.3 |
25.1
|
▲ 4.2 | ▲ 1.9 |
| zoominfo.com |
14.8
|
▲ 0.5 | ▲ 1.4 |
20.3
|
▲ 2.9 | ▲ 3.4 |
| mind-diagnostics.org |
13.8
|
▲ 0.2 | ▲ 0.2 |
4.9
|
▲ 0.1 | ▼ 0.6 |
| researchgate.net |
13.3
|
▼ 0.4 | ▼ 0.2 |
39.1
|
▲ 0.7 | ▼ 2.8 |
| growtherapy.com |
13.0
|
▲ 0.9 | ▲ 1.9 |
26.9
|
▼ 2.0 | ▼ 1.3 |
| therapyden.com |
13.0
|
▼ 0.6 | ▼ 0.1 |
11.2
|
▲ 1.8 | ▲ 2.1 |
| 7cups.com |
12.7
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 0.5 |
12.2
|
▲ 0.9 | ▲ 0.6 |
| medicalnewstoday.com |
12.1
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 0.2 |
12.3
|
▲ 0.4 | ▼ 2.2 |
| therapist.com |
11.4
|
▲ 0.2 | ▲ 0.2 |
12.0
|
▲ 0.3 | ▼ 1.5 |
| webmd.com |
9.8
|
▼ 0.5 | ▼ 1.1 |
29.7
|
▼ 1.2 | ▼ 0.5 |
| pleasework.dev |
9.5
|
▼ 1.2 | ▲ 5.8 |
28.2
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 5.9 |
| healthline.com |
8.7
|
▼ 0.5 | ▲ 0.5 |
12.2
|
▲ 0.9 | ▼ 2.3 |
| tiktok.com |
8.4
|
▼ 0.1 | ▼ 1.4 |
49.8
|
▲ 0.4 | ▲ 0.9 |
| usnews.com |
8.4
|
▲ 0.4 | ▲ 2.1 |
35.4
|
▼ 1.1 | ▲ 5.5 |
| helloalma.com |
8.2
|
▼ 0.3 | 0.0 |
7.8
|
▲ 1.3 | ▼ 0.7 |
| findatopdoc.com |
7.1
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 2.2 |
21.6
|
▲ 0.9 | ▲ 5.1 |
The top of the list remains very familiar. LinkedIn and Psychology Today continue to be the most consistently visible domains when people search for therapists by name. Social platforms like Facebook and Instagram are still present, though usually further down the page.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| mapquest.com | 32.58 | ▲ 2.16 |
| instagram.com | 34.92 | ▼ 1.58 |
| healthgrades.com | 23.08 | ▼ 1.50 |
| psychologytoday.com | 72.80 | ▼ 1.30 |
| pleasework.dev | 9.50 | ▼ 1.17 |
| x.com | 5.42 | ▲ 1.17 |
| npidb.org | 23.75 | ▲ 1.08 |
| growtherapy.com | 13.00 | ▲ 0.92 |
| npiprofile.com | 16.50 | ▼ 0.83 |
| providerwire.com | 7.00 | ▲ 0.83 |
Compared to 4 weeks ago:
| Website | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|
| pleasework.dev | 9.50 | ▲ 5.75 |
| healthgrades.com | 23.08 | ▲ 4.00 |
| npiprofile.com | 16.50 | ▲ 3.83 |
| findatopdoc.com | 7.08 | ▼ 2.25 |
| usnews.com | 8.42 | ▲ 2.09 |
| growtherapy.com | 13.00 | ▲ 1.92 |
| therapyfinder.com | 19.25 | ▼ 1.83 |
| instagram.com | 34.92 | ▼ 1.75 |
| npidb.org | 23.75 | ▲ 1.75 |
| hhs.gov | 7.00 | ▲ 1.58 |
Most of the movement this week was minor. A few directories and platforms drifted up or down slightly, which is pretty typical. The more interesting signal wasn’t a big jump, but a pattern — abandoned or lightly maintained profiles continuing to hang around.
What stood out this week was seeing x.com appear just a bit more often than usual. It’s not a major surge, but it’s enough to be worth a reminder that old social profiles don’t retire themselves.
X (and its AI chatbot Grok) has been in the news a bunch this past week, and not in a good way. And so when you think about your reputation as a therapist, and if you already were no longer using X, it may be time to deactivate or rename or delete your account, so that it's no longer a result when clients search for you.
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 | 45.6% | 20.6% | 4.6% | 4.9% | 5.3% | 5.1% | 6.1% | 5.5% | 5.7% | 6.5% |
| mind-diagnostics.org | 5.1% | 2.4% | 3.3% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| linkedin.com | 1.3% | 5.3% | 11.7% | 12.2% | 11.4% | 8.4% | 5.9% | 5.2% | 5.5% | 5.0% |
| humantold.com | 1.3% | 2.8% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| headway.co | 0.8% | 4.7% | 3.2% | 2.7% | 2.1% | 0.6% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.8% |
| zocdoc.com | 0.6% | 3.6% | 8.7% | 6.6% | 4.6% | 3.5% | 3.1% | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1.6% |
| growtherapy.com | 0.5% | 2.7% | 1.8% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 0.4% |
| mapquest.com | 0.4% | 0.5% | 1.6% | 2.6% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4.0% | 2.6% | 1.8% | 2.4% |
| sondermind.com | 0.3% | 2.5% | 1.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| therapyden.com | 0.2% | 2.2% | 2.3% | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
| facebook.com | 0.2% | 1.1% | 3.2% | 3.1% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 3.9% | 3.3% | 4.3% | 4.7% |
| instagram.com | 0.1% | 0.7% | 1.7% | 3.2% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 3.0% | 2.4% | 3.6% | 1.9% |
| npidb.org | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 1.9% | 0.7% | 1.5% |
| therapyfinder.com | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.8% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 2.7% | 2.3% | 1.3% | 0.9% | 1.5% |
| All Others | 43.6% | 50.7% | 54.7% | 58.3% | 62.8% | 68.2% | 67.4% | 72.7% | 72.8% | 72.4% |
At the very top of search results, nothing has changed. Psychology Today still dominates the #1 position, and LinkedIn has a solid hold on the first page of search results too.
Managing your online presence isn’t only about adding new profiles and directory listings. Sometimes it’s about cleaning up old ones.
If you left Twitter a year or two ago, it might be worth checking whether your profile still exists, what it shows, and whether you’re comfortable with a prospective client landing there today. The same goes for any platform you’ve outgrown or stopped using.
Make sure your search results point people in the right direction, and remove anything that no longer represents you. (If you can, of course... We all know it's hard to combat the ghost directories that you never authorized in the first place!)
As always, I'll keep watching for patterns like this!
Jon
