As we wind down 2025, I wanted to reflect on one of the big professional developments that I stumbled upon this year -- this idea that I could help advocate for (and provide data analysis on) accurate representation of therapists in online directories! And perhaps more importantly, help shine a light on the directories that are doing therapists and therapy clients a disservice -- these "ghost" directories.
Side note: Today's game in our Advent Calendar for Therapists is called "Attack of the Ghost Directories", if you feel the need to take out your frustration at any point throughout the day!
It all started on LinkedIn and seeing a few posts about 7 Cups. From there, I was able to dig deeper and realize just how expansive their questionable therapist profiles were. And many posts later, they changed their language on their site to be less misleading! A win, for sure, but more importantly, I was happy to have provided awareness to more therapists about these profiles (which they had never consented to).
After that, I took a look at automating some simple data analysis to hopefully get ahead of future ghost directories -- or at least dig them up over time and raise further awareness. And so we have -- with this website!
We launched this report in September, and so far, at the time of me writing this report, we've analyzed...
2,428,731 search results for therapists! Almost 2.5 million links!
Anyway, this has been a super fun project to work on, and it feels great to give back. We don't make money from this, but personally, I strongly dislike ("hate" is such a strong word...) when people are misrepresented. I don't like when therapists who just want to help others have their professional identities listed somewhere else without their consent, potentially misleading other people who are simply seeking mental health support. Therapists' names and biographies shouldn't be some commodity used to further a random company's SEO goals.
Anyway, with that... thanks for a wonderful 2025, and who knows what 2026 will bring!
In this week's report, very little shifted, which is why I decided to focus on this topic instead!
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 |
79.8
|
0.0 | ▼ 0.2 |
6.8
|
▲ 0.5 | ▼ 0.3 |
| psychologytoday.com |
73.3
|
▲ 0.5 | ▲ 0.2 |
2.4
|
▼ 0.4 | ▼ 0.2 |
| facebook.com |
54.9
|
▲ 0.8 | ▲ 2.2 |
17.0
|
▲ 0.2 | ▼ 0.7 |
| instagram.com |
34.9
|
▼ 1.2 | ▼ 2.1 |
16.6
|
0.0 | ▼ 0.7 |
| mapquest.com |
32.7
|
▲ 1.0 | ▼ 0.7 |
16.5
|
▼ 1.3 | ▼ 0.7 |
| zocdoc.com |
31.2
|
▲ 0.8 | ▲ 0.2 |
8.2
|
▼ 0.2 | 0.0 |
| npidb.org |
23.1
|
▼ 1.8 | ▼ 3.4 |
17.7
|
▲ 1.6 | ▲ 2.0 |
| healthgrades.com |
20.1
|
▲ 0.7 | ▼ 1.1 |
22.3
|
▼ 1.0 | ▼ 1.1 |
| headway.co |
20.0
|
▲ 0.1 | ▲ 0.5 |
7.5
|
▼ 1.2 | ▼ 1.0 |
| sharecare.com |
19.1
|
▼ 0.7 | ▼ 0.2 |
21.1
|
▼ 0.7 | ▼ 2.8 |
| therapyfinder.com |
18.4
|
▼ 0.7 | ▲ 5.6 |
12.5
|
▲ 1.1 | ▲ 0.5 |
| rocketreach.co |
17.3
|
▼ 1.3 | ▼ 0.1 |
18.8
|
▲ 0.1 | ▼ 0.7 |
| youtube.com |
16.9
|
▲ 2.2 | ▲ 1.2 |
26.1
|
▼ 0.5 | ▲ 0.3 |
| yelp.com |
14.5
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 0.5 |
17.8
|
▲ 1.5 | ▲ 0.8 |
| npiprofile.com |
14.3
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 1.9 |
33.6
|
▼ 1.4 | ▼ 2.8 |
| mind-diagnostics.org |
13.8
|
▼ 0.8 | ▲ 1.6 |
4.4
|
▲ 0.5 | ▼ 1.0 |
| zoominfo.com |
13.4
|
▼ 1.0 | ▲ 2.8 |
19.6
|
▼ 0.6 | ▲ 1.3 |
| 7cups.com |
13.3
|
▲ 0.3 | ▲ 1.4 |
12.8
|
▼ 1.9 | ▼ 1.9 |
| researchgate.net |
13.1
|
▲ 0.5 | ▼ 1.0 |
32.5
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 0.3 |
| medicalnewstoday.com |
12.8
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 0.3 |
10.0
|
▼ 0.2 | ▲ 0.6 |
| therapist.com |
12.7
|
▼ 0.9 | ▼ 2.2 |
13.4
|
▼ 1.3 | ▼ 1.8 |
| therapyden.com |
12.2
|
▼ 0.3 | ▼ 0.2 |
11.8
|
▲ 1.0 | ▼ 0.9 |
| growtherapy.com |
11.1
|
▼ 0.2 | ▲ 2.0 |
23.1
|
▲ 0.3 | ▼ 6.4 |
| webmd.com |
10.6
|
▼ 1.6 | ▼ 1.6 |
25.7
|
▲ 2.2 | ▲ 3.9 |
| tiktok.com |
10.2
|
▲ 1.8 | ▼ 2.1 |
43.5
|
▼ 3.6 | ▼ 0.9 |
| findatopdoc.com |
9.7
|
▼ 1.5 | ▲ 2.2 |
25.8
|
▼ 1.5 | ▲ 0.8 |
| healthline.com |
8.5
|
▼ 0.2 | ▼ 0.7 |
11.1
|
▲ 1.0 | ▲ 1.8 |
| helloalma.com |
8.5
|
0.0 | ▼ 0.3 |
7.8
|
▲ 2.0 | ▲ 1.1 |
| therapysolutionsforkids.com |
8.2
|
▼ 2.1 | — |
19.8
|
▲ 0.4 | — |
| providerwire.com |
7.9
|
▼ 0.8 | ▼ 1.2 |
26.9
|
▼ 0.5 | ▼ 1.6 |
No major changes this week! Although it's good to see that Therapy Solutions for Kids continues a downward trend after first popping up three weeks ago.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| youtube.com | 16.92 | ▲ 2.25 |
| therapysolutionsforkids.com | 8.17 | ▼ 2.08 |
| vitadox.com | 5.58 | ▼ 2.00 |
| npidb.org | 23.08 | ▼ 1.84 |
| tiktok.com | 10.25 | ▲ 1.75 |
| webmd.com | 10.58 | ▼ 1.59 |
| findatopdoc.com | 9.67 | ▼ 1.50 |
| rocketreach.co | 17.33 | ▼ 1.34 |
| instagram.com | 34.92 | ▼ 1.16 |
| mapquest.com | 32.67 | ▲ 1.00 |
Compared to 4 weeks ago:
| Website | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|
| therapyfinder.com | 18.42 | ▲ 5.59 |
| npidb.org | 23.08 | ▼ 3.42 |
| zoominfo.com | 13.42 | ▲ 2.84 |
| facebook.com | 54.92 | ▲ 2.17 |
| findatopdoc.com | 9.67 | ▲ 2.17 |
| therapist.com | 12.67 | ▼ 2.16 |
| instagram.com | 34.92 | ▼ 2.08 |
| nih.gov | 7.42 | ▼ 2.08 |
| tiktok.com | 10.25 | ▼ 2.08 |
| growtherapy.com | 11.08 | ▲ 2.00 |
No surprising shifts this week!
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 | 47.3% | 20.8% | 4.1% | 6.0% | 4.5% | 6.0% | 6.1% | 6.0% | 8.1% | 6.1% |
| mind-diagnostics.org | 5.7% | 2.4% | 3.8% | 1.1% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| linkedin.com | 1.9% | 5.1% | 13.9% | 12.3% | 12.4% | 8.3% | 7.1% | 6.9% | 4.8% | 5.4% |
| headway.co | 1.0% | 4.1% | 3.5% | 3.1% | 1.1% | 2.0% | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| humantold.com | 0.8% | 3.3% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| zocdoc.com | 0.6% | 2.2% | 8.1% | 6.4% | 3.7% | 3.7% | 3.9% | 1.8% | 1.6% | 2.2% |
| sondermind.com | 0.4% | 2.8% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| growtherapy.com | 0.3% | 2.6% | 2.2% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| mapquest.com | 0.3% | 0.4% | 1.3% | 1.8% | 3.2% | 1.9% | 3.1% | 2.2% | 2.2% | 2.6% |
| therapyden.com | 0.2% | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| facebook.com | 0.2% | 1.4% | 2.2% | 3.6% | 3.2% | 3.6% | 4.7% | 3.9% | 5.0% | 4.4% |
| instagram.com | 0.1% | 1.2% | 1.8% | 2.6% | 3.1% | 2.3% | 2.9% | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1.4% |
| therapyfinder.com | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 2.3% | 1.9% | 1.8% | 2.2% | 1.8% | 1.0% | 0.9% |
| All Others | 41.2% | 51.5% | 54.8% | 57.8% | 64.4% | 68.7% | 67.4% | 72.9% | 72.6% | 75.4% |
The main takeaway every week from this particular chart is... wow, Psychology Today is such a powerhouse. It's hard to imagine them being unseated. If you've got a profile there, surely that result is on the first page of search results for your name.
As mentioned earlier, what a year 2025 has been!
If you haven't already, I hope you sign up for our (free) personal search report, where we'll automatically search for your name each week and send you a quick report highlighting the movement of search results... It's a good way to notice when new links pop up, both good ones and bad ones. And if bad ones do show up, you can take action and get them removed!
And also mentioned earlier, I hope you'll check out our silly Advent Calendar for Therapists . It's been so much fun putting these games together -- the whole family brainstorms ideas, and we've got more fun games on the way in the coming days!
Have a wonderful week!
Jon
