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SearchScore · For Therapists & Counsellors
Psychology Today won't help you on ChatGPT

New clients are asking ChatGPT
to recommend a therapist.
Is it recommending you?

Referrals from directories are declining. Clients are asking AI directly – "recommend a CBT therapist for anxiety" or "online therapist for trauma" – and ChatGPT recommends whoever's website is set up for it. Not the biggest directory. Your website. If you offer online sessions, that's a national audience, not just your local area. We fix the signals that get you recommended.

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What's changed

Why directories are losing ground –
and why your website now matters more.

ChatGPT now has over 800 million weekly users. When someone is anxious, overwhelmed, or ready to find support, a growing number type their question directly into ChatGPT – "recommend a CBT therapist in London", "who's good for trauma near me" – and get a specific recommendation in response. Not a list of blue links. A named practice.

Critically, ChatGPT reads your website to make that recommendation – not your Psychology Today profile. The practices appearing in those answers have websites properly set up for AI search. Most don't. Which means the ones that fix it now own this channel in their area before competitors realise what's happening.

And if you offer online therapy, the opportunity is larger still. Someone asking ChatGPT "recommend an online CBT therapist" isn't restricted to your postcode – they could be anywhere in the country. Right now that query returns directories. The individual practice that fixes their AI visibility first can own that channel nationally, not just locally.

800M
Weekly ChatGPT queries. A growing share are "recommend a [professional] near me" – and therapy is one of the most common categories. Each one gets a specific recommendation, not a list of links.
Source: OpenAI, 2026
What therapists are saying
"I have noticed a deep decline in referrals from Psychology Today and a much higher number of people who found me through ChatGPT."
Psychologist, reported on professional forum · 2025
The problem with directories

Psychology Today gets recommended.
You don't.

Directories dominate Google because they have thousands of pages and strong domain authority. But ChatGPT doesn't work like Google – and that changes everything in your favour.

What ChatGPT sees from directories
A list of therapists it can't verify individually
  • ✕ Your profile page has thin content ChatGPT can't extract
  • ✕ The directory's brand gets cited – not yours
  • ✕ Your specialty, approach and availability aren't readable by AI
  • ✕ You have no control over how you're described
  • ✕ A client who finds you via ChatGPT → directory still needs to find your site
What ChatGPT sees from your own site
A specific, credible, directly citable source
  • ✓ Your name, your specialty, your approach – directly readable
  • ✓ ChatGPT recommends you by name in its answer
  • ✓ Schema markup tells AI exactly who you are and what you treat
  • ✓ Content formatted so AI extracts the right information
  • ✓ Client goes directly to your site – not through a directory
Is ChatGPT sending clients to directories instead of you?

The free audit checks in 60 seconds. No email. See your AI search score and exactly what needs fixing.

Check your practice now → Book a call
What we fix

Six fixes. Four weeks.
Your practice recommended by ChatGPT.

The free audit tells you which of these apply to your site. The AI Visibility Audit fixes all of them – plus your Google rankings and conversion rate – in four weeks.

01
Unblock AI crawlers Foundation
If GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot are blocked in your robots.txt – common after a website rebuild or plugin update – AI engines can't read your site at all. This is the single most common reason therapy practices are invisible to ChatGPT.
Fixed in week one
02
Deploy your llms.txt Foundation
llms.txt is a file that tells AI engines what your practice does, which specialties you offer, and which pages matter most. Without it, AI has to guess – and usually defaults to recommending directories instead. 63% of sites don't have one.
Deployed in week one
03
Add therapy-specific schema markup
Schema markup tells AI exactly what your practice is: your specialty (CBT, EMDR, trauma, couples therapy), your location, your credentials, whether you're accepting new clients. Without it, AI can't confidently recommend you for specific searches.
Deployed in week two
04
Restructure your content for AI answers
ChatGPT cites pages that give direct, self-contained answers. "What does CBT involve?" "What can I expect in a first session?" "Do you offer online therapy?" – these questions, answered clearly on your site, are what get you cited directly in AI responses.
Completed in week three
05
Build your professional authority signals
AI engines weight recommendations toward verifiably credible sources. Named practitioner, professional credentials (BACP, UKCP, BPS), third-party mentions – these signals tell AI your practice is trustworthy. We build the footprint that makes you citable.
Ongoing through the engagement
06
Fix why visitors don't enquire
Getting found is only the start. Most therapy websites lose potential clients because the first session process isn't clear, the contact form is buried, or there's no visible indication of availability. We fix the conversion signals that turn visitors into enquiries.
Completed in week three
Which of these apply to your practice?

The free audit checks all six – plus 245 more signals – in 60 seconds. No email needed.

Results

The closest result we have –
and why the same fixes work for therapists.

"
We went from invisible in AI search to ChatGPT's #1 recommendation for our category – ahead of a company with 100× our marketing budget. SearchScore showed us exactly what was holding us back, fixed it, and the result was verified within 90 days.
BH
Ben Huss
Founder · FileSeal.uk · GEO Score 75 (Top 1% globally)
22→75
GEO Score movement in 90 days
#1
ChatGPT ranking above larger competitor
Top 1%
Globally, 875,000+ sites benchmarked
90 days
From invisible to verified #1 result

FileSeal is a document signing company, not a therapy practice. The same fixes – AI crawler access, llms.txt, schema markup, content structure – produce the same result regardless of industry. We don't yet have a published therapy case study. If you want to be our first, book the kickoff call →

Our 30-day guarantee
"The AI Visibility Audit (£4,500) is four weeks of done-for-you implementation. By the end, your site is being found in AI search, ranking better in Google, and converting more of the visitors who arrive. We handle everything that moves the needle across all three disciplines. Not a report. Not a checklist. We ship the work. And we guarantee it: your GEO, SEO and CRO scores all improve within 30 days of us starting – or we work the next month free until they do."

Scores move in 30 days – or the next month is on us.

AI Visibility Audit · £4,500 one-off · 4 weeks · No retainer · Full details →

Get started

See if ChatGPT recommends your practice.
Or book the fix.

Free audit in 60 seconds – no email – to check your practice's AI visibility right now. Or book directly if you already know you want help.

Free · No email needed
Check your practice's AI visibility
Drop your website URL. See your AI search score, Google ranking score and conversion score – plus exactly what's stopping ChatGPT from recommending your practice.
https://
Takes 60 seconds · No email for the diagnosis
£4,500 · 4 weeks · 30-day guarantee
Book the Audit kickoff
Already know you want help? Book a 30-minute kickoff call. Four weeks later, your practice is being recommended by ChatGPT, ranking better on Google, and converting more visitors into enquiries.
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No retainer commitment · 30-day score guarantee
Questions

Questions about AI visibility for therapists.

Yes. When someone asks ChatGPT to recommend a therapist for a specific issue or location, it generates personalised recommendations – including naming specific practitioners and practices directly. It reads therapy practice websites to do this. The therapists who appear are the ones whose sites are properly set up for AI search: AI crawlers allowed, schema markup in place, content structured for direct answers.
In many ways, yes – often more so than directory enquiries. Someone who asks ChatGPT "recommend a CBT therapist for health anxiety in Bristol" has already articulated their need, their preferred approach and their location. That specificity makes for a better initial fit than someone browsing a directory and clicking profiles. The AI recommendation tends to happen when someone has already decided they want therapy and is looking for a specific match – not when they're still deciding whether to seek help at all.
No. ChatGPT reads websites directly – your own website, not your directory profile. Psychology Today may help with Google rankings (the directory has strong domain authority) but it does nothing for your AI search visibility. The therapists getting recommended by ChatGPT are the ones whose own websites have been optimised for AI crawlers, schema markup and answer-formatted content.
It's worth thinking about. The reality is that potential clients are already using AI to find therapists – that shift is happening whether practices participate or not. Being visible on AI means someone who needs help can actually find you, rather than being directed only to large directories. The fix itself – structured content, clear credentials, named author attribution – also makes your website more trustworthy and transparent for human visitors, not less.
Technical fixes like unblocking AI crawlers and adding schema markup typically show score movement within 7 to 14 days. Appearing in ChatGPT recommendations for therapy-specific queries typically follows within 30 to 90 days. Location and specialty both affect speed – smaller locations with less competition tend to move faster. We track and report progress throughout.
SEO and AI search use different rules. A well-ranked page on Google can still be completely invisible to ChatGPT if it blocks AI crawlers, lacks structured data, or isn't formatted for AI extraction. Your existing SEO investment isn't wasted – it overlaps with some of what we do – but AI search requires specific additional fixes that most SEO strategies don't cover.
The free audit is free – no email required, 60 seconds, full results. The AI Visibility Audit is £4,500 as a one-off, four-week engagement with no retainer commitment. The guarantee: your GEO Score, SEO Score and CRO Score all improve within 30 days of us starting – or we work the following month free until they do. No arguments, no small print.
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