Is PsychToday Still Worth It in 2026?: My Honest Take (Episode 61)
If you’ve been side-eyeing your Psychology Today profile lately… you’re not wrong. It’s more crowded, more competitive, and definitely not the client-generating machine it once was.
But here’s the reframe: just because it’s changed doesn’t mean it’s useless.
In this episode, I’m breaking down what’s actually true about Psychology Today in 2026—what it can do for your practice, what it can’t, and why I still believe every therapist should have a profile (yes, even now). We’re talking realistic expectations, surprising ROI, and the behind-the-scenes role it’s playing in your visibility—especially in the age of AI search.
I’m also walking you through what’s actually working on profiles right now—so if a right-fit client does land on yours, it’s doing its job.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
1️⃣ Why Psychology Today is no longer a “fill your practice” tool—but is still worth every penny
2️⃣ The unexpected way your profile is boosting your credibility in AI search (even if clients never contact you through it)
3️⃣ The key elements of a high-performing profile—from specificity to client-friendly language to the pieces most therapists are skipping
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Hey. Hey. Welcome back to Marketing Therapy. Let's talk about psych today. Oh, psych today. It sure has been put through its paces over the years, hasn't it? When I started working with therapists seven years ago, which is wild. It was the Glory Days of Psych. Today, I have distinct memories and screenshots of helping clinicians optimize their profiles, and the next day or the next week, getting an email from them that they had gotten 3, 4, 5 clients since we made that update like in a couple of days time.
Those were the glory days, and my friends, I don't have to tell you this, the glory Days of psych today in that regard are over. But does that mean you shouldn't still be on it? And my hot take on that is no, you absolutely should still be on psych today. So in this episode, we're gonna talk about why you need to be on psych today and what you need to know about how it's working today, what it's offering you in terms of your marketing authority that you might not be aware of.
And then also how to optimize your profile so that if and when it is found by a right fit client, you stand out and you do get that one or two or three clients per year that make it worthwhile. Okay. All right.
Why It Still Matters
Like I said, I don't have to tell you, the site today has changed.
It is more crowded than it has ever been. You are right. VC backed organizations are on there, Alma rule, headway, whatever. They're all on there. Yes, I hear you. I agree. That does not mean it's no longer worth using. The reasons, however, that you should use psych today are different than they used to be.
It is absolutely unrealistic to expect psychology today to fill your practice today. A handful of clinicians might say that that is their reality and that is fantastic, but depending on that, right now is not wise. Psych today is not going to fill your practice. You are not going to get five clients in the next week from it, most likely, but it absolutely still has a place in your marketing strategy.
ROI Still Wins
Two reasons. The first, the ROI, like, we just cannot argue with the math on this, okay? If you have a session fee of even $150 and you see clients for just six months. That client is worth between $2500 and $4,000 in revenue to your practice. Do you know how much you're spending on site today? A year? $360. You're spending $30 a month, $360 to potentially, even if all you get is one client all year long to make between $2500 and $4,000 in your practice.
We just cannot argue with the math. And I think because the number of inquiries has slowed down so significantly on site today, clinicians have decided it's not worth it to be on it at all. Y'all. If this was Instagram and you were hustling, creating content, dancing on stories, making reels multiple hours a week, every week to get one client per year, yeah.
I would say that's not worth it. Psych today where you write a really good profile, maybe update it occasionally and otherwise get to sit back and relax. It's such a low effort, low hanging fruit strategy that again, if you only get one client per year is just putting you in the black. Right. In terms of time and money. So the ROI is just really, really solid. And you know what? Psych today does still work. According to our state of the industry survey from last year, 72% of therapists who use psych today have gotten a client from it in the last six months.
70% of private pay, fully booked therapists, okay? Therapists who charge a premium fee and are fully booked. 70% of them who use psych today have gotten a client in the last six months. So you can say it only works for insurance. The data doesn't show us that. You can say it doesn't work at all. The data doesn't show us that either.
Psych today still works for most clinicians. And again, if you have the expectation going in that this might only generate 1, 2, 3 clients per year, then you have a really healthy expectation for something that's going to take you, especially if you use like our site Today, success Pack an Hour to optimize.
And then you pretty much get to set it and forget it for the rest of the year. Alright? We just can't argue with that. It is consistently in the top five referral sources across the board, across different demographics, different fee structures, different caseload statuses, psych. Today's still up there.
It's still working. Okay. So one client per year pays for the entire year. You cannot expect this to fill your practice, but you sure can expect it to offer a positive ROI. All right.
AI Search Authority Boost
Let's talk about the other thing that Psych Today is doing for you, and this one you might not know about, and quite frankly, I envy Psych today and how it has positioned itself.
Because despite its bad pr, despite the fact that these VC companies are on there, it feels more saturated. Clinicians are struggling with it. They've set themselves up to be somewhat irreplaceable right now in the age of ai. Okay. This is something that did not matter seven years ago when I started helping therapists.
It didn't matter three years ago. It didn't really matter two years ago or even one, but today, it matters. Your psych today profile matters because of AI search. Okay? Platforms like Psychology Today that are very, very, very credible and high authority carry directory authority that they can pass on to you when someone goes looking for a therapist using chat, GBT or another AI tool.
AI systems are deciding who to surface based on who appears credible, who has authority, who is established on trusted platforms that they already know are credible. Site today is one of those. And so when your name is associated with those high authority websites, some of that credibility transfers.
So just by having a presence on a high authority site like Psychology today, you are increasing the authority signals you are sending to ai. Let that sink in for a minute. So even if a client never contacts you directly through site today, even if you never actually get a client from it this year, that platform can still be strengthening your overall credibility online in the eyes of ai.
So until we see evidence, otherwise, my advice is very simple and that is that every therapist should be on Psychology Today, even if it's just a $360 expense for you because of the potential it offers you in the age of ai. Like I said, chances are you're still gonna be positive. ROI just one client in a year or two or three would make up for it, but I do believe in 2026, like it or not.
Every therapist should be on Psychology Today for these two reasons. Okay. That's my hot take.
Optimization Framework Intro
Now, how do you take advantage of psychology today? How do you make the most of it? How do you make sure that when your profile is seen, it does something for you? How do we increase your chances of attracting those right fit clients?
Because like I said, the data shows us that people aren't just sitting around twiddling their thumbs on site today. They actually are getting clients, even if it's just a handful per year. So over the last seven years, i've been able to hone a framework for psych today that still works. I heard from a confident copy student last week that she updated her profile with what she wrote in the program and she got a referral from a private pay client. Alright, I'm still seeing this framework work. If you want access to that framework, the site today success pack is literally $27.
Less than a month on site today. Go grab it. It'll walk you through this in detail, but let me go through some of the elements that we're seeing still perform on site today, even now.
Specificity That Stops Scrolls
The very first one is specificity. You have heard me say this word, we should count how many times I've said it on marketing therapy in the last six months.
Specificity is your greatest asset right now, and in an absolute sea of other directory profiles, we cannot overstate how powerful specificity is. Okay. Most profiles on site today are trying to treat everything they're spraying and praying. They're trying to be all things to all people so that if someone clicks on them, maybe they'll resonate.
That is not the appropriate approach right now. Everyone ends up sounding the same. They all blend in, and every single profile feels like Groundhog Day to clients on a directory. Blending in is the absolute worst possible outcome. I want you to stand out and I want you to jump off the page to the right fit clients, and it's only gonna happen sometimes again.
That's our expectation going into this. We're not expecting to get 15 new clients this month. We're expecting to get one a year, two a year, and for it to still be worthwhile. So my recommendation here is to write for one single type of client or one particular focus area or specialty in your practice.
Okay. This requires of course, that you know what that is that you know who your ideal client is and you know what your different specialties and focus areas are. But it's not even necessarily about writing your entire niche into this profile, but one specific angle on it. In confident copy.
We often coach our students to write a couple different versions tailored to the different types of clients that they serve or their different focus areas so they can rotate them and they can have these Uber, Uber specific profiles out there that are again, jumping off the page to the RightFit client.
So we're not writing one about anxiety. We're not writing one about trauma. We're not writing one about EMDR. We are writing to the postpartum anxious working mom who is laying awake at night wondering how she's gonna keep doing this. Or the couple who. Just found out that one of them was unfaithful, but have decided that they still want to make this work.
Or the woman who just got out of a toxic relationship for the third time and is ready to finally break this pattern. Okay. We are writing super, super, super specific versions. Specificity is what will make someone stop scrolling on psych today. Right now, and again, we're not expecting to be all things to all people.
We never are in our marketing, but especially on psych today. So consider having those multiple versions geared toward your different types of clients. You could rotate them on a regular basis, which is a great way to keep your profile fresh and you can really just see what resonates. There might be certain ones that people call and are really, you know, stating back to you.
They are excited about or stood out to them. Okay, so specificity is huge.
Client Friendly Copy
Element number two. This one will come as no surprise, client friendly language, y'all. No more clinical terminology. Stop telling me the laundry list of acronyms of methods that you use. Okay? We are keeping this so, so, so friendly and relevant using the language that your clients are actually saying when they come to you.
So we wanna talk about how your client is actually experiencing the problem. What is it like to lay awake as a working mom with postpartum anxiety, struggling to bond with your baby, or keep functioning in day-to-day life? What does that look like? Paint that picture. And then when you talk about how you're gonna work, which in our Psych Today Success Pack and Confident copy frameworks, you know, happen later in the profile, that's where you're gonna share more about your approach through that client friendly lens.
Kind of like what we talked about last week in the about page episode, but making sure that we're setting expectations about what it is that you can offer, how you work and what changes in their life after they work with you. We're casting some vision about what it is that they actually wanna see change, and then using yourself as the bridge to help them get there right as the guide that can do that work with them.
So you're not mentioning attachment wounds here, unless of course your clients actually use that language or not, including the laundry list of acronyms. This is not an alphabet soup situation. You have such limited character counts to actually form this connection. Please don't waste it on clinical jargon.
Okay? Use the language your clients actually say out loud.
Video And Full Profile
Element number three, you have to have a video. Yes. Even you, I have met, I think three therapists in my seven years that were excited about making their video. So if you're not welcome to the club, you still need to make one. Okay? Clients want to see and hear you.
We actually know that that helps form some additional connection. It can be a really helpful way and people getting a sense of your vibe. It lowers the barrier for reaching out. But above all site today favors really complete profiles. And one of the biggest elements of a profile is your video. If you don't have one yet, that is your immediate action item, go make one.
It's 15 to 20 seconds of your life. You're probably gonna have to film quite a few of them. Your whole camera roll on your phone might be made up of different takes, but you can do it. It does not have to be perfect confident. Copy and cite today's success pack. Both have a script to help you, but you gotta do it.
You absolutely have to do it. Reiterate your specialty. Invite them to reach out, be warm, be yourself. Your profile is going to be effective right now. Similarly, the other element is you need a complete profile. We know this, that psych today favors profiles that are filled out as completely as possible.
That means your intro to new client's statement, your video, your video caption, your profile images if you have one, especially if you're in person, your finances, quote your specialties quote. Every single section, if you can write something, write something, okay? You don't have to use all the character counts.
We include guidance on what to say in each of those in the PyschToday Success Pack, and then of course in the full confident copy program. And you might not need to write 400 characters about your specialties. That's okay, but we need to have something there, okay? So make sure that if something could be clicked on, filled out, otherwise occupied or optimized on your website, that you do it.
Okay.
Headshot And Clear CTA
Finally, this is something not related to words, but holy cow, does it matter? You need a strong and professional headshot. Okay? No selfies, no far away photos, no vacation pictures where you crop out your friend. Okay? This needs to be. Close cropped on your face so that if someone's scrolling on mobile, they're still able to see you.
It needs to feel professional. It does not have to be stuffy. We can still have personality, we can still have vibe. Okay? But it needs to be professional. It needs to be well lit, high quality. That's important because when I'm scrolling site today, you know the three things.
I can see your picture. Your name and your hook, which are the first one to two sentences of your profile that are the most powerful elements of what you write. That's not a whole lot to decide whether or not I'm gonna click in. Right? So that headshot needs to pull some weight for you.
Make sure that it's representing you well and that it isn't inviting people to doubt you, but to bolster the confidence, right, that they want to have in their therapist. A couple more things. You need a clear call to action at the end of your profile.
There are so many things you can click on on Psych today. I mean, pull up a profile right now. Pull up your own profile. There's so many things I could click and so it can be counterintuitive to think, well, I'm not gonna tell people what to do. It's obvious sort of, there are so many options available to them and make it clear what you want them to do next.
The last sentence of your profile, the last sentence of your video should tell people what to do. Visit my website to schedule a consultation. Click the link below because it currently is placed below to email or call for a consultation. Tell them what to do. Use some of your precious real estate to tell people what to do because they very well may be overwhelmed.
So always end with a call to action letting 'em know what the next step is. Okay.
Group Practice Profile Fix
Final thing, and I'm mentioning this because I heard this from a group practice owner fairly recently. In our Get Booked Out Facebook group group practices need individual profiles. If you are a group practice owner, you might be tempted to just pay a single $30 a month for a profile that shares about your entire team.
What did we just talk about earlier? Specificity, right? And how powerful specificity is. You cannot be specific about an entire team on a single profile. So I strongly recommend that every single one of your clinicians have personal profiles. If you aren't interested or aren't able to currently spend that then maybe you rotate a single profile version for each of your different clinicians.
Not ideal, but would be an option, but the fact is when I get on site today and I'm looking for a therapist, I'm looking for a person, not a practice. Right. We are looking for as close to a one-to-one connection as we possibly can form, and I'm gonna scroll right on by a headshot with a team or a logo.
Ooh, even worse, a logo as the headshot and the name of your practice is the name. Like that's just, we are missing out on connection there. Okay? So make sure that your profiles are geared toward individuals, even if you have to get a little bit creative about how you do that. Okay? It will convert better.
Wrap Up And Resources
Alright, so that's my hot take on psych today in 2026, my hot take might change. We might see the signals to AI change. We might see the performance change, but as of right now, I stand behind it. Psych today, not magic. Psych today, not going to fill your practice.
Psych today. Still worth it for $30 a month and very little effort after you create that original version and put some work into optimizing it. It is one of the only marketing strategies that is effectively working for you on autopilot, and even if it doesn't bring in a client for you this year, what it's offering you in terms of AI authority is still worthwhile.
That's why I think every single therapist should be leveraging this in 2026 and should be leveraging it well, so don't just slap something up there. Let's at least make use of it, right? That's why in our PyschToday Success Pack and Confident Copy, we guide you through how to do that. So make sure that if you're not making use of it, that you do that, but then also enter into this strategy with appropriate expectations.
Understanding that a handful of clients per year is incredibly strong performance and still a worthwhile strategy for you in your practice. Something that is literally working for you in the background. This is one small but very, very powerful piece of your visibility online today, even more so than it's been in years past.
Right? Okay. If you are interested in grabbing our framework for this, like I said, the PyschToday Success Pack is a really easy low cost resource. We'll drop the link for that in the show notes, and then Confident Copy, of course, is gonna guide you through deeply understanding your niche, articulating your focus areas, creating a website that pulls its weight.
And then leveraging what you write for your website to optimize site today, which like I said, I heard from a student just last week that she received a perfect fit private pay referral through site today. So both those links are in the show notes. If you know that you need help in this area, but one way or another, I think this is worth it for you.
So noodle on that. Let me know if you have questions. I welcome your thoughts in our Facebook group or on Instagram, whatever that might be. I hope this one was helpful for you. I'll see you next week.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
The Walker Strategy Co website: https://walkerstrategyco.com
PsychToday Success Pack: https://walkerstrategyco.com/ptsp
Confident Copy: https://walkerstrategyco.com/cc
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Marketing Therapy is the podcast where therapists learn how to market their private practices without burnout, self-doubt, or sleazy tactics. Hosted by Anna Walker—marketing coach, strategist, and founder of Walker Strategy Co—each episode brings you clear, grounded advice to help you attract the right-fit, full-fee clients and grow a practice you feel proud of.
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