Knowledge is power. And I want to help therapists stay aware of how they (and the therapist community at large) are reflected in search results.
People are seeking information about therapists all the time -- maybe a referral from another therapist, maybe a friend had a recommendation, etc. But what do they see when they search? Are they getting good/helpful results, or bad/misleading ones? Is there a new "ghost directory" on the scene that's consuming clicks and the patience of the therapy-seeker?
TherapistSearchReport.com is our attempt to raise awareness. It's a weekly report that we'll be publishing, highlighting the top websites that show up in these search results when folks search for specific therapists. We've been routinely aggregating this data for a couple of months, and we have enough for some insights. Some key players are totally expected, like LinkedIn and PsychologyToday. And others might be more surprising. As we continue to run this report each week, we'll be identifying trends -- and maybe the next ghost directory.
In addition, we've got something else. We're also releasing a free personal report for therapists. Provide your name, and we'll run a personalized report every week, keeping track of what websites show up when clients search for YOU specifically. With automatic updates every week, you'll be able to stay on top of trends -- and if there’s an unauthorized profile for you, you can immediately jump on it.
This is a personal passion project of mine. Quill has introduced me to so many therapists, and when I saw that there was this issue happening, with therapists and their professional profiles being harnessed for the SEO benefits of others, that frustrated me. People seeking mental health support should be able to find that support, not be misled and slowed down. (And it conveniently combines by past professional experience with data aggregation and analysis with my current passion for helping therapists!)
Since this costs literally pennies to run, it seemed reasonable to simply offer this for free. Sign up, have your first report generated a few seconds later, and then get an email each week with your updated report. That's it. Therapists have given us so much this past year with Quill, so it feels good to give back a tiny bit!
And this will evolve over time -- so if you've got ideas, other data points or charts or graphs you want to see, etc., let me know! I want to hear your thoughts.
Jon
PS -- Here's my announcement on LinkedIn, if you want to weigh in with your thoughts!
