Google reviews are no longer optional.
If you want your practice to show up on Google, get AI chatbots to recommend your practice, or compete in an increasingly competitive industry, Google reviews are a must.
If you care about search engine optimization (SEO), Google reviews are essential. If you want a thriving practice, you need dozens (or more) Google reviews. Unfortunately, therapists don’t play by the same rules as most businesses.
A restaurant can simply ask every customer to leave a review. A plumber can send an automated text after every job. A retail store can put a giant sign by the register that says, “Leave us a Google Review.” Therapists have to navigate a very different set of ethical considerations.
As the founder of a digital marketing agency that specializes exclusively in mental health professionals, I have this conversation almost every week.
Can Therapists Ask Clients for Google Reviews?
The answer is both a gray area… and it’s not.
Most professional licensing boards and ethics codes discourage or prohibit therapists from directly soliciting testimonials from current or former clients. This is to protect the therapeutic relationship and avoiding the power imbalance that naturally exists between therapist and client.
At the same time, it’s no secret that many therapists still choose to ask clients for Google reviews.
Talkspace, ZocDoc, and many other big tech companies have review systems.
Does that mean it’s OK to ask clients for reviews?
Not necessarily.
It simply means there is often a difference between what happens in practice and what professional ethics guidelines recommend. In this article, we’ll talk about both.
We’ll look at what the ethics codes actually say, why Google reviews have become so important for therapists, and several practical ways to build more Google reviews without relying on client testimonials.
Key Facts About Google Reviews For Therapists
- Google business reviews are one of the strongest local SEO signals for therapist websites.
- Reviews can influence whether prospective clients choose to contact your practice.
- Most therapist ethics codes and licensing boards discourage or prohibit directly soliciting testimonials from current or former clients.
- Clients can leave reviews voluntarily, but therapists should understand the ethical and legal implications before asking for them.
- There are many effective ways to build Google reviews without relying on therapy clients.
- A consistent, long-term review strategy is almost always better than trying to collect a large number of reviews all at once.
Why Google Reviews Matter
Google reviews have always been important for local SEO. Today, they’re even more important.
When someone searches for phrases like “therapist near me,” “EMDR therapist,” or “anxiety counselor,” Google looks at hundreds of different signals to decide which practices to show. Reviews are one of those signals.
While Google has never published its exact ranking formula, years of local SEO research consistently show that the number of reviews, the quality of reviews, and how recently those reviews were posted can all influence local search visibility.
Reviews Play an Important Role After Someone Finds Your Practice Online.
Imagine you’re looking for a therapist in a city you’ve never lived in before. You search Google Maps and see three practices. One has 6 reviews. One has 28 reviews. One has 146. Even before you visit their websites, you’ve already started forming an opinion. That’s simply how people make decisions online.
Reviews provide something your own website can’t. They offer social proof from other people who have interacted with your practice.
Sometimes those reviews come from clients. Other times, they come from referral partners, workshop attendees, community organizations, or professional colleagues. Either way, they help prospective clients feel more confident taking the next step.
Google Reviews are Essential in the AI-powered Search Era
Large language models and AI search tools are increasingly looking beyond your website when evaluating businesses. Reviews, online reputation, citations, and mentions across the web all help establish trust and authority.
In other words, reviews aren’t just helping people decide whether to contact your practice. They’re helping search engines decide whether your practice deserves to be recommended in the first place.
Can Therapists Ask Clients for Google Reviews?
This is probably the most debated topic in therapist marketing.
Ask ten therapists whether it’s okay to ask clients for Google reviews and you’ll likely hear ten different opinions.
Some therapists won’t even consider it. Others have no problem asking former clients after therapy has ended. Many acknowledge that it may technically violate their professional ethics code but point out that therapists ask clients for reviews every day without ever facing disciplinary action.
That’s exactly what makes this such a difficult topic.
The reality is that this conversation exists on two different levels. One is what the ethics codes say. The other is what therapists actually do in practice. Let’s look at both.
The Argument FOR Asking Clients
The biggest argument for asking clients is simple … there is no substitute for hearing directly from someone whose life has been positively impacted by therapy.
A colleague can speak to your professionalism. A physician can speak to the quality of your referrals. A workshop attendee can speak to your expertise. But only a client can describe what it was actually like to work with you and the impact therapy had on their life.
That’s why client reviews are often the most persuasive reviews a therapist can have.
- Some therapists also argue that clients are adults who are capable of making their own decisions. If someone voluntarily wants to share their experience publicly, they believe that person should have the right to do so.
- Others point out that thousands of therapy practices have accumulated client reviews over many years without ever receiving a complaint from their licensing boards.
From their perspective, the practical risk appears to be relatively low, even if the ethics guidance is more conservative. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right decision. It simply helps explain why this conversation continues to be so divided.
The Argument AGAINST Asking Clients
Most major professional organizations take a much more cautious approach. While the wording differs between professions, the underlying concern is remarkably consistent.
Therapists hold a position of trust and influence. Because of that relationship, a client may feel pressure to agree to a request even when no pressure is intended.
That’s why many ethics codes discourage or prohibit soliciting testimonials from current clients, and some extend that guidance to former clients as well.
The concern isn’t that clients are incapable of making their own choices. The concern is that therapy is fundamentally different than most other professional relationships. Protecting the therapeutic relationship takes priority over marketing.
If you’d like to review the ethics codes yourself, here are the primary sources for several major mental health professions:
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Code of Ethics
- American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics
- American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Principles
- National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics
It’s also worth remembering that your state licensing board may have additional rules or guidance beyond your professional association’s code of ethics. If you’re considering asking clients for Google reviews, it’s worth reviewing the guidance that applies specifically to your license and state.
How to Get Client Reviews Without Asking Clients
Because this is such a gray area, many therapists look for ways to increase the visibility of their Google Business Profile without directly soliciting client reviews. Common approaches include:
- Adding a “Find Us on Google” link to their website or contact page without directly asking for a review.
- Including their Google Business Profile alongside social media links in email signatures or other marketing materials.
- Displaying a QR code in their office that links to their Google Business Profile while avoiding language like “Leave us a review.”
- Focusing exclusively on reviews from referral partners, professional colleagues, workshop hosts, former interns, and community organizations instead of clients.
- Asking former clients for reviews only after therapy has ended because they believe the therapeutic relationship has concluded.
Whether any of these approaches aligns with your ethics code and your own comfort level is ultimately a decision you’ll need to make for yourself. The important thing is making an informed decision rather than simply doing what everyone else seems to be doing.
7 Ethical Ways to Get More Google Reviews
Regardless of where you land on the client review debate, there are plenty of other ways to build a strong collection of Google reviews … namely, by asking people who aren’t clients.
While these reviews may not resonate with prospective clients quite as much as a genuine client success story, they still serve an important purpose. They increase your Google review count, strengthen your local SEO, help establish authority with AI search engines, and show Google that your practice is active, credible, and trusted by other professionals.
Here are seven of the best places to start.
1. Ask Friends and Family
Don’t overlook the people who already know and believe in you.
Friends and family may not have experienced your therapy services firsthand, but they have experienced you as a person. They can speak honestly about your character, professionalism, compassion, communication style, and dedication to helping others.
For a brand-new practice, this is often the easiest and fastest way to build your first handful of Google reviews.
2. Ask Referral Partners
Think about the professionals who regularly refer clients to your practice or collaborate with you on patient care. This might include physicians, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, attorneys, school counselors, dietitians, occupational therapists, or other therapists.
These professionals have firsthand experience working with you. They can speak honestly about your communication, professionalism, responsiveness, and what it’s like to collaborate with your practice. A simple, personal email is often all it takes.
3. Ask Professional Colleagues
Don’t overlook the therapists and other professionals you already know.
Consultation groups, mastermind groups, networking organizations, former coworkers, and colleagues you’ve built relationships with over the years can all provide thoughtful reviews based on their professional experience with you.
Because they already know your work, these reviews often feel natural and authentic while helping establish credibility with prospective clients.
4. Ask After Speaking Engagements
Have you presented at a conference? Taught a CEU? Spoken at a school, church, community organization, or networking event? Appeared on a podcast?
Those are all legitimate opportunities to earn Google reviews.
The people attending your presentation aren’t reviewing therapy. They’re reviewing the value you provided as a speaker or educator. Likewise, the organization that invited you can often speak to your professionalism, preparation, and expertise.
5. Ask Former Interns and Employees
Former interns, practicum students, and employees can often provide meaningful reviews about your practice because they’ve experienced your leadership, supervision, office culture, and professionalism firsthand.
Many therapists choose to wait until the internship or employment relationship has ended before asking for a review. That helps avoid many of the same concerns around power dynamics that exist within the therapeutic relationship.
6. Ask Community Partners
You may volunteer with nonprofits, partner with local schools, participate in mental health events, serve on community boards, or collaborate with other organizations throughout the year. Those relationships can become Google reviews.
Community partners can often speak to your professionalism, reliability, and commitment to improving mental health in your community. Those reviews help build trust with prospective clients while strengthening your online reputation.
7. Trade Google Reviews With Other Therapists
One of the easiest ways to get reviews is by connecting with other therapists who understand the importance of marketing and supporting one another’s businesses.
If you’re looking for a free place to do that, please join the Thriving Therapist Collective (for free!). It’s a community where therapists can meet one another, build genuine professional relationships, and exchange honest Google reviews based on those interactions.
What Should Someone Write in a Google Review?
Whether you’re asking a referral partner, colleague, or another therapist, the best Google reviews all have a few things in common.
- They should be authentic. The reviewer should only write about experiences they’ve actually had working with you professionally. They should never imply they were a therapy client if they weren’t.
- Encourage reviewers to be specific. Instead of writing, “Great therapist!” they might mention that you’re an EMDR therapist, couples therapist, or child therapist if that’s genuinely how they know your work. Those details make the review more helpful for prospective clients while also reinforcing the services your practice provides.
- Include a photo. Snap a photo of your office using your cell phone and send it to the person writing the review. The photo will have your address in the meta data, which Google will read and verify that you are where you say you are. This is a hidden SEO goldmine.
Create a System … Not a One-Time Campaign
One mistake I see therapists make is treating Google reviews like a one-time project instead of an ongoing part of their marketing. They’ll ask ten people for reviews over the course of a week, then not think about Google reviews again for another year.
A better approach is to build review opportunities into your normal business activities. Google has confirmed that both the number of reviews and the overall review rating influence local search visibility, while local SEO research has consistently shown that review recency also plays an important role. In other words, a steady stream of authentic reviews over time is generally more valuable than a large spike followed by months of inactivity.
Rather than treating reviews like an annual marketing campaign, build them into your normal workflow. Every speaking engagement, referral partnership, community event, or professional collaboration becomes another opportunity to earn an authentic review and gradually strengthen your online reputation.
Get More Google Reviews … Join the Thriving Therapist Collective
If getting Google reviews has felt harder than it should be, you’re not alone.
It’s one of the biggest marketing challenges I see therapists struggle with. That’s exactly why I created the Thriving Therapist Collective.
One of the most popular features is our Google Business Review Exchange, where therapists can connect with one another, build professional relationships, and exchange honest Google reviews. But that’s just the beginning.
Inside the Collective, you’ll also be able to:
- Trade website backlinks to improve your SEO.
- Exchange Psychology Today endorsements.
- Build Yelp reviews.
- Connect with therapists across the country.
- Find podcast guests, speaking opportunities, and referral partners.
- Learn what’s actually working in therapist marketing today.
If you’re looking for practical, ethical ways to grow your private practice … I’d love to have you join us.
