Who does local SEO and Google Business Profile work for counselors?

The work is the same whoever does it. The profile needs the right categories, current hours and services, real photos, the same name, address and phone as your website, regular posts, and a careful reply to each review. What changes is the cost, who touches your profile, and who approves what goes out under your name.

Two rules hold whichever you choose. Google's Business Profile third-party policies say the business must keep ownership of its profile and must give explicit approval before anyone replies to a review for it. And your ethics code still governs what a helper does for you, including the bar on asking clients for testimonials.

The profile itself costs nothing. Google's third-party policies require any paid manager to tell clients that "Business Profile is a service provided at no extra cost." What you pay for is someone's time.

For paid help, Ahrefs polled 439 SEO service providers (page updated August 15, 2024) and found agencies charge $3,209 a month on average. That average covers SEO in general, not the profile alone.

Set side by side, the four differ less in the work than in who signs off. Ahrefs' poll of 439 SEO providers puts agencies at $3,209 a month on average. Google's third-party policies require a freelancer or an agency to leave you the owner and get your explicit approval before any review reply. WebsiteTherapy includes Google Business Profile upkeep on both plans from $99 a month, with posts and review replies drafted for you to approve and post, never posted for you, and no review requests.

Doing it yourself costs time, not money. The setup is the long part. After that, the profile mostly needs a regular check so it does not drift: hours change for a holiday, a new service starts, a clinician joins or leaves. Google's help page on editing your Business Profile says people who do not own or manage a profile can suggest an edit to it, so check for changes you did not make.

A simple monthly check covers most of it:

• Hours, including holiday hours, match what you actually offer.
• Services and categories match your website's service pages.
• Your name, address, phone and website link are unchanged (and identical to your website).
• Any edits Google shows as suggested by others are accepted or rejected on purpose.
• New reviews have a reply that never confirms the reviewer is a client.
• One post went up this month.

This fits when you like doing the work and will put the check on your calendar. It stops working the month the check gets skipped.

A freelancer is one person doing the same checklist for you. Rates vary widely, so agree the monthly price and exactly what it covers in writing before you grant access.

The risk with one person is what happens when they move on. Give a freelancer manager access to your profile, never ownership. Google's policies say businesses "have the right to determine whether a partner should have a Co-Owner, Manager, or no access at all." A manager can do the work; an owner can lock you out.

An agency puts a team on your profile, usually as part of wider SEO work. For that wider work, Ahrefs found agencies charge $3,209 a month on average.

Agencies that manage many profiles use organization accounts. Google's help page on managing agency organizations says these accounts are "designed for third parties who are responsible for managing locations on behalf of business owners," and that "Organization accounts can only manage a location after the location grants permission to the organization." In practice, the agency never needs your profile itself. You grant access, and you can take it back.

Ask an agency which account will hold your profile, who on the team writes your posts and replies, and what you see before anything goes out.

Some website platforms for therapists include Google Business Profile upkeep in the monthly plan, beside the website itself. The appeal is one bill and one place where your hours, services and phone are kept in step with your site.

The plan name tells you little. Ask three questions before you sign:

1. Is the profile included, or only the website? Get the answer in writing.
2. Does anything post to Google without you? Posts and replies should wait for your approval.
3. Does the vendor contact your clients for reviews? If yes, read the ethics section below first.

Google publishes policies for anyone who manages a Business Profile for someone else. They make a ready checklist for a freelancer, an agency or a platform. The figure below shows the order of things; the list after it gives Google's words.

1. You stay the owner. Google: "all end customers must retain ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times." Its setup advice for partners is to "make the business owner the owner of the profile."
2. Access is granted, not handed over. An organization account can manage your profile only after you grant permission. Grant manager access where that is enough.
3. Consent is on the record. Google says consent can be written or a positive action, and "Verbal consent isn't sufficient." Keep the email where you said yes.
4. Review replies wait for you. "To respond to reviews on behalf of the end customer, you must have an explicit approval." Ask to see every reply before it is posted.
5. You can leave on short notice. Google gives a partner 7 business days from your notice to let you disassociate their account from your profile. Ask how they handle it before you need it.
6. No one guarantees a ranking. Google lists "Guarantees top placement on Google" among false or misleading claims, and its page on improving your local ranking says "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." A promised position is a reason to walk away.
7. The fee is for the work, not the profile. A paid manager must tell you the profile itself comes at no extra cost.

Reviews are where a helper's habits from other industries can cross your ethics code. The ACA Code of Ethics (2014) says otherwise. Standard C.3.b reads: "Counselors who use testimonials do not solicit them from current clients, former clients, or any other persons who may be vulnerable to undue influence." A helper who sends review requests to your clients is doing on your behalf what the code says you do not do. Psychologists, marriage and family therapists and social workers have similar standards in their own codes; our guide to Google reviews for therapists sets them out.

The same code covers what a hired writer says about you. Standard C.3.c: "When feasible, counselors make reasonable efforts to ensure that statements made by others about them or about the counseling profession are accurate." A post that promises results, or a credential you do not hold, is still your statement once it is on your profile. Read before you approve.

Review replies carry their own risk. A reply that thanks a reviewer for their sessions tells the world that person was in therapy with you. A safe reply never confirms, denies or implies that the reviewer is a client. Our online reputation management guide for therapists has reply wording that holds to that.

Federal law adds a floor under all of this. The FTC's Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials prohibits, among other things, selling or purchasing fake reviews, buying positive or negative reviews, and certain review suppression practices. A vendor offering any of these is offering you a legal problem.

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and popularity. Distance is out of your hands; a complete, accurate profile is the part you control. Whoever you hire, this is the work you are paying for:

• Claim and verify the profile at business.google.com, in the practice's name, with you as owner. If Google already created a listing for you, claim it rather than making a second one.
• Use your real business name. A name with keywords added ("Best Anxiety Therapist Austin") breaks Google's guidelines for representing your business, which say extra information in the name "could result in the suspension of your Business Profile."
• Pick the most specific primary category for your license and main work, the one that names your license rather than a broad health category, then add secondary categories only for services you actually offer.
• Write a plain description: who you are, your license, what you treat, who you see, where, and whether you offer telehealth. No promotional language and no keyword lists.
• Add real photos: a headshot, the office entrance, the waiting room and a therapy room with no clients in the picture. No stock photos.
• Keep name, address and phone identical on your website, the profile and every directory you appear in, down to "Suite" or "Ste."
• Post regularly: availability, a new service, a blog article, an event. Nothing about a client, even anonymized, and nothing that reads as medical advice.
• Reply to reviews without confirming the reviewer is a client, or choose not to reply.
• Handle a suspension: Google's page on fixing suspended profiles says to fix whatever does not match its guidelines, offers evidence such as a business license, business registration or a utility bill to strengthen the appeal, sends appeals through its appeals tool, and says "Do not create a new Business Profile for the same business."

For telehealth-only practices: Google's page on service-area businesses says that if you do not serve customers at your business address, you remove the address from your profile. List a service area rather than a street address no client visits.

The profile is one part of local search. Your website's service pages, location pages and blog do the rest; our complete guide to SEO for therapists covers that side.

Start from your time and how much of the work you want to see, not from the price. If you like the work and will keep a monthly check, do it yourself. If you want one person on it, hire a freelancer as a manager, never as the owner. If you have several clinicians or locations and a budget near the agency average, an agency's organization account is built for that. If you want the profile kept up as part of your website's monthly plan, ask a platform the three questions above. In every case, run the Google checklist and keep the approvals with you.

WebsiteTherapy is a platform of that fourth kind, and Google Business Profile upkeep comes with both plans: Growth at $99 a month, where you make changes yourself through the assistant, and Concierge at $199 a month, where Lee, our founder, takes on your requests personally. Every month we check your profile's categories, services and hours, and draft a Google post. You approve it and post it to your profile; we never post for you. For any Google review, good or bad, your assistant drafts a reply that never confirms, denies or implies the reviewer is a client. You approve it before it is posted. We never ask your clients for reviews. We don't run a listings-sync service for other directories; other profiles, such as Yelp or Psychology Today, are yours to keep in step.

Our SEO for therapists page sets out the rest of the search work we do, and pricing lists both plans, with no setup fee and no contract. Whichever option you pick, the profile stays yours.

• Google Business Profile Help: Business Profile third-party policies
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage agency organizations
• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Fix suspended or disabled profiles
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your service areas for service-area and hybrid businesses
• Google Business Profile Help: Edit your Business Profile
• Google Business Profile Help: Add or claim your Business Profile
• Ahrefs: SEO pricing (updated August 15, 2024; 439 providers polled)
• American Counseling Association: ACA Code of Ethics (2014), Standards C.3.b and C.3.c
• Federal Trade Commission: Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465), final rule