How the Therapy Index works
The sources, the searches, the scoring weights and the rules for who is ranked. Everything on this page is read from the same settings the index runs on.
Where the data comes from
- Google Maps. The first 100 results for each tracked search, for the city.
- Google search. The first page of results for each tracked search, with the city and state added. The top 6 website results are kept and tagged as a local practice, a directory or other.
- ChatGPT and Claude. The same 3 questions are put to each assistant with web search on (gpt-5.6-luna and claude-sonnet-5-5). A practice is counted when its name or website appears in an answer.
- Lighthouse. A speed and access check of the home page on a phone, run on up to 40 practice sites per city. It is shown on profiles and does not change the score.
- DataForSEO. The data service the searches, AI questions and Lighthouse checks are collected through.
Searches we track
Every city gets the same searches.
General
Therapist, Counselor, Psychologist
Anxiety & depression
Anxiety therapist, Depression therapist
Couples & family
Couples counseling, Marriage counselor
Trauma & grief
Trauma therapist, EMDR therapist, Grief counseling
Children
Child therapist
Questions put to ChatGPT and Claude
- Who is the best therapist in the city, state?
- Recommend an anxiety therapist in the city, state
- Best couples counselor in the city, state
How the score is worked out
Each practice gets one number from 0 to 100. The best practice in a city is 100 and everyone else is measured against it.
Step 1: activity points. A practice earns points for every search it appears in, and for every AI answer that names it.
| What is counted | Points |
|---|---|
| Google Maps position #1 (the map pack), per search | 10 |
| Google Maps position #2 (the map pack), per search | 8 |
| Google Maps position #3 (the map pack), per search | 6 |
| Google Maps positions #4 to #10, per search | 1 |
| Google search position #1, per search | 4 |
| Google search position #2, per search | 3 |
| Google search position #3, per search | 2.5 |
| Google search position #4, per search | 2 |
| Google search position #5, per search | 1.5 |
| Google search position #6, per search | 1 |
| Each ChatGPT or Claude answer that names the practice (up to 12 points in all) | 3 |
Step 2: scale. Activity is divided by the best activity in the city, so the leader is 1 and the rest are a fraction of it. Review strength is the log of a practice's review count divided by the log of the highest review count among ranked practices, so the first reviews count for more than the hundredth.
Step 3: blend. The score is 75% activity and 25% review strength, then scaled so the best practice is 100. Map position is the main driver. Scores under 5 are shown as "Low visibility".
Eligibility
- 10 or more Google reviews to take a rank, a top-10 place or the leader slot. A practice with fewer is still listed, with its real score and a "Few reviews" label.
- National chains and networks are listed and labelled but not ranked against independent practices.
- Medical clinics (interventional psychiatry such as ketamine or TMS, and psychiatry-only practices) are listed and labelled but not ranked against therapy practices.
- Nonprofit and community organisations are listed and labelled but not ranked against private practices.
- Directories such as Psychology Today and Zocdoc are measured in the website results but are not scored as practices.
- Not counted at all: listings whose Google category is not mental health, such as massage, physical therapy or coaching.
How you can use this data
You're welcome to cite or reference the Therapy Index in articles, research or presentations, as long as you credit wwisermind and link to wwisermind.com/therapyindex/. Please don't republish the full dataset. Practice ratings and review counts come from public Google data and belong to their original sources.
Asking to be removed
Email [email protected] with the practice name and city and we will take it out of the index. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we will check it.