A website for psychologists and therapists is the site that lets someone in distress check who you are, see what you treat, find out what a session costs and ask for a first appointment without having to describe their problems in a form. On 38 Italian psychologists' and therapy centres' homepages that Google shows for "psicologo" in Milan, Rome and Turin, only 8 show a registration number in the text and only 3 state a price per session (Visilay survey, 12 November 2026).
Someone looking for a therapist is deciding who to tell about their anxiety, their grief, their relationship falling apart. Before they get in touch, they check. On the homepages we read, three mistakes kept coming back:
- you can't tell whether the practitioner is registered: 30 homepages out of 38 show no registration number, and only 2 link to the professional body;
- you can't tell what it costs: 29 out of 38 never mention fees, and those that do often point to a professional fee guide rather than their own price;
- you can't tell what they treat: 10 out of 38 don't link to a single page about a problem (anxiety, panic, couples, grief, teenagers).
We don't work with a therapy practice. We do work with a company that lives on enquiries coming through its website. Macropix builds custom LED walls: Google Ads has brought it 2,906 enquiries since 2018, at €39.44 each in 2025. Every enquiry starts on a page that says what you get, what it costs and how to ask.
What does that have to do with a therapist?
In the UK, a click on "website for therapists" costs $5.80 on average and "therapist website design" $10.19 (DataForSEO, Google Ads United Kingdom, 12 November 2026). In Italy, "psicologo milano" costs $10.89 a click. The people searching for a therapist are expensive to reach. If that click lands on a homepage that doesn't say who you are or what you charge, you've paid for nothing.
In this guide you'll find:
- what the therapists' sites on page one actually contain, with the full table;
- whether a directory profile is enough;
- the pages you need and what the rules let you say;
- a contact form that collects no health data, booking, and what the site costs.
Let's start with the data.
What therapists' websites on page one contain (38 homepages in Milan, Rome and Turin)
The typical therapist site on page one has a blog, but four in five don't show a registration number and three in four don't mention fees. Method: three Google desktop searches from Italy ("psicologo milano", "psicologo roma", "psicologo torino"), every psychologist or therapy centre site in the organic results, the "Related websites" block and the AI Overview sources, excluding directories, platforms, general clinics and one national network. That gave 43 sites; 5 could not be read, so the base is 38: 14 in Milan, 14 in Rome, 10 in Turin.
| What we looked for on the homepage | Sites | Out of 38 |
|---|---|---|
| Shows a registration number | 8 | 21% |
| Links to the professional body (national or regional) | 2 | 5% |
| Mentions fees, prices or costs | 9 | 24% |
| States its own price per session in euros | 3 | 8% |
| Offers a free first session | 6 | 16% |
| Mentions online or video sessions | 13 | 34% |
| Links to at least 3 pages on different problems | 13 | 34% |
| Links to no page about a problem | 10 | 26% |
| Links to a blog or articles section | 19 | 50% |
| Shows reviews or testimonials | 12 | 32% |
| Mentions informed consent | 1 | 3% |
The blog is there on 19 sites out of 38, the registration number on 8. Many practices have invested in articles before the information people need to choose. An article on anxiety brings someone to the site. It's the "about me" page with a verifiable registration that makes them write.
The most complete site we read is in Milan. jacopobiraschi.com shows its regional registration with the number, the price of an individual session (€98, 50 minutes) and a couples session (€148), a free first meeting and online sessions. It answers the first two questions above; not the third, because the homepage doesn't link to pages on the problems it treats.
In Milan, the top three Google profiles have 524, 505 and 98 reviews, rated between 4.8 and 5.0. When the stars are equal, people open the website. The steps for the profile are in our guide to the Google Business Profile for practitioners.
Is a Psychology Today or platform profile enough? (the search results belong to directories)
A directory profile gets you found by people who use that directory; your own website gets you found by people searching "therapist" plus a town or a problem, and gets you chosen by people who already have your name. You need both, for different jobs.
The UK results show it. On "website for therapists", Google's mobile results mix design galleries with Harley Therapy, Psychology Today, HelloSelf, My Therapist Online and Mental Health Match, all places to find a therapist rather than build a site. "BACP Therapist Directory" and "Counselling directory" sit in the related searches. In Italy the AI Overview for "sito web per psicologi" lists seven services in a row. Directories win generic searches, as we measured in our guide to SEO for therapists.
So is the website pointless?
No. The same Italian results show a "Related websites" block with 10 practices in Milan, 9 in Rome and 8 in Turin: their own sites, not profiles. And people who find you on a directory often search your name on Google next. If they find a page with your registration, your fee and a way to book, the decision is made. If they only find the directory profile, they book there, on its terms.
The pages a therapy practice needs (and what to put on them)
A therapist's website needs six pages: home, about, one page per problem you treat, how the first session works, online sessions if you offer them, and contact. It's the structure ChatGPT suggests when a psychologist asks how to build her site (answer read with DataForSEO on 12 November 2026), and the one most homepages in our sample are missing.
- Home: who you are, where you see clients, who you help, how to get in touch. The town in the title and the first paragraph.
- About: training, therapy qualification, the register you're on and your registration number, with a link to the register search. In the UK, "practitioner psychologist" is a protected title under the HCPC, and counsellors often sit on the BACP register, which lists over 61,000 entries.
- One page per problem: anxiety and panic, couples, teenagers, grief, eating difficulties, only the ones you actually treat. 13 sites out of 38 link to at least three.
- How the first session works: length, what happens, what it costs, what to bring. It lowers the bar for someone who has never seen a therapist.
- Online sessions: tools, confidentiality, payment. 13 homepages out of 38 mention them.
- Contact: phone, email, address with map, hours, booking.
How to make these pages rank is in the SEO guide for the sector. Here what matters is what you're allowed to say on them.
What you can say on your website (fees yes, promises no)
Professional rules generally allow factual advertising: qualifications, specialisms, what the service involves and what it costs, as long as the message is accurate and measured. In Italy it's article 40 of the psychologists' code of ethics published by the CNOP, which explicitly mentions "il prezzo e i costi complessivi delle prestazioni" (the price and overall costs of services). In the UK, the ASA's advice on testimonials says marketers "must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial or endorsement used in a marketing communication is genuine".
So you can publish your fee.
And you should: in the Italian results for Turin, "Psicologo Torino prezzi" (prices) is a related search and "how much does a session cost?" a People Also Ask question. If you don't publish your price, a directory will: the Milan AI Overview answers with a €50 to €120 range taken from a directory and a local centre.
What doesn't belong on the site, using the examples ChatGPT itself lists as ones to avoid:
- promises of results: "I'll cure your anxiety in 5 sessions", "guaranteed results";
- unverifiable superlatives: "the best therapist in town";
- recognisable case stories, even indirectly;
- urgency or pressure: limited-time offers, "last places".
And reviews?
12 sites out of 38 show reviews or testimonials. A testimonial on your site is one you chose, and it describes someone's therapy: our advice is to leave reviews on your Google profile, without asking anyone for clinical details, and not to copy them onto the site. More on this in our guide to marketing for therapists.
A contact form that collects no health data (and where informed consent goes)
A therapist's contact form should ask only for a name, a way to reply and a preferred contact time: no "describe your problem" box. Every line about anxiety, a diagnosis or medication is health data you've collected before the professional relationship has even started.
Health data is special category data under UK GDPR, and the ICO's guidance on special category data is currently under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. In Italy, the Garante's 2019 clarification says health professionals don't need consent for processing "essential" to care. A web form that collects someone's story before the first session isn't needed for any treatment: it's just extra health data to protect.
The fix is simple:
- three fields: name, email or phone, when to call back;
- one line under the button: "To protect your privacy, please don't include information about your health here";
- a link to the privacy notice before sending;
- informed consent at the first session, not in the form.
Informed consent is a different thing. The Italian code (article 24) asks for "informazioni adeguate e comprensibili" (adequate, understandable information) at the start about the service, its aims and methods and the limits of confidentiality, and article 1 applies the same rules to remote sessions. Only 1 homepage out of 38 mentions informed consent. A "how the first session works" page that explains what you'll be asked to agree to, online too, answers a question clients have and almost nobody anticipates.
Does your website let people check your registration and book a first session?
A click from someone looking for a therapist can cost more than $10, and 30 homepages out of 38 in our sample show no registration number. Let's review yours together: about page, fees, problem pages, contact form and how readable it is for Google and AI answers.
Book a strategy callOnline booking: calendar, phone or directory (and what to measure)
The best booking option for a therapist is the one a client can use at 11pm, when they decide: an online calendar with first-session slots, or a short form with a promise to call back within a day. A phone number alone isn't enough, because people who hesitate rarely call.
In the body of the homepages in our sample, only one site links to online booking: ipnositorino.it, which sends people to its MioDottore profile. It's a minimum (menus and headers were only partly read), but almost nobody puts a "book" button in the middle of the page. A directory widget is convenient; the price is that the booking stays on the directory.
Whatever you choose, count every enquiry as a conversion: form sent, phone tapped, booking made. It's the only way to know whether the site brings clients or just visits, as we explain in why your website isn't generating leads. If you plan to send paid traffic to these pages, our Google Ads guide for therapists covers the mental health rules, and the article on lead generation for psychologists how to turn visits into qualified enquiries.
How your website decides whether ChatGPT and AI Overviews mention you
AI answers name a therapist when they find the same clear, verifiable information in several places: name, town, registration, problems treated, reviews. In the Italian AI Overviews we read, practices with a site that says exactly what they do appear next to the platforms: Polo Milanese di Psicologia, Centro di Psicologia Clinica Buonarroti, and in Turin a practice cited through its Google profile.
When we ask ChatGPT how to build the site, it cites the CNOP, two regional professional bodies and the data protection authority. AI answers in this sector lean on institutional sources: a site that links to its own register speaks the same language.
Google says it plainly in its guide to helpful, reliable content: on topics that affect health it gives "even more weight" to content with strong experience, expertise and trustworthiness, and "trust is most important".
Nobody can promise a citation; a site with a verifiable registration and the same details as your Google profile is the starting point. More in our guide to local AI visibility and on our GEO service page.
How much a website for therapists costs (and what a client is worth)
A therapist's website costs from a few hundred euros with a DIY builder to a few thousand with a professional. Two public Italian reference points read on 12 November 2026: a web designer who works with psychologists quotes a price "da 2500 €" (from €2,500), payable in three instalments; a web agency's FAQ puts a site for professionals and local businesses at €300 to €3,000 depending on features and SEO.
A lot or a little?
It depends on what a client is worth. If a session costs €70 and a course of therapy runs to 10 sessions, a client is worth €700. Two extra clients a year from the site pay back even the higher figure. The full breakdown is in our guide to website costs.
What drives the price isn't the design: it's the copy on the problem pages and the first-session page, and the technical work that gets them found, as we explain in how to build an SEO-friendly website. For medical practices the choices are similar but the rules differ: see websites for doctors. If you'd like us to handle it, here's how we work on web development.
Frequently asked questions
It depends: to be found by people using the directory, the profile is enough; to be chosen by people searching your name, it isn't. In the Italian results for three cities, the "Related websites" block showed 27 practices with their own site, not profiles.
Yes. Professional rules allow factual advertising about what a service costs: in Italy the psychologists' code says so explicitly in article 40. In our sample only 3 homepages out of 38 state their own price per session.
Yes. It's the quickest way to be checked. Put your register, registration number and a link to the register search on your about page. Only 8 homepages out of 38 in our sample do.
No, it's better not to. Name, a way to reply and a preferred time are enough: someone's story is health data you don't need before the first session, where you also explain informed consent.
It depends: Google reviews are written by the client, a testimonial on your site is chosen by you and describes someone's therapy. In the UK the ASA also requires evidence that a testimonial is genuine. Our advice is to keep reviews on your Google profile.
It depends on pages, copy and features. As public Italian reference points read in November 2026, a web designer who works with psychologists quotes from €2,500 and a web agency gives a range of €300 to €3,000 for professionals' sites.
Therapist websites in short (and a test to do today)
Your register and number, with a link, on the "about" page.
Your session fee, published before anyone has to ask.
One page for each problem you actually treat.
A three-field form, with no health data.
Informed consent explained before the first session, online too.
The test takes two minutes: search your own name on Google from your phone, the way someone who found you on a directory would. If the first result is your directory profile and not your website, that client will book there. The website is what makes sure that when someone searches for you by name, they find you.
