Industry · Psychotherapy, Heilpraktiker practice, occupational therapy and speech therapy
SEO for therapists and Heilpraktiker: The answers people need before the first call
SEO for therapists means that your website and your Google profile answer the questions someone wants settled before they pick up the phone: what you are, who pays for the sessions, when a slot is free and how discreet the contact stays. Which answers you are allowed to give depends on your title: Approbation (the German state licence to practise), a Heilpraktiker permit (Heilpraktiker is a German non-medical practitioner) or a regulated allied health profession. This page is about the rules that apply to practices in Germany. Only after that come pages on methods and focus areas, and those describe rather than promise. As an SEO audit from €600, at an hourly rate of €50 or as ongoing support from €500 / month, cancellable monthly.
The essentials in brief
- Only someone with Approbation may call themselves “Psychotherapeutin” or “Psychotherapeut”; for the Heilpraktiker permit restricted to psychotherapy there is no legally defined title. The correct title goes in the page title, the Google profile and the legal notice.
- Cost reimbursement through statutory health insurance is only an option for psychotherapy by licensed psychotherapists with recognised specialist training. A Heilpraktiker cost page does without that word.
- Intake status, waiting list and phone hours belong visibly on the homepage, otherwise visibility mainly produces refusals. Method and focus pages name the process and the qualification, not effects and not guaranteed success.
- I do SEO, that is website and Google profile, no ads and no directories. I have not yet published a therapy practice as a case study; there are no guarantees. Physiotherapy practices have their own page under SEO for physiotherapists.
Psychotherapist, Heilpraktiker for psychotherapy or Heilpraktiker: Your title determines what the cost page may say
On many practice websites the cost page is the most important page and the one that most often claims something wrong. Someone looking for help for the first time does not want to have to ask on the phone whether you hold a statutory insurance seat (Kassensitz) and what a session costs. What may stand on this page is decided by your title.
Anyone who wants to practise psychotherapy under the professional title “Psychotherapeutin” or “Psychotherapeut” needs Approbation under § 1 PsychThG, the German Psychotherapists Act; the Act at the same time separates psychotherapy from working through social conflicts and other purposes outside the practice of medicine, and that is where SEO for coaches begins. Practising medicine without Approbation requires a permit under § 1 HeilprG, the German Heilpraktiker Act; the Federal Administrative Court ruled in 1993 that a Heilpraktiker permit restricted to psychotherapy is permissible (BVerwG, 3 C 34.90, German). There is no legally defined title for this permit; “Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie” is common, and in a 2011 decision the Higher Administrative Court of Lower Saxony expressed considerable doubt that this title violates the Heilpraktiker Act. Which title your public health office recommends is something you settle there; “Psychotherapeut” on its own remains reserved for Approbation, and misleading statements about your own qualification are prohibited by § 3 HWG, the German Health Advertising Act, and § 5 UWG, the German Unfair Competition Act. According to the Research Service of the German Bundestag (German), “Psychologin” has no legal definition, but the word can still be misleading; the team page only gets what the degree supports.
The payment route follows from the title. With a statutory insurance seat, the insurer pays, first contact runs through the psychotherapeutic consultation hour, and the appointment service centre (Terminservicestelle) of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians arranges a consultation appointment under § 75 para. 1a SGB V, Book V of the German Social Code, with a wait of at most four weeks. In a private practice, clients pay themselves or through their private insurance depending on the policy. Cost reimbursement by statutory health insurance under § 13 para. 3 SGB V is only possible for psychotherapy if the practitioner meets the requirements of § 95c SGB V, that is Approbation and proof of specialist training in a method recognised by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) (completed further training or, with Approbation under the old law, in-depth training), and the insurer was unable to offer a treatment slot in time. For Heilpraktiker this route does not exist according to the wording; their cost page does without the word “Kostenerstattung” (cost reimbursement) and says that clients pay themselves and ask their private insurer. How the application for cost reimbursement works is explained in the patient information of your chamber; you link there instead of explaining it yourself.
For the website this means: The title appears exactly like that in the page title, the heading, the Google profile and the legal notice. The cost page names the routes that match your title and, for self-pay fees, the amount a client pays per session. I write these texts as SEO texts based on your information; approval and review with your chamber or lawyer stay with you.
Waiting list, free slots, video appointments: What belongs on the homepage before anyone writes
The most honest line on a therapy website is the intake status. According to an analysis by the German Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists (German) based on 2019 billing data of statutorily insured patients, an average of around 142 days passed between the first consultation and the start of therapy. A homepage that says, with status and date, whether you are taking on clients and roughly how long the waiting list is spares both sides the phone call that ends with “unfortunately not”. A statutory practice with a full list refers people to the appointment service centre of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians instead; that is more helpful than a form that collects enquiries you have to turn down.
Read your homepage like someone looking for help for the first time: Does it say whether you hold a statutory insurance seat? Whether you are currently taking on clients? When someone answers the phone? The opening hours in the Google profile are the times you can actually be reached, not the session times; a practice that only picks up on Wednesdays between 12 and 1 pm writes exactly that, plus the route by which an enquiry reaches you best.
Video appointments are a case of their own. The model professional code of the German Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists (German) allows psychotherapy via communication media in § 5a only if personal contact is not required, initial diagnostics and indication are not carried out exclusively remotely, and a personal appointment is possible promptly when needed; what counts is the professional code of your state chamber. For advertising, § 9 HWG comes on top; in 2021 the Federal Court of Justice classified general advertising for comprehensive remote treatment as impermissible, it is only allowed where, according to recognised professional standards, no personal contact is needed (I ZR 146/20, German). Whether the exception, which speaks of medical contact, can be transferred to psychotherapists and Heilpraktiker is open. A “Video appointments” page therefore describes when video is possible with you and when it is not; it does not advertise “therapy completely online”. What stays in is checked by your chamber or lawyer.
Send me the link to your homepage when you book. I read it before the appointment like someone looking for help for the first time and tell you which of the four questions it answers and which it does not. 30 minutes by video, free of charge.
→ Have your homepage proofreadOne page per method and focus area, with qualification and without promises of success
Only once the homepage answers the four questions are pages on methods and focus areas worth it, and those describe what happens in the sessions, not what comes out of them: the process from the first consultation to the end, usual duration and frequency, who treats and with which degree. Diagnoses may appear as search terms, because that is how people search; the problem is the promise behind them. § 3 HWG prohibits attributing to a method an efficacy it does not have, and the impression that success can be expected with certainty.
For licensed psychotherapists the model professional code sets two limits in § 2: A method may only be added to the professional title if it was the subject of the in-depth training or the Approbation, and a “Tätigkeitsschwerpunkt” (area of professional focus) requires sustained activity and must be labelled exactly like that. So the page is called “Area of focus: anxiety disorders”, not “Anxiety specialist”. For methods with disputed effect, the Higher Regional Court of Hamm ruled in 2014, using kinesiology as the example, that the advertising must point to the dissenting scientific opinion and the advertiser must prove that their claims correspond to established scientific knowledge (4 U 57/13, German). Whether a method works is not for me to judge; which sentences stay in is decided by your association or lawyer.
One limit applies to certain focus areas regardless of title. Under § 12 para. 2 HWG, advertising for treatments outside professional circles may not refer to the diseases listed in the annex (German):
- addictive diseases, except nicotine dependence,
- malignant neoplasms,
- pathological complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period,
- notifiable infectious diseases.
Depression, anxiety and trauma are not in the annex; there § 3 applies. Focus pages on alcohol dependence, gambling addiction, psycho-oncological support or postpartum depression, on the other hand, touch the annex. Whether factual information by a licensed therapist falls under it is, as I read it, not decided, I have not found a ruling on it; I build such pages only after approval by your chamber or lawyer. Smoking cessation is not covered by § 12 thanks to the nicotine exception, but “smoke-free in one session” would still be a promise of success under § 3. A guide article gets its author with name, correct title and date, because Google, according to its documentation on helpful content, recommends author information and on health topics weights experience, expertise and trustworthiness even more heavily, without calling that a ranking factor of its own. The structure and technology of these pages are described under on-page optimisation.
Client testimonials, reviews, case examples: Confidentiality begins with the first enquiry
Even confirming that someone was a client gives something away. In § 8 the model professional code explicitly names the treatment relationships as subject to confidentiality, not just what is said in the sessions. For licensed psychotherapists and for professions with state-regulated training, confidentiality is backed by criminal law under § 203 StGB, the German Criminal Code; the section does not name Heilpraktiker, but for them the protection of health data under Art. 9 GDPR applies in any case. For the website it makes no difference.
The reply to a Google review therefore names no name, no reason and does not confirm that the person was with you, even if the review itself tells of it. According to the Hessisches Ärzteblatt (German medical journal), the Hessian data protection authority fined two medical practices €3,700 and €3,300 for 2024 because they had named patient names and treatment details in replies. A sentence like “As a rule I do not comment publicly on treatments, you can reach me by phone” says everything needed. I do not actively ask for reviews in a therapy practice; Google’s review policies (German) prohibit incentives and selectively asking for positive reviews anyway, and according to the Federal Court of Justice (German) a satisfaction email is advertising that, under the principles of § 7 UWG, generally requires consent. Providing a link to the profile is permitted according to Google’s help (German).
Client testimonials on the website are only prohibited under § 11 para. 1 HWG if they are abusive, repulsive or misleading; case histories additionally if they could lead to a false self-diagnosis. Confidentiality is the narrower limit: “Ms M. came to me with panic attacks” is a case history and a treatment relationship at the same time, and the model professional code permits anonymised information only for collegial consultation, intervision, supervision, research and teaching, not for advertising. Anyone who wants to show how a therapy runs uses a constructed example, labels it as such and leaves out the success at the end. If you show reviews on the website, § 5b UWG requires you to state whether and how you ensure their authenticity.
The Google profile of a therapy practice: Practice sign, address, category
The profile name is the practice sign, nothing more. The model professional code regulates in § 23 what goes on the sign and makes designations other than “Praxis” or “Berufsausübungsgemeinschaft” (joint practice) subject to approval; Google’s Business Profile guidelines (German) require the name without additions. “Praxis für Psychotherapie Muster – Angst & Trauma Berlin” violates Google’s rules and is at least questionable under the professional code; “Praxis für Psychotherapie Muster” is correct. Google names doctors, dentists and lawyers, among others, as professions with their own practitioner profile, therapists are not in the list; as I read it, the rule applies by analogy, and for the solo practice it stays at one profile.
A profile presupposes a practice that can be visited; anyone who works exclusively by video and has no rooms gets none under Google’s rules. For the category you choose the one that describes your activity most precisely, as a Heilpraktiker for psychotherapy in a way that creates no “psychotherapist” impression; that is my interpretation of the title question, not a Google text. Add to that real availability hours, the intake status as a post and a description without claims about effects. If you only need the profile and local search, the Local SEO consulting is the right place; here it is about website and profile together.
Contact form and first enquiry: Ask as little as possible
The form asks for name, callback number or email and a time window for the callback. Nothing more. A mandatory “Your concern” field forces people to type health data before they know you; instead, underneath it says: “Please do not enter any details about complaints in the form, we will discuss that in the first consultation.” In 2025 the German Data Protection Conference set the same standard for health practices in its position paper on appointment management services (German): only the data the appointment needs, reminders only with consent, always a second route alongside online booking. Whether Heilpraktiker practices are included is something the paper does not say; Art. 9 GDPR applies in any case.
Tracking and cookies require consent under § 25 TDDDG, the German Telecommunications and Digital Services Data Protection Act, unless they are strictly necessary. I therefore only evaluate with consent, and then per page, not per person. Open your form and count the mandatory fields; if there are more than three, it is too many. Text and field selection I build; form technology, privacy policy and contracts come from providers and your lawyer.
Occupational therapy, speech therapy, osteopathy: What is different here
In occupational therapy and speech therapy the first question is not asked by the client but by the prescribing doctor, in occupational therapy also by the psychotherapist. The professional titles require a permit under § 1 ErgThG (German Occupational Therapists Act) and § 1 LogopG (German Speech Therapists Act), treatment runs as a remedy on prescription, and in occupational therapy, according to the PraxisInfo of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (German), there has been the blanket prescription (Blankoverordnung) since April 2024, where the practice itself sets scope and frequency. The website therefore gets service pages per area that say which prescriptions you accept, whether slots are currently free and how the first appointment runs; the cost question remains only for self-payers. Confidentiality under § 203 StGB and the Health Advertising Act apply to both professions.
Osteopathy is the practice of medicine and may only be offered and advertised with a Heilpraktiker permit or a medical Approbation; the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf decided that in 2015 for a physiotherapist (I-20 U 236/13, German). With a general Heilpraktiker permit the service is yours to list, otherwise not. Everything that concerns physiotherapy practices is under SEO for physiotherapists; this page does not repeat it.
For a solo practice an audit is often enough: When ongoing support makes sense
A statutory practice with a full waiting list usually only needs an honest homepage; for that the SEO audit from €600 or SEO coaching at an hourly rate of €50 by video, no package, is enough. A private practice or a solo Heilpraktiker starts with the audit: I check title, cost page, intake status, profile, form and technology on the phone and write down what is missing and in which order; you can implement it yourself, in coaching, where we work on your site together live, or at the hourly rate of €50 through me. A practice with several practitioners, several focus areas, a video offer, a second location or an occupational or speech therapy team takes ongoing support from €500 / month, cancellable monthly: profile, all page types from above, structured data, technology, on request support during a relaunch or migration of the website, and one report a month in everyday language. Exclusivity, for example one practice per town and focus area, is possible on request. Online marketing for therapists means SEO with me; I do not handle ads, social media or directories.
The maths in sessions, with freely chosen amounts, because I have no source on usual fees: Suppose a self-pay session in your practice costs €100. Then ongoing support equals five sessions a month, the audit six sessions once, an hour of implementation or coaching half a session. The time side, also freely chosen: If five enquiries a week do not fit and each costs ten minutes on the phone, that is 50 minutes a week, about one session length; a cost page only saves this time if it gets read. Only additional, suitable enquiries may count, fees are not profit, and how many sessions a new client brings is not something I calculate.
I have not yet published a therapy practice as a case study. What I bring is over 15 years of digital marketing, local SEO as a focus, relaunches and migrations. What stays with you: the professional content and the approval of every text, the review with chamber, association or lawyer, privacy policy and contracts, the replies to reviews and your fees. I do not write legal texts and I do not give legal or medical advice; texts are written without promises of cure, the legal approval stays with you. Who I am is under about me; how SEO prices are made up in general, under SEO costs.
The answer to the cost question before you have to call.
For the solo practice usually the audit, then SEO coaching at an hourly rate of €50 by video, no package. For the practice with several practitioners, focus areas, a video offer or a second location, ongoing support. Fully remote, reply within 24 h on weekdays. No guarantee for rankings, enquiries or clients.
Frequently asked questions about SEO for therapists and Heilpraktiker
Is SEO worth it for a psychotherapist with a statutory insurance seat?
Usually not, as long as the waiting list is full. Visibility for “psychotherapy” plus city then brings enquiries you have to turn down. What makes sense is a homepage that states the intake status with a date and refers to the appointment service centre of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, which under § 75 para. 1a SGB V arranges a consultation appointment with a wait of at most four weeks. For that the SEO audit from €600 or SEO coaching at an hourly rate of €50 is enough. It is different if you have private services, supervision or group offers with free slots.
As a Heilpraktiker for psychotherapy, may I call myself “Psychotherapeut”?
No. The title “Psychotherapeut” or “Psychotherapeutin” is reserved for Approbation under § 1 PsychThG, on the website, in the Google profile and in the page title. For the Heilpraktiker permit restricted to psychotherapy there is no legally defined title; “Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie” is common, and in a 2011 decision the Higher Administrative Court of Lower Saxony expressed considerable doubt that this title violates the Heilpraktiker Act. Which title your public health office recommends is something you settle there; I then use it consistently everywhere.
As a Heilpraktiker, can I write “cost reimbursement” on my website?
Not for statutory health insurance. Under § 13 para. 3 SGB V, self-procured psychotherapeutic services are only reimbursable if the practitioner meets the requirements of § 95c SGB V, that is Approbation and specialist training in a recognised method. A Heilpraktiker cost page therefore says that clients pay themselves and can check with a private insurer depending on the policy. How often private policies reimburse I do not know and do not write.
Which focus areas may I not advertise on the website?
Under § 12 para. 2 HWG, advertising for treatments outside professional circles may not refer to the diseases in the annex: addictive diseases except nicotine dependence, malignant neoplasms, pathological complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, and notifiable infectious diseases. Pages on alcohol dependence, gambling addiction, psycho-oncological support or postpartum depression you therefore have checked beforehand by your chamber or lawyer. Depression, anxiety and trauma are not in the annex; there § 3 HWG applies, so no effects and no guaranteed success. Licensed psychotherapists additionally label focus areas as “Tätigkeitsschwerpunkt”, as the professional code requires.
May I advertise video therapy on my website?
Describe it, yes; advertise it across the board, no. The model professional code allows psychotherapy via communication media in § 5a only if personal contact is not required and initial diagnostics and indication are not carried out exclusively remotely. § 9 HWG prohibits advertising for remote treatment where, according to recognised professional standards, personal contact is needed; in 2021 the Federal Court of Justice classified general advertising for comprehensive remote treatment as impermissible. Whether the exception applies in the same way to psychotherapists and Heilpraktiker is open. A “Video appointments” page explains when video is possible with you and when it is not; “therapy completely online” is not on it.
May I show client testimonials or Google reviews on the website?
§ 11 para. 1 HWG prohibits letters of thanks and recommendation outside professional circles only if they are abusive, repulsive or misleading. The narrower limit is confidentiality: A client testimonial confirms a treatment relationship, and that is protected under the model professional code. I therefore advise against client testimonials and do not recommend actively asking for reviews in therapy; providing a link to the profile is permitted according to Google’s help. If you show reviews, § 5b UWG requires you to state whether and how you ensure their authenticity.
How do I reply to a negative Google review?
Without a name, without the reason and without confirming that the person was in treatment with you, even if the review itself says so. The Hessian data protection authority fined two medical practices €3,700 and €3,300 for 2024 because they had named patient names and treatment details in replies. A reply thanks the person for the feedback, explains that as a rule you do not comment publicly on treatments, and offers a phone call. You write the reply; I prepare the wording.
Do you also do Google Ads or social media for therapists?
No. I do SEO, that is the website and the Google Business Profile of your practice. I do not handle ads (SEA), social media or the upkeep of directory profiles. If you are looking for online marketing for your practice, you get from me the part that runs through search, and an honest assessment of whether it is enough for your practice.
Is there an SEO tool for therapists that I can use myself?
I do not sell a subscription, and a solo practice does not need one. The most important tool is the free Google Search Console, which shows which search queries your pages are found for. How to set it up and read it I show in SEO coaching at an hourly rate of €50 by video, no package; the work after that happens on the website and the profile, not in a tool.
Does this also apply to occupational therapy, speech therapy and osteopathy?
For occupational therapy and speech therapy yes, with a different first contact: Treatment runs on prescription, in occupational therapy since April 2024 also as a blanket prescription, so the service pages per area get a prescription note and the intake status. Osteopathy is the practice of medicine and may only be offered with a Heilpraktiker permit or a medical Approbation, as the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf ruled in 2015. Physiotherapy practices have their own page, which also covers the blanket prescription for shoulder, courses and the careers page.
Send me the link to your practice website: I check which of the four questions it already answers
What you are, who pays, when a slot is free, how discreet the contact stays: In 30 minutes by video we go through homepage, cost page and Google profile, and you leave with a list you can work through yourself. Free of charge, fully remote, reply within 24 h on weekdays.