This article was written by Phil Hulme at WebHealer.

If you are looking for better placement on Google for your website you may find this list of top 10 website providers useful. It is based on Google performance using search analysis carried out in December 2018.

And if you are in need for the best therapy practice management software read this updated article on what practice management software we recommend.

In addition to good design, top Google placement is crucial for a therapist in private practice looking to gain enquiries through their website. WebHealer strive to deliver in both areas and so we recently decided to assess ourselves against the competition. In December 2018 we carried out a comprehensive analysis of Google’s first page focussing on search phrases valuable to private practice therapists. The simple question was this:

Who’s customers occupy the most space on Google’s first page for therapy related searches?

Geoff at Private Practice Hub agreed to inspect and verify our methodology and results but for those who are curious perhaps even sceptical (understandable in the age of ‘fake news’) this is how we carried out the research.

  1. We took a random selection of phrases based on real target phrases chosen by therapists. A total of over 350 phrases were selected with a bias towards more difficult and competitive areas mirroring the needs of real therapists.
  2. We captured the address of each of the top 10 websites for each search
  3. We identified all major website providers (general ones such as Wix as well as specialists such as ourselves) and counted how many times each provider was represented in the top 10 list.
  4. We excluded the developer version of WordPress which is used by specialist developers and therefore does not meet the affordable provider criteria but after consideration we retested and included the online self-build tool WordPress.Com.

We sought to carry out this search with as much integrity as possible and are pleased that, after being given sight of our raw data, Private Practice Hub endorsed our methods and results. All that remains is the results.

1.WebHealer468 mentions2.WordPress.com81 mentions 3.Wix74 mentions4.SquareSpace56 mentions5.Weebly46 mentions6.Health Hosts31 mentions7.1 & 112 mentions8.Therapy Web Genie11 mentions9.WebTime10 mentions10.Yell9 mentions

Popular website builder tools that failed to make the top 10 include those from domain registrars like 123Reg as well as Google Sites. This emphasises the importance of search engine optimisation (SEO) when building a website to generate leads. Specialist SEO expertise makes a big difference and those who wish to be the absolute number one in a competitive area and have a budget of £75 – £200/month would generally be better off going to an independent specialist. They will probably do better than the providers above. For those with a budget in the £10 – £20/month range and targeting placement somewhere on page one you may find the above a useful shortlist.

WebHealer is a specialist provider of websites to private practice therapists and is preferred supplier to members of leading therapy associations

The research referred to above is also reported with additional detail on WebHealer’s blog – Top 10 Website Providers for Therapists