Prepared for Chess Scott · The Shift Counseling & Wellness
Monthly Report
May 2026
The short version: May was encouraging where it counts. The number that matters most, calls from Google, doubled, and more people reached your site through Google search. A few visibility numbers declined month to month, and we've pinpointed the cause: a website that doesn't yet convert or engage visitors well enough. The rebuild now underway is built to fix exactly that.
📅 This report covers May 1–31, 2026, compared with April 2026.
1
Where we were, where we are, where we're going
Your progress at a glance, and the plan behind it.
Where we started🌫️
Early 2026
Mostly ranking outside the top 10 on the local map. Hard for new clients to find you unless they already knew your name.
Where we are now📈
May 2026
Calls doubled month-over-month, more people reaching you through Google search, and you're #3 in your area when people ask AI for a therapist.
Where we're going🚀
Your new website
A rebuilt site, launching soon, designed to turn more visitors into booked clients and earn the authority that lifts your visibility.
How we get there🛠️
The plan
Finish the rebuild, keep growing indexed pages and local content, and turn on better booking tracking.
2
The numbers that matter most
Activity on your Google listing, May compared with April.
📞 People who called you from Google
8
▲ Doubled (was 4)
The most important signal, direct calls to your practice doubled vs. April.
🖱️ Clicks to your website from the listing
52
▬ About the same (was 55)
Held steady, and Google-search visits to your site rose separately (Section 5).
🧭 People who asked for directions
26
▼ Down from 51
Lower month to month; these naturally fluctuate. See the note below on what we're improving.
👀 Times you appeared on Google
884
▼ Down from 1,071
Fewer profile views month to month; see the note below on the bigger picture.
Why some numbers declined, and what we're doing about it. Two things are true here. First, month to month these numbers naturally fluctuate, so the quarter-over-quarter trend (Q2 vs Q1) is a truer measure than any single month. Second, and more important: we've identified a real opportunity in your website. It wasn't built to guide visitors toward booking, and it sends limited engagement signals, the time-on-page, scrolling, and actions that tell Google a site is genuinely useful and worth ranking. That is what currently caps your visibility, and it's exactly what the rebuild is fixing. A site that converts better and earns stronger engagement builds authority, and authority is what lifts rankings and visibility over time. Encouragingly, even now your calls doubled and your Google-search visits increased 36% this month.
3
How visible you are on the map
When someone nearby searches for a therapist, where do you show up? Measured at 89 points across a 5-mile area around your office.
56%
of the time, you appear in the top 7 results
Across every search point we check around your office. Higher is better, it's the share of your area where you're easy to find.
Your average map ranking over the past several months
Lower is better (1 = the first result). The line rising toward the top means you're climbing.
The single spike in late April was a one-time Google data glitch, it corrected itself right away and is not a real drop.
Month over month: your map position held about steady in May, the larger gains came earlier in the year (shown above). As the rebuilt site strengthens your authority and engagement, this is the area we expect to climb next.
Where each search stands now
Leading nearby competitors Competitive, room to grow Building visibility
4
When people ask AI for a therapist
A fast-growing number of people now skip the search bar and ask an AI assistant, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and others, "who's a good therapist near me?" This shows whether those assistants recommend you.
#3
of 781 practices, you're among the most-recommended in your area
Only two local practices rank higher, and you're ahead of every national brand, including LifeStance, Thriveworks and BetterHelp.
How often AI recommends you vs. others
In plain terms: how frequently each practice gets named when people ask AI assistants for therapy help in your area. Longer bar = recommended more often.
💬 Times AI recommended you
248
▲ Up from 220
13% more recommendations than the period before, your AI presence is growing.
😊 How positively AI describes you
80/100
Consistently positive
A score of how favorable the AI's wording is about you, 80 is strongly positive.
🤖 AI assistants you appear on
6
Broad coverage
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Google AI Mode & Grok.
Real questions where AI points people to you
These are actual questions people ask an AI assistant, and where it recommends The Shift in its top results.
🔗Where the AI gets its information
When an AI assistant explains why you're a good fit, it pulls straight from your own website, your pages on counseling rates, family counseling, and teen counseling are the top sources it quotes. The content we publish is directly teaching these assistants to recommend you.
5
Showing up in regular Google searches
Beyond the map, how your website performs in everyday Google results. May compared with April.
🔎 Visits from Google search
95
▲ Up 36% (was 70)
More people found and clicked your site through normal Google searches.
👁️ Times your pages were shown
4,265
▲ Up 36% (was 3,130)
A bigger audience saw you in Google this month.
🎯 How often people clicked
3.3%
▲ Up from 2.1%
More of the people who saw you actually clicked through.
📄 Pages of yours listed by Google
69
▲ More than doubled
As we build, far more of your pages are now in Google, with no errors.
One number to read in context, average ranking. Your average position declined this month, and here's the honest reason: as we publish new pages and content, Google indexes them and they typically start lower before they climb. That pulls the average down for a short while, even though your total visits increased 36%. More pages working for you is exactly what we want.
6
Your reputation
What people say about you on Google.
5.0
★★★★★
A perfect rating across all 12 reviews.
Every review has been responded to, that responsiveness builds trust with future clients and helps your ranking. A good next step: a steady trickle of new reviews from happy clients.
7
What we're doing to get there
The work behind the numbers, what's underway and what's next.
In progress
🌐
Website rebuild
Rebuilding your site to guide visitors toward booking, the launch is the next big milestone.
Ongoing
✍️
Local content
Publishing the topics your future clients search, which is driving the jump in indexed pages.
Ongoing
📍
Google listing
Keeping your profile complete, posting updates, and managing reviews to climb the map.
Next up
📊
Better booking tracking
Measuring real results, every booking and key action on your site, so we can prove what's working.