Can Therapists Ask Clients for Google Reviews? What the Ethics Codes Say

For current clients, the major codes point the same way: the APA, ACA and NASW codes all say clinicians should not solicit testimonials from current clients or from others vulnerable to undue influence, and the ACA code extends that to former clients. Google's own policies separately prohibit incentives for reviews and review gating. Reviews that people decide to leave on their own are a different matter, and how you respond to them carries its own risk. What follows is general information, not legal advice. Check your own board and code before you decide anything.

What the codes say

APA Ethics Code, Standard 5.05. Psychologists do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients or from other people who, because of their circumstances, are vulnerable to undue influence. Standard 5.01, on avoiding false or deceptive statements, applies to anything you publish about your services. The full code is on the APA website.

ACA Code of Ethics (2014), C.3.b. Counselors who use testimonials do not solicit them from current or former clients, or from anyone else who may be vulnerable to undue influence. That reaches further than the APA standard, because former clients are included. C.3.c, on statements made by others, is worth reading alongside it.

NASW Code of Ethics, 4.07(b). Social workers should not solicit testimonial endorsements from current clients or from others vulnerable to undue influence. The NASW code has the full wording.

AAMFT Code of Ethics, Standard IX, covers advertising. If you're a marriage and family therapist, read that standard directly rather than relying on a summary.

Your state licensing board may also have its own advertising rules, and they can be stricter than your association's code. Read both, and if you hold more than one license, read the rules for each.

Whether a Google review counts as a testimonial

None of these codes mentions Google by name. The cautious reading treats a review you asked for as a testimonial you solicited, and that's the reading we'd plan around. Under it, all of these count as asking:

• mentioning reviews in session or at the end of treatment
• sending a review link in a follow-up email or text
• leaving a "find us on Google" card in the waiting room
• an automatic review request sent by your scheduling or marketing software

That last one is easy to miss. Some scheduling and marketing tools offer automatic review requests after appointments, and the setting can be switched on by default or by whoever set the system up. If you use one of these tools, check the setting this week.

What Google's rules add

Google's prohibited and restricted content policy for Maps reviews bans fake reviews, incentives such as discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews, and review gating, meaning asking only the people you expect to be pleased. That closes the usual workarounds. No reviews from friends or colleagues writing as if they were clients. No discount for a review. No survey that sends only satisfied respondents on to Google.

Not asking is different from not having reviews

The codes speak to what you solicit. Clients and former clients sometimes leave reviews on their own, and Google doesn't need your permission for that. A profile with unsolicited reviews isn't, by itself, a sign that anyone broke a rule.

Copying those reviews onto your own website is a separate decision. Quoting someone's words on your site turns them into a testimonial you chose to use, and it raises consent and privacy questions of its own. Check your code before you do it, and in most cases leave reviews where the reviewer put them.

Endorsements from colleagues are a different category again. A note from a physician who refers to you, or a peer's recommendation on a professional network, isn't a client testimonial. Accuracy still applies to anything you republish about yourself, though; for counselors, C.3.c covers statements others make, and every code expects what appears on your site to be true.

Replying without confirming a client relationship

This is where most of the real risk sits. HHS has settled cases with health practices that disclosed patient information in replies to online reviews. A reply doesn't need to mention a diagnosis to be a disclosure. "We're sorry your sessions didn't feel helpful" confirms, in public, that the reviewer was a client.

You have two reasonable options.

The first is not to reply. Many clinicians choose this for positive and negative reviews alike, since silence confirms nothing.

The second is a short general statement that confirms nothing, used word for word on every review so the wording itself reveals nothing:

"Thank you for your feedback. To protect everyone's privacy, we don't confirm whether any person has been seen at this practice. If you'd like to talk with us, please contact the office directly."

Whichever you choose, don't argue the facts in public, even when a review is unfair or untrue. Any correction would mean saying something about the person or their care. If a review contains harassment, false statements of fact or other content that breaks Google's policies, you can report it through your profile. Google makes the decision, and reporting doesn't guarantee removal.

Building local trust without asking

A profile with few or no reviews is at some disadvantage in the map results. Google lists review count and rating among the things that affect local ranking, and there's no ethical shortcut around that for a therapist. What you can do is make everything else as strong as it can be:

• Complete the profile: an accurate primary category, in-person hours, photos of the entrance and office, and a plain description of who you see.
• Keep your name, address and credentials identical across the profile, your site and every directory listing.
• Build referral relationships with physicians and other clinicians, and give them a page on your site that explains how to refer.
• Publish under your own name: an article for a local organization's newsletter, a talk at a library or school, a piece for your state association. These earn mentions and links that help your site.
• Make your website answer the questions a review might have answered: who you see, fees and insurance, availability, and what a first appointment involves.

None of those depends on a single review, and together they're the core of local SEO for therapists when reviews are off the table.

This post summarizes the codes; it isn't legal or ethics advice. Your licensing board, your association's ethics resources and a compliance advisor are the right places for a question about your own situation.

If you want a second look

The free visibility review looks at how your practice appears in local search using information about the practice alone. It never involves contacting your clients, and we won't suggest that you do.