Only 28.4% of practices show Saturday hours. Here is what to do if you see clients outside nine to five
Most therapy profiles look closed on weekends and evenings, even when the therapist is not. How to show real availability on Google this week, honestly.
A lot of people looking for a therapist can only come before work, after work, or on a Saturday. They search, they see a list of practices that all look closed whenever they are free, and they put it off another month.
In our data on 171,610 therapy listings, only 28.4% show any Saturday hours on their Google profile. 14.5% show Sunday hours. And 22.7% list no hours at all. That last group is the bigger problem, because a blank hours field tells the searcher nothing, and they will not call to find out.
If you see clients on evenings or weekends, or offer telehealth slots outside office hours, your profile is probably hiding the one thing that makes you a fit for these people.
Why this number matters more in late fall
Two things happen between now and January. Days get shorter, and people who have been coping start to struggle more. Holiday stress, family visits, and year-end work all land at once. Many of those people have jobs that do not allow a two o'clock appointment.
They search on their phone at night or on the weekend. Searches like "therapist open Saturday" or "evening therapy near me" lean on the hours you list. A practice that shows Saturday 9 to 1 is a real answer to that search. A practice with a blank field is not.
What to do this week
1. Write down your real schedule first
Before you touch the profile, list when you actually see clients. Be specific. "Tuesday and Thursday until 8 p.m., Saturday 9 to 1, telehealth only on Saturday" is the kind of detail that matters.
Do not list hours you do not keep. A client who books expecting a Saturday slot and finds none is a bad first experience, and it can turn into a complaint.
2. Put those hours on your Google profile
Open your Business Profile and set hours for every day you see clients. If your days vary week to week, list the window you are reliably available and say "by appointment" in your description.
Set the days you do not work to closed rather than leaving them blank. A complete set of hours looks like a practice that is paying attention. The Google Business Profile guide walks through the hours field and the rest of the setup.
3. Say it in plain words in the description
Hours alone do not tell the full story. Add one sentence to your description that a tired person scanning at 10 p.m. will understand:
Evening appointments Tuesday and Thursday, and Saturday mornings by video or in person.
That line also gives Google and AI answer tools a clear fact to repeat when someone asks for a therapist with evening availability.
4. Check the attributes section
Depending on your category, Google may offer attributes such as online appointments. If you offer telehealth, turn on what applies. Someone who cannot leave the house on a weeknight may be glad to see video as an option.
5. Match it on your website
Your website should say the same thing your profile says. Put your availability near the top of the contact page and near any booking button. If a person has to read three paragraphs to learn whether you see clients after 5 p.m., many will not get that far. The website essentials guide covers what belongs above the fold.
What about the inquiries that come in after hours
If you show evening and weekend availability, you will get more inquiries at odd times. That is the point. But it means your reply process has to hold up when you are with a client or off for the night.
A short, warm auto-reply to calls you miss and to web inquiries goes a long way. Something like:
Thank you for reaching out. I am in session right now and will call you back today. If it is easier, reply here with a couple of times that work for a free 15-minute call.
Keep it free of clinical detail and never ask someone to describe their situation by text. The missed calls and intake guide has more on timing and wording. If you want to see what slow replies cost a practice over a year, the calculator does the math with your own fee.
A simple way to think about the value
Here is a hypothetical. Say a clearer Saturday listing brings in one extra consult a month, and half of those become ongoing clients who stay for several months. At a private-pay rate in the $120 to $200 range, a single client who stays for three months covers a lot of time spent on a profile edit. Your numbers will differ. The point is that this fix costs nothing but twenty minutes.
Where the rest of your profile stands
Hours are the fastest fix, but check the rest while you are in there. The median practice has 6 Google reviews, and the top 10% have 112 or more. Practices with a website have a median of 9 reviews, compared with 1 for those without one. The full benchmark report shows where your profile lands on each of these.
If you want help getting your hours, description and inquiry replies set up before the holidays, there is a free 14-day trial of any service, no card, text or call (385) 217-8216.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, therapists among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor