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Google and HubSpot both just published research showing website traffic has dropped by as much as 80 percent since 2024, and it's not because your marketing got worse. It's because the Google AI summary now answers most search questions itself, before anyone even reaches your site.
This episode is about what private practice marketing in 2026 needs to look like now that AI answer engine optimisation (AEO) has changed the rules for how people find a therapist, counsellor, or psychologist. Brooklyn walks through the simple things you can do to get more clients through AI, why the old website conversion rate game (2 percent, if you're lucky) has shifted, and why showing up consistently across every platform an AI might check counts for more than any single funnel now.
There's touch point research in here too, the number of times a cold audience needs to see you before they're ready to book, and why that number is different for short form content versus long form content for therapists. A podcast for private practice marketing compounds in a way a Facebook post never will, and Brooklyn tells the story of a woman who found her through one episode and booked a call within days, next to another who followed along on Facebook for years before reaching out.
The episode closes somewhere completely different, unpacking whether positive thinking works for manifesting, and how it fits into the bigger picture of building a business mindset for private practice that can hold the results you want.
Keywords used: AI answer engine optimisation (AEO) for therapists, how to get clients through AI, private practice marketing in 2026, Google AI summary for therapists, website conversion rate private practice, how many touch points to get a client, short form content vs long form content for therapists, podcast for private practice marketing, does positive thinking work for manifesting, business mindset for private practice
Q: Why has my website traffic dropped even though nothing changed on my end? A: Google's AI summary now answers most search questions itself, so people get their answer without ever clicking through to your website. Google, HubSpot and Ahrefs are all reporting the same drop since 2024.
Q: How many times does someone need to see my content before they book with me? A: A cold audience, people who've never heard of you, need around 11 touch points of short form content in any 90 day period, and someone brand new to your world needs about 50 touch points before they're ready to work with you.
Q: Is a marketing funnel still relevant now that AI is changing search? A: Yes, but you need more than one. Instead of a single funnel, you need multiple pathways, your website, your Google Business Profile, your Psychology Today profile, and several different free resources, all feeding into the same message.
Q: What kind of content gets clients to convert? A: Interactive content like quizzes converts far better than static PDFs or eBooks, because people want to be doing something, not just reading. Long form content like a podcast also compounds over time in a way social media posts never do.
Q: Does positive thinking work for manifesting? A: The research says yes, positive thinking on its own has real psychological benefits, but it only works when it's paired with the deeper identity and personal psychology work behind it. Toxic positivity, on the other hand, has very little research behind it at all.
