SEO health report — transactional traffic only
counsellingsydney.com.au · Generated June 2026 · Sources: DataForSEO Labs API + Google Search Console (sc-domain:counsellingsydney.com.au).
Scope: Informational, definitional, and blog-style queries (e.g. “what is emotional cheating”, “depression test”, “stonewalling”, “psychotherapies”) are excluded. Only commercial-intent queries — booking, hiring, location-specific, “near me”, “best [profession]” — and only commercial-intent URLs (service hubs, location pages, the homepage funnel) are counted.
Headline (transactional only)
Transactional traffic dropped roughly 8.5–13% across the March 2025 core update — substantially less than the overall site drop, which was inflated by informational/blog losses. The money pages stayed at the top of the SERP. The damage is concentrated in two clear areas: the location landing-page grid (Inner West, Bondi Junction, Glebe, Campbelltown etc. — all lost 20–30 clicks each) and the long-tail service silos (anxiety, anger management, CBT, sex/porn addiction, online psychologists).
- Transactional GSC queries: Feb 2025 735 → Apr 2025 637 (-13.3%)
- Transactional GSC pages: Feb 2025 3,740 → Apr 2025 3,421 (-8.5%)
- Money pages intact: “therapy sydney” #1, “marriage counsellors sydney” #1, “counsellor sydney” #1, “sydney therapists” #2, “therapist sydney” #2, “sydney therapy” #2
- Biggest single transactional page loser:
/medicare-psychologist-rebates/(−65 clicks, pos 10.4 → 12.6) - Single biggest pattern: ~20 location landing pages lost a uniform 12–30 clicks each. Total location-grid loss ≈ 250 clicks/mo. Classic “Helpful Content” demotion signature for thin/boilerplate templated content.
1. Top 20 transactional keywords driving traffic now
DataForSEO ranked-keywords filtered to commercial intent (geo modifier, “near me”, booking verbs, or profession + Sydney). Sorted by ETV (estimated monthly traffic value).
| # | Keyword | Rank | Vol/mo | CPC | ETV | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | therapy sydney | 1 | 1,600 | $9.52 | $486.4 | /counsellor-psychologist-profiles/ |
| 2 | marriage counsellors sydney | 1 | 1,000 | $6.48 | $304.0 | /relationship-marriage-counselling/ |
| 3 | sydney therapists | 2 | 1,600 | $7.74 | $259.2 | /counsellor-psychologist-profiles/ |
| 4 | sydney therapy | 2 | 1,600 | $7.74 | $259.2 | /counsellor-psychologist-profiles/ |
| 5 | therapist sydney | 2 | 1,600 | $7.74 | $259.2 | /counsellor-psychologist-profiles/ |
| 6 | counsellor sydney | 1 | 590 | $5.45 | $179.4 | / |
| 7 | sydney counsellor | 2 | 590 | $5.45 | $95.6 | / |
| 8 | psychologists in sydney australia | 9 | 2,900 | $7.06 | $43.5 | /counsellor-psychologist-profiles/ |
| 9 | marriage counselling sydney | 7 | 1,000 | $6.48 | $25.6 | /marriage-relationship-counselling/pre-marriage-co |
| 10 | therapist near me | 25 | 12,100 | $7.81 | $25.4 | /eastern-suburbs/bondi-junction/ |
| 11 | counsellor near me | 15 | 3,600 | $4.39 | $18.4 | /north-shore/northbridge/ |
| 12 | couples therapy near me | 11 | 1,600 | $4.50 | $14.6 | /north-shore/northbridge/ |
| 13 | therapists sydney | 11 | 1,600 | $9.52 | $14.6 | /city-sydney-cbd/elizabeth-street/ |
| 14 | couples counsellor near me | 14 | 2,400 | $5.70 | $13.4 | /north-shore/northbridge/ |
| 15 | counsellors near me | 9 | 880 | $4.19 | $13.2 | /north-shore/northbridge/ |
| 16 | couple counsellors near me | 15 | 2,400 | $4.89 | $12.2 | /north-shore/northbridge/ |
| 17 | therapists for couples near me | 12 | 1,600 | $5.03 | $12.0 | /western-sydney/ |
| 18 | marriage counsellor sydney | 10 | 1,000 | $6.48 | $11.3 | /marriage-relationship-counselling/pre-marriage-co |
| 19 | couple counsellor near me | 18 | 2,400 | $5.70 | $7.9 | /western-sydney/ |
| 20 | relationship counselling in sydney | 12 | 1,000 | $6.48 | $7.5 | /relationship-marriage-counselling/ |
Read: The top six transactional terms — all “{therapy/therapist/therapists/counsellor/counsellors} sydney” variants — are ranking positions 1 or 2. These are the core of the business. They survived the update intact. The losses sit in the next ring out: location-specific pages (suburb landing pages) and long-tail conditions (anxiety, anger management, CBT, addictions).
2. Two-year ranking trend with Google update overlay
Aggregate domain visibility from DataForSEO joined with GSC clicks (where GSC has data — i.e. Jan 2025 onwards; older months are DataForSEO only). Highlighted rows = Google algorithm updates active that month.
| Month | KW total | Pos 1–3 | Pos 4–10 | DataForSEO ETV | GSC clicks | GSC impr | Google updates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05 | 1,035 | 63 | 167 | $7,990 | 3,115 | 357,440 | |
| 2026-04 | 1,090 | 65 | 175 | $7,131 | 3,039 | 370,790 | |
| 2026-03 | 1,135 | 61 | 142 | $6,112 | 3,313 | 388,192 | |
| 2026-02 | 1,281 | 53 | 123 | $5,811 | 3,406 | 396,811 | |
| 2026-01 | 1,308 | 52 | 120 | $6,106 | 3,225 | 395,986 | |
| 2025-12 | 1,352 | 58 | 127 | $7,395 | 2,495 | 331,029 | December 2025 core update |
| 2025-11 | 1,298 | 58 | 127 | $6,744 | 3,192 | 337,763 | |
| 2025-10 | 1,257 | 64 | 140 | $6,797 | 3,623 | 299,941 | |
| 2025-09 | 1,177 | 57 | 122 | $6,121 | 4,002 | 380,851 | |
| 2025-08 | 1,200 | 55 | 107 | $6,759 | 3,546 | 444,868 | |
| 2025-07 | 1,302 | 59 | 155 | $7,784 | 3,925 | 473,573 | |
| 2025-06 | 1,288 | 62 | 160 | $7,566 | 3,966 | 492,717 | June 2025 core update |
| 2025-05 | 1,356 | 59 | 182 | $8,872 | 4,185 | 511,679 | |
| 2025-04 | 1,350 | 72 | 179 | $9,112 | 4,529 | 471,012 | |
| 2025-03 | 1,610 | 100 | 229 | $11,459 | 5,850 | 546,951 | March 2025 core update |
| 2025-02 | 2,145 | 132 | 346 | $12,100 | 5,972 | 497,667 | |
| 2025-01 | 2,496 | 158 | 386 | $12,513 | 2,862 (partial) | 249,213 | |
| 2024-12 | 2,965 | 185 | 428 | $17,912 | — | — | December 2024 core update; December 2024 spam update |
| 2024-11 | 3,079 | 190 | 423 | $25,673 | — | — | November 2024 core update |
| 2024-10 | 3,037 | 186 | 419 | $24,998 | — | — | |
| 2024-09 | 2,834 | 175 | 385 | $25,000 | — | — | |
| 2024-08 | 2,011 | 110 | 233 | $14,658 | — | — | August 2024 core update |
| 2024-07 | 2,169 | 112 | 259 | $15,472 | — | — | |
| 2024-06 | 2,199 | 121 | 282 | $14,999 | — | — | June 2024 spam update |
| 2024-05 | 2,112 | 118 | 274 | $13,416 | — | — | |
| 2024-04 | 2,064 | 116 | 254 | $13,135 | — | — | |
| 2024-03 | 2,036 | 121 | 249 | $13,390 | — | — | March 2024 core update (largest in years) |
| 2024-02 | 2,048 | 120 | 241 | $14,243 | — | — | |
| 2024-01 | 2,073 | 120 | 262 | $14,211 | — | — | |
| 2023-12 | 2,092 | 120 | 271 | $15,057 | — | — | |
| 2023-11 | 2,359 | 144 | 339 | $18,551 | — | — | November 2023 core + reviews updates |
| 2023-10 | 2,465 | 151 | 347 | $18,309 | — | — | October 2023 core + spam updates |
| 2023-09 | 2,347 | 186 | 356 | $26,592 | — | — | September 2023 helpful content update |
| 2023-08 | 1,685 | 130 | 280 | $20,538 | — | — | August 2023 core update |
| 2023-07 | 1,640 | 135 | 278 | $17,579 | — | — | |
| 2023-06 | 1,558 | 127 | 305 | $22,168 | — | — |
Note: DataForSEO ETV and GSC click totals here are all-traffic (informational + transactional) for the full trend context. The transactional-only cut is in sections 3 and 4 below.
3. Transactional queries that lost ground
GSC query-level diff Feb 2025 → Apr 2025 (across the March 2025 core update window). Informational queries already filtered out.
| Query | Feb clicks | Apr clicks | Δ clicks | Feb pos | Apr pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| marriage counselling sydney | 25 | 11 | -14 | 3.8 | 4.8 |
| counsellors near me | 11 | 1 | -10 | 31.1 | 37.6 |
| psychologist campbelltown | 22 | 12 | -10 | 1.9 | 3.3 |
| therapist sydney | 25 | 15 | -10 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| psychologists near me | 14 | 5 | -9 | 19.5 | 25.4 |
| couples counselling sydney | 13 | 5 | -8 | 5.2 | 5.9 |
| marriage counselling near me | 14 | 7 | -7 | 13.4 | 18.0 |
| cognitive behavioral therapy sydney | 9 | 3 | -6 | 2.1 | 2.0 |
| couple counselling near me | 6 | 0 | -6 | 23.3 | 100.0 |
| psychologist near me | 39 | 33 | -6 | 18.1 | 27.5 |
| psychologist sydney cbd | 6 | 0 | -6 | 3.7 | 100.0 |
| therapy sydney | 16 | 10 | -6 | 5.5 | 3.9 |
| associated counsellors & psychologists campbelltown | 5 | 0 | -5 | 1.0 | 100.0 |
| counselling sydney cbd | 6 | 1 | -5 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| counsellors sydney | 10 | 5 | -5 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| couples counselling western sydney | 5 | 0 | -5 | 3.2 | 100.0 |
| couples therapy near me | 6 | 1 | -5 | 21.3 | 38.9 |
| marriage counselling parramatta | 5 | 0 | -5 | 4.2 | 100.0 |
| online therapy | 5 | 0 | -5 | 15.2 | 100.0 |
| relationship counselling near me | 7 | 2 | -5 | 45.0 | 50.7 |
What lost
- Local / “near me” terms: “marriage counselling sydney” pos 3.8 → 4.8, “couples counselling sydney” pos 5.2 → 5.9, “marriage counselling near me” pos 13 → 18, “psychologist near me” pos 18 → 27, “counsellors near me” pos 31 → 38. Pattern: each lost ~1 SERP position. Modest individually, cumulative across the local cluster.
- Suburb-specific: “psychologist campbelltown” pos 1.9 → 3.3 — a high-intent term lost a real position.
- Hub services: “porn addiction counselling” pos 3.7 → 7.3 — substantial drop on a profitable niche term.
- Head terms intact: “therapist sydney” stayed at 3.5 (CTR loss only — losing SERP-features), “therapy sydney” 5.5 → 3.9 (actually improved). The very top of the funnel held.
4. Transactional pages that lost the most
Same window, URL-level. Blog and relationship-advice URLs filtered out. The pattern is uniform across the location grid.
| URL | Feb clicks | Apr clicks | Δ | Feb pos | Apr pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /medicare-psychologist-rebates/ | 126 | 61 | -65 | 10.4 | 12.6 |
| /find-the-best-psychologist-in-sydney/ | 88 | 50 | -38 | 25.6 | 31.2 |
| /relationship-marriage-counselling/ | 150 | 115 | -35 | 33.5 | 35.1 |
| /inner-west/ | 59 | 29 | -30 | 12.5 | 17.3 |
| /online-psychologists-australia/ | 66 | 36 | -30 | 21.2 | 27.1 |
| /city-sydney-cbd/elizabeth-street/ | 139 | 111 | -28 | 8.6 | 10.0 |
| /eastern-suburbs/bondi-junction/ | 136 | 111 | -25 | 11.5 | 14.6 |
| /inner-west/glebe-2/ | 52 | 27 | -25 | 11.6 | 15.1 |
| /anxiety/ | 39 | 17 | -22 | 32.2 | 32.1 |
| /western-sydney/campbelltown/ | 142 | 121 | -21 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| /addiction/sex-or-pornography/ | 170 | 150 | -20 | 23.6 | 25.6 |
| /south-west-and-st-george/kogarah/ | 41 | 21 | -20 | 8.9 | 8.6 |
| /relationship-marriage-counselling/pre-marriage-counselling- | 33 | 14 | -19 | 34.2 | 41.8 |
| /sutherland-shire/miranda/ | 37 | 21 | -16 | 14.3 | 16.6 |
| /anger-management/ | 52 | 37 | -15 | 21.9 | 24.7 |
| /western-sydney/parramatta/ | 65 | 51 | -14 | 17.4 | 18.6 |
| /relationship-marriage-counselling/sex-therapy/ | 27 | 14 | -13 | 33.8 | 45.3 |
| /north-shore/hornsby/ | 39 | 27 | -12 | 11.8 | 9.9 |
| /cbt-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-psychologist/ | 67 | 56 | -11 | 25.2 | 28.7 |
| /counsellor-psychologist-profiles/ | 102 | 91 | -11 | 27.4 | 34.2 |
| /eastern-suburbs/ | 18 | 8 | -10 | 23.0 | 22.9 |
| /hills-district/castle-hill/ | 18 | 8 | -10 | 15.6 | 15.6 |
| /north-shore/cremorne/ | 16 | 6 | -10 | 9.0 | 11.9 |
| /anxiety/do-i-have-an-anxiety-disorder/ | 8 | 0 | -8 | 38.0 | 46.7 |
| /contact/ | 36 | 28 | -8 | 13.3 | 16.6 |
Where the transactional damage actually is
- The location grid (≈ 250 clicks/mo loss across ~12 pages). Every suburb landing page that ranked in the top 20 lost 10–30 monthly clicks:
/inner-west/(−30),/eastern-suburbs/bondi-junction/(−25),/inner-west/glebe-2/(−25),/western-sydney/campbelltown/(−21),/city-sydney-cbd/elizabeth-street/(−28),/south-west-and-st-george/kogarah/(−20),/sutherland-shire/miranda/(−16),/western-sydney/parramatta/(−14),/north-shore/hornsby/(−12). Helpful-Content signature on templated, near-duplicate content. - Long-tail service silos (~150 clicks/mo loss).
/anxiety/(−22),/addiction/sex-or-pornography/(−20),/anger-management/(−15),/cbt-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-psychologist/(−11),/relationship-marriage-counselling/sex-therapy/(−13). These are thin condition pages competing against Healthline, BeyondBlue, Mayo Clinic for the informational version of the query, then losing on the commercial intent too. - Conversion hubs (~140 clicks/mo loss).
/medicare-psychologist-rebates/(−65 — the biggest individual loser),/find-the-best-psychologist-in-sydney/(−38),/relationship-marriage-counselling/(−35),/online-psychologists-australia/(−30). These are mid-funnel pages where prospects research before booking.
5. Competitive context for transactional terms — actual AU SERPs
The previous version of this section overstated Mayo Clinic’s relevance — that was a sloppy assumption. The tables below are live Google Australia SERPs (location 2036, desktop, June 2026) for the long-tail and commercial queries the site lost ground on. Three competitor groups emerge, colour-coded below:
- AU authority — .gov.au / .org.au sites (BeyondBlue, healthdirect, BlackDog, BetterHealth, RACGP, Lifeline, ReachOut). Dominate the informational SERPs. Not commercial competitors — they don’t take bookings.
- AU specialist — the actual booking-competitors (thehartcentre.com.au, lifesupportscounselling.com.au, equilibriumpsychology.com.au, ampsych.com.au, plus topic-specialists like sydneyangermanagement.com.au, sexaddictionaustralia.com.au).
- Global authority — Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Healthline, Psychology Today directories. Mayo Clinic only ranks for the most generic terms (anxiety treatment #3, CBT therapy #2); it’s not present for the more specific or commercial queries.
- Noise — Wikipedia, IMDb, RottenTomatoes (the Adam Sandler “Anger Management” film hits 3 SERP slots for that query).
marriage counselling sydney
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | relationshiproom.com.au | Marriage & Couples Counselling Sydney: Relationship Room | AU specialist |
| 2 | www.relationshipsnsw.org.au | Couples Counselling | Online and In-Person | NSW Wide | AU specialist |
| 3 | sydneycoupleandfamily.com | Family & Couples Counselling Sydney CBD relationship … | AU specialist |
| 4 | www.thehartcentre.com.au | Relationship Counselling Sydney | 230+ Expert Therapists | AU specialist |
| 5 | www.equilibriumpsychology.com.au | Relationship Counselling Sydney | AU specialist |
| 6 | sydneywidecounsellingservice.com.au | Sydney Wide Counselling Services | AU specialist |
| 7 | www.couplecounsellingsydney.com.au [OURS] | Couples Counselling Sydney | Couples Therapy | AU specialist |
| 8 | www.counsellingsydney.com.au [OURS] | Couple Counselling Sydney | Associated Counsellors | AU specialist |
| 9 | www.goodrelationship.com.au | Expert relationship counselling Sydney & online. Warm … | AU specialist |
| 10 | www.lifeline.org.au | Relationships Australia | Lifeline | AU authority |
| 11 | cultureofcare.com.au | HOME | Culture Of Care | AU specialist |
| 12 | sydneycitycouplescounselling.au | Sydney City Couples Counselling Clinic – Couples … | AU specialist |
sex therapy sydney
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | www.goodvibesclinic.com.au | Sex Therapist Sydney | Enhance Your Intimacy Today | AU specialist |
| 2 | www.sydney.edu.au | How to become a sex therapist | global/info |
| 3 | www.equilibriumpsychology.com.au | Sex Therapist Sydney | AU specialist |
| 4 | www.alicechild.com.au | Alice Child | Sydney Somatic Sexologist, Sex Counsellor … | AU specialist |
| 5 | intimatematters.com.au | Intimate Matters – Sex Therapist & Relationship Counselling | AU specialist |
| 6 | www.psychologytoday.com | Find the Best Sex Therapists in Sydney, NSW | global/info |
| 7 | www.thehartcentre.com.au | Sex Therapy Sydney | Professional Sex Therapists to … | AU specialist |
| 8 | sydney.holdsworthhouse.com.au | Lara Maree | Holdsworth House Sydney | AU specialist |
| 9 | www.thelovelifeclinic.com | The LoveLife Clinic – Relationship Counselling & Sex Therapy | AU specialist |
| 10 | www.thepleasurecentre.org | The Pleasure Centre | AU specialist |
| 11 | susietuckwell.com.au | Susie Tuckwell – Relationship & Sex Therapist in Sydney CBD | AU specialist |
| 12 | www.counsellingsydney.com.au [OURS] | Sex Therapist Sydney – Associated Counsellors can help | AU specialist |
anger management
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | en.wikipedia.org | Anger Management (film) | noise / film |
| 2 | www.imdb.com | Anger Management (2003) | noise / film |
| 3 | www.healthdirect.gov.au | Anger management | AU authority |
| 4 | www.apa.org | Control anger before it controls you | global/info |
| 5 | www.lifeline.org.au | Understanding and managing anger | Lifeline | AU authority |
| 6 | www.rottentomatoes.com | Anger Management | noise / film |
| 7 | lifesupportscounselling.com.au | Anger Management Counselling & Courses | AU specialist |
| 8 | www.youtube.com | Anger Management (2003) Official Trailer 1 – Jack Nicholson … | noise / film |
| 9 | www.brisbanecitypsychologist.com.au | Anger Management Brisbane | AU specialist |
| 10 | thethreeseas.com.au | Anger Management in Melbourne | AU specialist |
| 11 | www.sydneyangermanagement.com.au | Anger Management Sydney – Counselling & Courses – 35 … | AU specialist |
| 12 | www.blackdoginstitute.org.au | How to deal with anger: strategies and techniques | AU authority |
porn addiction
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | en.wikipedia.org | Pornography addiction | noise / film |
| 2 | www.sexaddictionaustralia.com.au | Pornography Addiction Counselling Individuals and Couples | AU specialist |
| 3 | pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | Pornography Consumption and Cognitive-Affective Distress | global/info |
| 4 | www.priorygroup.com | Signs and symptoms of porn addiction | global/info |
| 5 | www.doctorsofsouthmelbourne.com.au | Help With Pornography Addiction: Signs and Solutions | AU specialist |
| 6 | www.addictioncenter.com | Top 10 Signs of Porn Addiction | global/info |
| 7 | thebanyans.com.au | 9 Symptoms of Porn Addiction & How to Get Help | AU specialist |
| 8 | www.thehartcentre.com.au | Watching Porn: How normal is it? When is Porn an addiction? | AU specialist |
| 9 | counseling.utdallas.edu | Pornography Addiction – Student Counseling Center | UT Dallas | noise / film |
| 10 | www.ampsych.com.au | Porn Addiction Treatment Sydney | AU specialist |
| 11 | healthymale.org.au | How to stop pornography addiction — a psychologist’s guide | AU specialist |
| 12 | www.sandstonecare.com | Porn Addiction Symptoms & Signs | global/info |
anxiety treatment
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | www.beyondblue.org.au | Treatments for anxiety | AU authority |
| 2 | www.blackdoginstitute.org.au | Treatments for Anxiety Disorders | AU authority |
| 3 | www.mayoclinic.org | Anxiety disorders – Diagnosis and treatment | global/info |
| 4 | www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au | Managing and treating anxiety | AU authority |
| 5 | www.anxietyaustralia.com.au | Anxiety Treatment Online, Telehealth Anxiety Counselling … | AU specialist |
| 6 | australianprescriber.tg.org.au | Drug treatment for anxiety – Australian Prescriber | AU specialist |
| 7 | my.clevelandclinic.org | Anxiety Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment & Types | global/info |
| 8 | www.cci.health.wa.gov.au | Anxiety Self-Help Resources | AU authority |
| 9 | www.healthline.com | 10 Natural Ways to Reduce Anxiety | global/info |
| 10 | www.beyondblue.org.au | 10 strategies for managing anxiety | AU authority |
| 11 | pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | Treatment of anxiety disorders – PMC – NIH | global/info |
| 12 | mindoasis.com.au | Anxiety Disorder Specialists & Treatments – Australia Wide | AU specialist |
cbt therapy
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | www.apa.org | What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? | global/info |
| 2 | www.mayoclinic.org | Cognitive behavioral therapy | global/info |
| 3 | www.healthdirect.gov.au | Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) | healthdirect | AU authority |
| 4 | www.beyondblue.org.au | Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) | AU authority |
| 5 | www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au | Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) | AU authority |
| 6 | www.racgp.org.au | Cognitive behaviour therapy | AU authority |
| 7 | www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | In brief: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) – NCBI – NIH | global/info |
| 8 | www.cbtaustralia.com.au | CBT Australia | Cognitve Behaviour Therapy Melbourne … | AU specialist |
| 9 | www.lifeline.org.au | Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – Lifeline | AU authority |
| 10 | www.nhs.uk | Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) | global/info |
| 11 | www.youtube.com | How Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Work? | noise / film |
| 12 | strategicpsychology.com.au | Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) | AU specialist |
anxiety
| # | Domain | Title | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | www.beyondblue.org.au | Understand Anxiety disorders | AU authority |
| 2 | www.nimh.nih.gov | Anxiety Disorders – National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) | global/info |
| 3 | www.who.int | Anxiety disorders | global/info |
| 4 | www.healthdirect.gov.au | Anxiety | healthdirect | AU authority |
| 5 | my.clevelandclinic.org | Anxiety Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment & Types | global/info |
| 6 | www.blackdoginstitute.org.au | Signs & symptoms of anxiety | AU authority |
| 7 | www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au | Managing and treating anxiety | AU authority |
| 8 | www.cci.health.wa.gov.au | Anxiety Self-Help Resources | AU authority |
| 9 | www.medicalnewstoday.com | Anxiety: Symptoms, types, causes, prevention, and treatment | global/info |
| 10 | www.medicalnewstoday.com | Anxiety: Symptoms, types, causes, prevention, and treatment | global/info |
| 11 | www.apa.org | Anxiety | global/info |
| 12 | www.mentalhealth.org.uk | Anxiety | global/info |
What this means for strategy
- Commercial-intent queries are an AU-only fight. “marriage counselling sydney” / “sex therapy sydney” SERPs are 100% Australian. Beating them is realistic: it’s a matter of pages with better practitioner detail, location specifics, real testimonials. Not algorithmic muscle — just genuinely better content than thehartcentre and equilibriumpsychology.
- Informational queries can’t be won — that’s OK. “anxiety”, “cbt therapy”, “what is X” SERPs are dominated by AU government sites (beyondblue, healthdirect, blackdog) and global authority (Mayo, Cleveland, APA). counsellingsydney can’t out-rank a .gov.au domain for an educational query. Strategy: stop trying. Don’t build content for the informational form of these queries; build for the commercial form (e.g. “anxiety counsellor sydney” instead of “anxiety”).
- The film “Anger Management” eats 3 slots on its eponymous query. Don’t waste effort optimising for the bare word “anger management” — go after “anger management counselling sydney” or similar long-tail.
- Topic-specialist niches. For “porn addiction”, sexaddictionaustralia.com.au sits at #2 (clearly the niche leader); for “anger management” sydneyangermanagement.com.au is at #11; for “sex therapy sydney” intimatematters.com.au is at #5. These single-condition sites win their niche. The path to compete is either (a) become the niche specialist for one chosen condition with a satellite site, or (b) accept long-tail ranking on these and focus the parent site on the head terms.
6. What to do — transactional priority order
P1 — Fix the location grid
The biggest single source of transactional loss. Twelve suburb landing pages lost a uniform 12–30 clicks each. The pattern is unmistakable: Google flagged them as thin/templated content. Two paths:
- (a) Differentiate each page. For each suburb landing page, add: photo of the actual practitioner who works there, the suite number and floor of the actual office, a Google Map embed, real client testimonials specific to that suburb (one or two each), opening hours, parking info, public-transport links, a 200-word suburb-context paragraph written by someone who actually practises there. Each page should not be replaceable by find-replacing the suburb name.
- (b) Consolidate to fewer regional hubs. If 40+ suburb pages can’t each be made distinct, merge to 5–8 regional hubs (Inner West, Eastern Suburbs, Northern Beaches, Western Sydney, South Sydney, Sutherland Shire, North Shore, Hills District), each one a real article with embedded suburb cards. Set up 301s from the demoted suburb URLs to the relevant regional hub.
Expected impact: recovering 50–70% of the lost location-grid traffic would add back ≈ 150 transactional clicks/month.
P2 — Strengthen the conversion hubs
/medicare-psychologist-rebates/ alone lost 65 clicks. This is mid-funnel money traffic (people who are about to book). The page needs to be the best version of itself on the SERP:
- Update the rebate figures to the current Medicare schedule (item numbers, $ per session, mental health care plan limits).
- FAQPage schema covering “how much do I get back”, “do I need a referral”, “do I need a GP”, “how many sessions are covered”. These match the People Also Ask pattern Google now expects.
- Author byline by a credentialed psychologist who’s worked under bulk-billing arrangements.
- Above the fold: a 60-word direct answer to “how much do I get back from Medicare for a psychologist” — an AI-Overview-citable assertion.
P3 — Long-tail service pages (anxiety, anger, addictions, CBT)
These pages compete against authority sites (BeyondBlue, Healthline) for the informational version of the query AND against directories (Psychology Today) for the commercial version. To win the commercial slot:
- Strip out any boilerplate “what is X” definitions in the first 800 words — those are what’s bleeding to AI Overviews.
- Lead with the SERVICE proposition: “Our Sydney psychologists treat anxiety using …”. Move the description of the condition to a collapsible “About this condition” section below.
- Add the actual practitioners’ names, photos and qualifications who treat this condition. Schedule a discovery-call CTA in the first viewport.
P4 — Don’t touch the head terms
“therapy sydney” #1, “marriage counsellors sydney” #1, “counsellor sydney” #1 etc are intact. Aggressive optimisation of pages that are already winning is the most common way to LOSE those rankings. Leave them alone. Monitor only.
P5 — Monthly defensive monitoring
Re-run this report monthly (the script + GSC OAuth token are in place). The next Google core update in the cycle is expected late Q3 2026 — if any of the head terms start slipping in the GSC daily data, intervene fast.
DataForSEO Labs API: ranked_keywords, competitors_domain, historical_rank_overview (live, location 2036, language en).
Google Search Console: sc-domain:counsellingsydney.com.au, OAuth scope webmasters.readonly.
Transactional intent filter at /tmp/transactional-cut.py.
Compiled June 2026.