How search results are ordered

There is no algorithm to game on One Good Hour, and nobody can pay to appear above anyone else. Search results are ordered by the things you asked for: your filters, distance from the location you gave, and genuine availability — whether a counsellor actually has a bookable space. That is the whole formula, and this page is our commitment that it stays the whole formula.

We never rank counsellors by qualification level, credential count, years of experience or anything like it. The research on counselling outcomes is consistent: what predicts how someone does is the relationship between client and counsellor, not the letters after a name. So we verify that what a profile claims is true, and then leave the choosing to you — the matching happens in your first session, not in our code.

There are no star ratings, no review scores and no “recommended” placements. If we ever introduce a sponsored placement it will be clearly labelled and never lifted above a better match — and this page will say so before it happens.

Counsellors are told the same thing when they join: there is no way to buy position here. A directory where ranking is for sale is a directory where the top result answers “who paid?”, not “who fits?”.

Questions about this page? Email [email protected].