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If you are a registered health practitioner in Australia, your website counts as advertising, and advertising a regulated health service comes with rules under the National Law.
Here is the plain-English version of what trips people up. This is general information, not legal advice: the authoritative source is Ahpra's advertising hub, and when in doubt, check it or ask your professional body.
The best-known rule. Reviews from patients about your clinical service cannot be used in your advertising, and your website is advertising. Patients can still leave Google reviews; the line is crossed when you republish clinical praise in your own marketing.
Including by omission. "Gentle, effective treatment" reads as innocent marketing; "effective" is a claim you may be asked to substantiate.
Before-and-after framing, success rates, "get your life back" promises. If it implies an outcome, it is risky.
"Free first consult" is fine only if the full terms are stated clearly.
"Doctor" usage, specialist titles, qualifications: they must match your registration.
Trust has to be built differently. What still works, and works well: plain description of who you help and how sessions run, your qualifications and registrations stated accurately, fees published clearly, a warm and professional design, photos of you and the practice, and content that shows expertise rather than claims it.
This is exactly how we approach allied health builds.
Testimonial sliders carried over from an old template. "Best physio in [suburb]" in a page title (superlative plus clinical service). Embedded Google review widgets pulling clinical testimonials straight into the site. Blog posts promising outcomes to rank for search terms.
The pattern that helps practitioners most is seeing the rewrite. As general information rather than compliance advice:
The pattern behind every rewrite: describe what you do and who for, never what outcome the next patient should expect. When a sentence promises a feeling or a result, it is advertising an outcome; when it describes a service, it is just information.
Yes. A website advertising a regulated health service is advertising under the National Law.
Yes, patients can post reviews on platforms you do not control. The rules bite when you use clinical testimonials in your own advertising.
Ahpra's advertising hub publishes the current guidelines and examples. When unsure, check there or ask your professional body.
We design within practitioner advertising obligations from the first draft.
Twenty minutes, straight answers, no obligation to proceed.
Book a free 20-minute chat/ Written by Manon Vernay, founder of Creative Baguette · her story
