If you run a clinic in the allied health space, you already know how competitive the industry can be. Patients are searching online for answers from 'should I see a physio or chiro?' to 'osteopath near me'. If your practice isn’t showing up in those search results, you're missing out on potential bookings.

That’s where a focused allied health marketing strategy comes in. 

It helps your clinic attract new patients, build trust, and create a consistent flow of enquiries…all without relying solely on paid ads. 

Whether you're a physiotherapist, chiropractor, or nutritionist, marketing for allied health clinics needs to be local, visible, and patient-focused.

In this article, I’ll take a look at some solid and practical ways to grow your allied-health clinic with reliable marketing tactics.

What is allied health marketing?

Allied health marketing refers to the specific strategies used by clinics such as physios, chiros, osteopaths, podiatrists, and massage therapists to promote their services, attract local patients, and build trust in their community.

Unlike general medical marketing, allied health marketing often relies heavily on local SEO, educational content, and online visibility in map listings and directories. 

Because many allied health clinics operate in competitive suburbs, it’s important to stand out with clear messaging, suburb-based content, and strong reviews.

Optimise your website for suburbs and services

Your website should reflect what you do and where you do it. For example, instead of a single ‘Services’ page listing everything, publish individual pages for:

• Physiotherapy
• Chiropractic care
• Osteopathy
• Remedial massage
• Nutrition counselling

Or your combination of services, modalities and treatment options. 

Then go one step further by including suburb-specific keywords. These help you rank in local search results and speak directly to people looking for care near them.

Suburb example: Marrickville Chiropractic Care

Marrickville Chiropractic Care is a great example of how targeted local SEO can work in practice. Their site includes well-optimised service pages for different treatments and uses clear suburb-specific headings like:

• ‘Chiropractor Marrickville’
• ‘Chiropractor Inner West’ - check out how this page is optimised for this local keyword here
• ‘Pregnancy Chiropractor Sydney’
• ‘Webster Technique Chiropractor’

These efforts have helped them achieve strong visibility for local searches, resulting in a steady increase in organic bookings.

Build trust with customer reviews

Online reviews are one of the strongest trust signals for potential patients. Many people check reviews before deciding which allied health provider to contact, so a steady flow of genuine, positive feedback can directly influence new enquiries. 

Google reviews carry particular weight because they appear prominently in local search results and map listings, helping improve both visibility and click-through rates.

Beyond Google, platforms such as Healthshare, Whitecoat, Facebook, and True Local can also play an important role. 

These sites often rank highly in search results, giving your clinic additional exposure and more opportunities for patients to discover you. 

In some jurisdictions, such as Australia, reviews are limited to customer service or professionalism and aren’t allowed to mention clinical treatment. 

Create content your patients are already searching for

One of the best ways to grow your online presence is through helpful, patient-focused content. Many people are unsure which allied health service is right for them  and often turn to Google to figure it out.

Publishing content on your blog helps you:

• Show up in long-tail searches
• Build authority and trust
• Guide patients to the right service
• Keep your website fresh and engaging

Here are a few blog topic ideas you could try:

• ‘Can a chiropractor help with migraines?’
• ‘Difference between physio and osteo treatment for back pain’
• ‘Should I see a podiatrist or GP for heel pain?’
• ‘Top five reasons to book a remedial massage’

Make sure to link internally to relevant service pages (e.g. link 'remedial massage' to your massage therapy page) and add a clear call to action like ‘Book an appointment’ at the end.

Strengthen authority with backlinks

High-quality backlinks signal to Google that your site is trustworthy and relevant. A backlink is a link from another website that points to your site, and search engines see backlinks as a vote of confidence for your website.

To get more backlinks, start by:

• List your clinic on reputable directories such as Healthshare, Healthdirect, and True Local
• Ask referral partners like physiotherapists, GPs, and massage therapists to include a link to your site
• Join local business chambers or community groups that publish member directories online

Guest posting on relevant blogs or community websites can also be an effective way to earn local links and boost visibility.

Seed and Sprout Family Chiropractic – suburb optimisation and patient-focused copy

Seed and Sprout Family Chiropractic is a great example of how strategic suburb optimisation and patient-centred messaging can improve local visibility and engagement. 

Their ideal audience is families, particularly mums, babies and children, so their content approach focused on warm, family-friendly language rather than clinical jargon.

To strengthen their local search presence, they created dedicated suburb landing pages for nearby areas such as:

• Chiropractor Hornsby
• Chiropractor Turramurra and
• Chiropractor Chatswood. 

Each page was carefully written to be unique and SEO-optimised, targeting local chiropractic keywords while answering common patient questions in a way that works well for Google featured snippets and AI search.

They also enhanced their homepage to clearly highlight their family and paediatric care focus, ensuring key services are showcased upfront with improved structure and calls to action. 

This website and clinic is a great example of how allied health marketing can be applied to a particular niche and target market, evident in the warm language and family-friendly design of their website and service pages.

Final thoughts

Allied health marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. With a strong local SEO foundation, helpful patient-focused content, and a website that clearly explains your services and location, you can build a marketing system that works around the clock. 

And all without constantly paying for clicks.

Quick-win allied health marketing checklist

1. Optimise your Google Business Profile with service and suburb keywords
2. Create one landing page per service (e.g. Remedial Massage, Chiropractic for Kids)
3. Add suburb-based location pages targeting your nearby catchment
4. List your clinic in trusted health directories like Healthshare and Whitecoat
5. Start a blog to answer common patient questions
6. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly with fast load times
7. Collect and respond to Google reviews (within AHPRA guidelines)

Marshall Thurlow is Director and Founder of Orion Marketing Pty Ltd. He is a digital marketer with expertise in SEO, website design, content marketing, and project management.