Most families find a speech pathologist after someone has raised a concern. A kindy teacher notices a child is hard to understand, or a child health nurse suggests an assessment.
From there, parents search online, compare a few clinics and call the one that feels right. This guide covers the practical steps that help a Perth speech pathology practice become that clinic.
It is written for practice owners and managers. You can read more about how we work with clinics on our speech therapy marketing page.
How families search and choose
Parents usually search by service and suburb. Typical searches look like “speech therapist Ellenbrook”, “speech pathology for toddlers” or “late talker assessment Perth”.
Others search by concern before they search for a service. They type “my 2 year old isn’t talking” or “stuttering in preschoolers” well before they think about booking.
When they compare clinics, distance and session times come first, because therapy is often weekly. Qualifications matter too, and so do wait times and funding options.
A referral from a GP or paediatrician carries real weight. Families still look you up before they ring, and many ask another parent or their child’s teacher.
Your website
Your website does most of the convincing. Within a few seconds, a parent should be able to tell whether you see children of their child’s age, for their concern, near where they live.
Pages worth having
- A page for each core service you offer, such as early language, speech sounds, stuttering, literacy and feeding.
- Separate pages for early intervention and school-age services, since the families and their worries differ.
- A page for each clinic, with parking, public transport and the suburbs it serves.
- A funding page covering NDIS, Medicare plans through a GP and private health rebates, with links to official sites for current rules.
- A page for referrers, explaining how GPs, paediatricians and schools can refer and what you send back.
- Team profiles with qualifications and areas of interest.
Trust signals
Show each clinician’s qualifications, and their Speech Pathology Australia membership or Certified Practising status where it applies. Real photos of your clinic and team help nervous parents picture the first visit.
Explain what happens at an initial assessment. A short, calm description of the first session removes a common reason parents put off calling.
The enquiry path
Put your phone number and a short enquiry or waitlist form on every page. Keep the form brief: the child’s age, the main concern, the preferred clinic and the best time to call.
If you take online bookings, link straight to the booking page. If new clients need an intake call first, say so, and tell families how quickly you respond.
Our web design team builds health practice websites with these pages and paths in place.
Google Business Profile and reviews
For local searches, your Google Business Profile often appears before your website. Each clinic needs its own profile, with the right category, accurate hours and a phone number that reaches that clinic.
Add photos of the waiting area and therapy rooms. Post updates about school holiday sessions or new clinicians, and answer common questions in the profile.
Reviews need care. You can ask families for Google reviews, but never offer anything in exchange, and don’t repeat clinical outcomes from reviews in your advertising.
Reply to every review politely, and never confirm in a reply that the reviewer is a client. A child’s therapy is private, even when the parent mentions it first.
Content worth writing
Parents look for answers before they look for a clinic. Content that answers their questions well brings them to your site early, and builds trust before the first call.
Useful topics for a Perth practice include:
- Speech and language milestones by age, in plain language.
- What a late talker assessment involves.
- How speech pathology can support reading and spelling at school.
- Using NDIS funding for speech therapy, with links to the NDIS for current rules.
- Simple activities parents can use at home between sessions.
Keep the tone factual. Avoid promising outcomes or timeframes, and have a clinician check each article before it goes live.
Good content also supports your SEO, because it gives Google more reasons to show your site for local searches.
Paid ads
Google Ads can put you in front of parents the moment they search. That is useful for a new clinic, or for a service with spare capacity. Ads can also be paused quickly when your books are full.
Speech pathology ads need careful keyword choices, because many searches come from students, adults or people after free resources. Our page on Google Ads for speech therapy in Perth covers targeting, exclusions and tracking in detail. You can also read about our Google Ads management.
Social media and email
Social media works best for staying in touch with families you already know, and with local referrers. Short posts about home practice ideas, clinic news or school holiday groups suit Facebook and Instagram.
Never post photos of clients without written consent, and think carefully even when you have it.
Email suits a practice with a waitlist. A short note when places open, or a term update for local GPs and schools, keeps you in mind without much effort. Our social media marketing and email marketing services can handle both.
Advertising rules for speech pathology
Speech pathology marketing has the same limits as any health service. We work within Ahpra’s advertising rules.
That means no client testimonials in your advertising, no promised outcomes and no misleading claims.
The Australian Consumer Law applies too, and Speech Pathology Australia’s Code of Ethics sets expectations for members.
In practice, that means:
- No testimonials or client stories about clinical outcomes in your advertising.
- No promised results or set timeframes.
- No claims you cannot back up, such as “best” or “leading”.
- Accurate titles and qualifications for every clinician.
NDIS claims need care too, so only describe yourself as a registered NDIS provider if you are one.
These rules are updated from time to time. Check current guidance from Speech Pathology Australia, Ahpra and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
Measuring enquiries
Track every phone call, form and online booking, and record where each one came from. Call tracking numbers on your website and ads make this possible without changing your main number.
Ask new families how they heard about you, and add the answer to your practice management system. Over time, this shows whether search or referrals bring in the families who stay for a full block of therapy.
Look at enquiries for each clinic as well as the total. A busy main clinic can hide a newer location that needs more attention.
A short checklist
- Each service and each clinic has its own page.
- Funding options are explained clearly, with links to official sources.
- Every clinic has an accurate Google Business Profile.
- The enquiry or waitlist form is short and works well on a phone.
- Referrers have a page explaining how to refer.
- Advertising avoids testimonials and promised outcomes.
- Calls, forms and bookings are tracked by source.
If you’d like help putting this into practice, we are happy to look over your website and local search presence. Request a free quote and you will hear back from a senior member of our team.
