Choosing a doctor is personal. Choosing a specialist, whether a gynaecologist to see you through pregnancy, a surgeon, or a paediatrician for your child, is even more so. Patients rarely pick the first name they see. They search, compare, read, and look for reassurance before they phone the rooms.

That means your website is often the first consultation, before the first consultation. We recently designed and built the website for Dr Makanda, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist at Melomed Mitchells Plain, and for MedTalk Network, a South African organiser of CPD events and medical conferences. Here’s what we’ve learned about what healthcare websites need.

How patients actually look for a specialist

A typical patient journey looks something like this:

  1. They get a referral from their GP, or start with a search like “gynaecologist near me” or “gynaecologist Mitchells Plain”.
  2. They check where the practice is, which hospital it’s at, and whether it’s convenient to get to.
  3. They look for reassurance: qualifications, experience, the services offered, and whether the doctor seems approachable.
  4. They check practical details: medical aid, consultation hours, and how to book.
  5. They make contact, usually by phone or WhatsApp, often from their mobile, often outside working hours.

A good practice website answers every one of those questions quickly, on a phone screen, without making the patient hunt.

What to put above the fold

The first screen a visitor sees should answer three questions in about five seconds:

  • Who is this? The doctor’s name and speciality stated plainly, e.g. “Specialist Obstetrician & Gynaecologist”.
  • Where? The hospital or rooms and the area, e.g. “Melomed Private Hospital, Mitchells Plain”.
  • How do I book? A clear “Book an Appointment” button, plus tap-to-call and WhatsApp.

Essential pages for a medical practice website

About the doctor

Qualifications, where they trained, years of experience, special interests, professional memberships, and HPCSA registration number (patients can verify it on the HPCSA’s online register). Include a professional, warm photo. Patients want to see who they’ll be trusting.

A page for each service or condition

This is where most practice websites fall short, and where the biggest search opportunity is.

Instead of one “Services” page with a bullet list, give each major service its own page: antenatal care, keyhole surgery, fertility support, menopause care, and so on.

Explain in plain language what it is, who it’s for, what to expect, and how to book.

Patients searching for a specific procedure or condition can then find a page that answers exactly that, and Google has a reason to rank it.

Medical aid and fees

One of the first questions on every patient’s mind. Say which medical schemes you work with, whether you charge above medical aid rates, and whether cash patients are welcome. If fees vary, say so and explain how patients can get a quote. Silence on this topic causes anxiety and drop-off.

Location, directions and hours

The exact rooms (floor, suite number), an embedded map, parking information, and consulting hours. Make after-hours and emergency guidance obvious: what a patient should do if they need help when the rooms are closed.

Booking and contact

Offer several ways to get in touch, because patients have different preferences: phone, WhatsApp, and a simple online appointment request form. Keep the form short: name, contact number, preferred dates, and a brief reason for the visit.

Patient information and FAQs

What to bring to a first visit, how long appointments take, how to prepare for procedures, and answers to the questions your receptionist hears every day. This reduces phone time for your staff and builds confidence before the patient arrives.

Staying within HPCSA rules

Healthcare practitioners in South Africa are bound by the HPCSA’s ethical rules on advertising and canvassing, set out in its booklets on ethical and professional conduct. We’re not lawyers and you should check the current guidance yourself, but in practice a compliant website generally means:

  • Information that is factual, accurate, and not misleading.
  • No claims of superiority over other practitioners, and no guaranteed outcomes.
  • No pressure tactics, “specials” that encourage unnecessary treatment, or sensational before-and-after claims.
  • Care with testimonials, particularly any that make claims about clinical results.

The good news is that a factual, informative, well-designed website is both compliant and persuasive. Patients are looking for clarity and reassurance, not hype.

POPIA: handling patient information safely

Health information is special personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), which means it needs extra care. On your website, that means:

  • Use HTTPS on every page (the padlock in the browser).
  • Don’t ask for detailed medical history through a website form. Collect only what you need to arrange the appointment.
  • Add a short consent line and a link to your privacy policy on any form.
  • Know where form submissions are sent and stored, and who can access them.

Local SEO for medical practices

Most patients look for specialists close to home or close to the hospital where they want to deliver or be treated. That makes local search essential:

  • Claim and fully complete your Google Business Profile with the correct medical category.
  • Mention your hospital, suburb, and the areas you serve naturally in your page titles and content.
  • Make sure the hospital’s own website and medical directories link to your site with consistent details.
  • Add Physician or MedicalClinic structured data so Google clearly understands your speciality and location.
  • Get the site indexed on Google from day one. Dr Makanda’s site was indexed by Google within two days of launch.

Medical events, CPD and conference websites

Healthcare organisations that run events have different needs.

For MedTalk Network, the website needed to do three jobs at once:

  • Show clinicians upcoming CPD and CME events, with clear dates, venues and registration.
  • Give industry partners a reason to sponsor or exhibit.
  • Build credibility for a relatively young organisation.

If you run medical events, give each event its own page with the date, venue, speakers, CPD accreditation details and a clear registration button.

Those pages get shared in WhatsApp groups and practice newsletters, so they need to stand on their own.

Quick checklist

  • Name, speciality and location clear on the first screen
  • Tap-to-call, WhatsApp and appointment request on every page
  • Doctor profile with qualifications and HPCSA number
  • Separate pages for key services and conditions
  • Medical aid and fee information
  • Directions, parking, hours and after-hours guidance
  • Factual, HPCSA-conscious content
  • POPIA-safe forms with a privacy policy
  • Google Business Profile and local SEO
  • Fast and easy to use on a mobile phone

Need a website for your practice?

We design and build websites for doctors, specialists and healthcare organisations that answer patients’ questions, make booking easy, and get found on Google. You can see Dr Makanda’s and MedTalk’s sites in our portfolio. Tell us about your practice and we’ll send you a clear quote, usually within 24 hours.