Advertising rules for a professional practice website

Regulated professions — lawyers, dentists, doctors and other health practitioners, accountants, notaries — may communicate about their practice, but under rules set by their regulators. The rules differ by country and profession; their core does not. SiteBienfait writes practice websites within that core, and this guide sets it out. It is a practical summary, not legal advice: your regulator’s current text is the reference.

What do the rules have in common?

Five principles recur across professions and countries:

1. Information, not inducement. A page may explain what the practice does, how, where and for whom. It may not pressure, promise or flatter.
2. No promised outcome. No “win your case”, no “pain-free in three sessions”, no “guaranteed tax savings”. Outcomes depend on the case, and the page says so.
3. No comparison with colleagues. No “best in town”, no ranking against other practices, no claims that cannot be verified.
4. Titles as formally held. A specialism, a qualification or a membership is named only when it is formally recognised.
5. Confidentiality first. No client or patient story, photo or name without written consent, and forms that collect only what is needed.

What does that mean for each page?

• Service pages describe the service, the usual steps and what varies. They avoid adjectives that imply superiority.
• Profiles list qualifications, areas of practice and languages exactly as held.
• Fees are explained honestly — fixed where they are fixed, “depends on the case” where they do, regulated where they are regulated — and never presented as a bargain.
• Before-and-after images and testimonials are treated with caution, and usually left out, in health professions.
• Search snippets and AI answers draw on the same text, so they inherit the same restraint.

Do the rules conflict with SEO or GEO?

They point the same way. Google’s guidance on helpful, reliable content asks for accurate, people-first pages, with extra care on topics that affect health, money or legal outcomes. AI assistants repeat what they can read and trust. A page that states plainly what the practice does, without exaggeration, is exactly what both reward. What GEO is, and what it cannot control covers the AI side.

Where are the rules written?

In each regulator’s code of conduct or professional rules, which change over time. A few examples: bars and law societies publish lawyers’ communication rules; dental and medical councils publish codes of ethics that cover communication with the public; accountancy and notarial bodies publish their own. When in doubt about a wording, the regulator’s guidance is the reference — and the practice, not its web provider, holds the professional responsibility.

How SiteBienfait handles it

Every page SiteBienfait writes for a practice follows the five principles above, is checked by a person, and is read by the practitioner once before launch. Any wording can be changed on request. See how this applies to law firms, dental clinics, health practices and accountants and notaries, or read about GEO for practices. The free tools help check a site before any change.

Sources

• Google Search Central, “Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content”: developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content
• Google Search Central, “Spam policies for Google web search”: developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies