Growth and AI visibility for dietetics practices

In Australia, Accredited Practising Dietitian is a credential held through Dietitians Australia, with a university degree, supervised practice and continuing professional development behind it, and it is the credential Medicare, the NDIS, DVA and hospitals recognise. Nutritionist is not a protected title; anyone can use it. Patients do not know this, and the search results for any condition and the word diet are full of people who are not dietitians. So the page that explains the difference in one plain paragraph does three jobs: it is the page an AI quotes when someone asks the question in this heading, it tells a patient why the rebate exists for you and not for the influencer, and it tells a GP's practice nurse that the referral is going to the right place. We put that paragraph on the practice's about page and on each practitioner page, with the APD credential stated the way Dietitians Australia asks for it.

Do not compete for the same searches. An influencer wins "what to eat for PCOS" because the answer is a reel. A dietitian wins "PCOS dietitian", "FODMAP dietitian near me" and "dietitian for type 2 diabetes with a care plan" because those searches come from someone who has already decided they want a clinician, and increasingly they come from someone who asked ChatGPT and got a list. So each condition page is written for that person: who it is for, what the first appointment involves, what it costs with a care plan, with private health extras and without either, how long the wait is, and what happens after the fifth Medicare session. The page names the credential and the evidence base once, without arguing with the internet. That is what Google ranks for the clinical version of the search and what the AI answers quote, and it is what the influencer cannot write.

For dietetics, more than for any other allied health profession, because most of the work is a conversation and a plan. A telehealth dietitian competes nationally on specific prompts, such as a FODMAP-trained dietitian who takes care plan referrals with a wait under a fortnight, and the Medicare telehealth items sit alongside the in-person ones under the same five-a-year limit. The page structure changes: the Google Business Profile still carries the registered address, but the condition pages carry the weight, and the intake form asks the state so the practitioner knows which GP care plan and which time zone they are dealing with. The report to the GP is the same. We build telehealth practices the same way we build a clinic, with the geography taken out of the copy.

Not about the clinical work. Dietitians Australia's guidance to members rules out client testimonials that refer to clinical care, in writing, on video or as social media reviews, and rules out before-and-after photos with personal commentary. It allows feedback about the service experience: the location, the parking, the booking, the front desk (Dietitians Australia, marketing your practice). In practice that means Google reviews a patient leaves of their own accord stay on Google, and the website does not quote weight lost or symptoms fixed. What replaces them is specificity: the conditions you see, the first-appointment process, the fees under each funding stream, the wait, and the credential. It reads as more trustworthy than a testimonial to the patient who has been burned by a guarantee, and it is what the AI answers quote.

The one that fills the diary at the highest margin, which for most practices is not the one at the top of the homepage. Medicare care plan referrals are dependable and low: a $63.40 benefit against a $74.55 fee, five a year, and the gap is the practice's decision (MBS Online, item 10954). An eating disorder treatment plan funds up to twenty dietetic services in twelve months (MBS Online, item 82350), which is a different patient and a different referrer. NDIS pays $178.99 an hour for dietetics in 2026-27 with report writing at the same rate (NDIA Pricing Schedule 2026-27, v1.2, 22 July 2026), and the referrer is a support coordinator or a SIL provider with a mealtime management plan to commission. Private patients pay the most and search the most. So the homepage speaks to the private patient, the referrer page speaks to the GP and the coordinator, and each condition page states all three prices. We look at your last quarter by funding stream before we decide which one goes first.

Pricing is quote-based and set in ranges, all ex GST: one-off projects from $1,500 to $10,000, ongoing work on one service from $800 to $6,500 a month, and full-service retainers from $3,000 to $8,000 a month, on a three-month initial term then rolling. Work it from your own numbers: an NDIS dietetics hour is $178.99 and a private initial consultation is whatever you charge, so a $1,500 a month retainer is roughly eight to twelve appointments. If the condition pages bring three private patients a month who each book a review, and a draft saves each dietitian an hour a week on NDIS and GP reports, the retainer is covered inside the first month. If the numbers do not say that, we say so in the first conversation and you keep them. Tell us what you need and we will quote it in writing. Our article on what allied health marketing costs in Australia sets out what moves a quote up or down.