Before they book an appointment, many patients look up a dental clinic or a physiotherapy practice online and compare a few websites. If you run a small practice in Valencia, Alicante, Elche or elsewhere in Spain, your website is often the first impression new patients get. This guide explains what good medical website design looks like for dentists and physiotherapists: the pages you need, design and accessibility best practices, the Spanish rules your site must follow and what it costs.
What is medical website design?
Medical website design is the planning, writing and building of websites for healthcare providers such as doctors, dentists and physiotherapists. A well-designed medical website gives patients clear information, is easy to navigate on any device and follows the rules on health advertising.
Three key things make it different from designing a website for a shop or a restaurant:
- Trust comes first: patients are choosing a healthcare provider to take care of their health, so they want to know who will treat them and what qualifications and experience they have.
- The content is regulated: in Spain, health advertising must be objective, prudent and truthful, and your website counts as advertising.
- Patient data is sensitive: health details are special-category data under the GDPR, so what your site asks for needs care.
What pages does a dental or physiotherapy website need?
Like any healthcare website, a dental or physiotherapy site should include a home page, a page for each main service, profiles of the professionals, your location and opening hours, ways to get in touch or book, and the legal pages required in Spain. Each page should help patients find the information they need to choose a practice (see our checklist for small business websites).
A home page that says who you are and where to find you
Explain what kind of practice you run, which town or neighbourhood you're in and how to reach you, with a call button and a WhatsApp button near the top, making the next step easy on a mobile.
Service pages in plain language
Describe each of your services and the care it involves, from check-ups and orthodontics to sports physiotherapy or rehabilitation after an injury. Write in everyday words: what happens, how long a session lasts and what to bring. Leave out medical jargon and never promise a result: Spanish rules ban any assurance of relief or cure.
Your team, with qualifications and colegiado numbers
Patients want to know who will take care of them. Give each dentist or physiotherapist a short profile with a real photo, their qualification, their experience and their colegiado number: the membership number of the Colegio, the professional association every dentist and physiotherapist must join to practise in Spain. Few pages do more to build trust on a healthcare website.
Location, opening hours and access
Show your address with a map, your opening hours, parking or public transport nearby and whether the practice has step-free access, so nobody struggles to reach you.
Medical website design best practices
Great design is not decoration. Good website design, clear content, simple navigation and a smooth user experience help patients find information quickly and feel confident about getting in touch. These web design best practices apply to any healthcare website, from a large dental practice to a physiotherapist working alone.
A calm, clean design that reflects your brand
In healthcare, blues, soft greens and whites are often associated with cleanliness and calm. Pick one or two colours from your branding, a readable font and plenty of white space, and keep this visual identity consistent throughout so your brand is easy to recognise. Real images of your waiting room and consulting rooms show what to expect and build trust; generic stock photos of medical staff could belong to anyone.
Simple navigation
Clear navigation, a key part of website design, makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Keep the main menu short, with labels such as Services, About us, Find us and Book, and keep your call and booking buttons visible on every page, so visitors who land on a service page from a search engine can call or book without hunting for details. The NHS design system follows the same idea: its header sits at the top of every page, with the most important sections first and the current one highlighted.
Mobile-first website design
Many of your patients will look you up on their phone, so ensure buttons are large enough to tap, text is readable without zooming and images are light enough for pages to load quickly. A slow website spoils the user experience and can hold back your position in search results; our article on website speed and search rankings explains what to check.
Accessibility: a website everyone can use
In healthcare website design, accessibility means that everyone can use your site, including older users and people with a visual, hearing or motor impairment. The reference is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), an international standard that the GOV.UK Service Manual and the DWP Accessibility Manual, both from the UK government, explain in plain English. The guidelines rest on four principles: what you publish must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, whether someone uses a mouse, a keyboard, a screen reader or a magnifier.
UK government bodies are expected to meet level AA on their sites. Accessibility law in Spain covers some sites and not others, so ask your adviser whether it applies to yours; in any case, level AA is a sensible standard to aim for. These features help:
- enough contrast between text and background, and text that users can enlarge without breaking the layout;
- alternative text on images, so screen reader users hear what each one shows;
- buttons and links that support keyboard navigation, not only a mouse or a finger;
- a 'Skip to main content' link at the top of each page, as on NHS and GOV.UK pages, so keyboard users can jump past the menu;
- headings that give each page a clear structure, and descriptive links such as 'See our opening hours' rather than 'Click here';
- captions on any videos you publish.
Language counts too: a site in Spanish, English and, in the Comunidad Valenciana, Valencian reaches more of the local community, including English-speaking residents on the Costa Blanca. Make sure what matters most (prices, opening hours, how to book) is available in each language version, not only in Spanish. WebAutonomos can deliver your website in up to four languages at no extra cost.
Content patients can understand
Healthcare content should be accurate, brief and free of jargon, which improves the experience for every patient. Your website should explain what happens at a first visit, what to bring, how payment works, your cancellation terms and how to change an appointment. Avoid superlatives and wording that promises results, which goes against Spanish health advertising rules. Our guide to writing website content when you're not a writer can help.
What can NHS and GOV.UK guidance teach you?
This guidance, which covers writing, accessibility and the handling of sensitive details, is open to anyone. UK rules don't apply in Spain, but the same principles travel well for a small dental or physiotherapy team serving its community in Alicante or Elche.
Write to a recognised standard
The standard for creating health content in the NHS digital service manual asks for writing built around user needs, in plain English and backed by recognised clinical evidence, with a documented checking process, a fixed review date and action on user feedback. In your case, that means starting each page from the questions you hear at reception, having the dentist or physiotherapist who provides the treatment review the wording, and showing when each one was last updated.
Test with real users
The GOV.UK Service Manual asks teams to do user research throughout, watching real users try what has been built rather than relying on their own judgement. Before launch, test your new pages on an older mobile with its built-in screen reader, move through them on a computer using only the keyboard, and ask two or three friends who have never visited to see when you're open and to call you. Their feedback shows what to improve before you go live.
What rules must a healthcare website follow in Spain?
In Spain, a dental or physiotherapy website must include a legal notice (LSSI), a privacy policy and a cookie policy (GDPR and LSSI), the clinic's health registration number and each professional's colegiado number. Its content must also follow health advertising rules: no patient testimonials, no promises of results and no titles you don't hold.
| Requirement | What it means for your website |
|---|---|
| Legal notice (LSSI) | Your name or company name, NIF (tax number), address and contact details, Colegio and colegiado number, qualification and the country that issued it, and the professional rules that apply. |
| Privacy and cookies (GDPR, LSSI) | How you use the details sent through your website, and consent before setting any cookies that aren't essential. |
| Health registration number | A clinic or practice needs authorisation from the regional health department, and the registration number it receives must appear in its advertising, website included. |
| Colegiado number | Joining the Colegio is compulsory for dentists and physiotherapists; show each number next to the person's name. |
| Health advertising | Objective, prudent and truthful information, with no patient testimonials and no assurance of relief, cure or results. |
| Prior authorisation | Some regions, such as Murcia, require prior authorisation of health advertising, websites included. |
This is general information, not legal advice: check the details with your Colegio and regional health department. Our pages on websites for dentists in Spain and physiotherapists in Spain list the laws behind each rule.
Why patient testimonials don't belong on your website
Spain's Royal Decree on health advertising bans using testimonials from patients, real or supposed, from celebrities or from healthcare professionals as a way to attract patients. It's best to leave patient reviews and testimonials off your website. Before-and-after photos have no specific rule but are judged under the same bans on testimonials and misleading claims, so leave them out too. Build trust with what shows your expertise instead: qualifications, colegiado numbers, photos of your premises and plain information about each service.
Use only the titles you hold
Spain has no official titles for dental areas such as implants or orthodontics, so present them as services you offer. The physiotherapists' code of ethics asks them to present themselves only as 'Fisioterapeuta', without adding titles such as osteopath.
Prices and offers
If you publish prices, show the full final price, with no promotional offers or 'free' hooks: calling something free is misleading if the patient ends up paying, and the physiotherapists' code of ethics rules out price-based advertising.
How should a healthcare website handle personal information?
A healthcare website should ask only for what it needs to reply: a name, a phone number or email address and perhaps a preferred time. Don't ask for the reason for the visit or for symptoms: health details get extra protection under the GDPR, and a short, easy enquiry form doesn't need them.
The ICO, the UK regulator, explains why in its guidance on special category data: because they are sensitive, such details need extra protection, and even details that seem routine can count, such as a series of physiotherapy invoices. The EU GDPR, which applies in Spain alongside the LOPDGDD (Spain's own law on the subject), uses the same definitions as the UK GDPR, and the AEPD is the Spanish authority that supervises both. Under either version, handling such details requires one of a short list of extra legal conditions on top of the usual rules.
Other steps that protect patient data on a healthcare website:
- a link to your privacy policy next to the send button;
- an SSL certificate, to ensure the details travel encrypted;
- no pre-ticked boxes for newsletters or marketing emails;
- a note asking visitors not to send medical reports.
With WebAutonomos, requests from your website arrive straight in your email, and the SSL certificate and the legal texts are included; your colegiado and registration numbers come from you.
Can patients book appointments through your website?
Yes. Patients can call you, send a WhatsApp message or write to you through your website, and if you already use an online booking tool, a button can link to it.
Many healthcare providers, from dental clinics to physiotherapy centres, already schedule appointments with practice management software or an online platform. Linking to the system you already use is often the simplest way: nobody has to work with two diaries. If you don't have one yet, our guide to choosing an online booking system explains the options.
WebAutonomos doesn't set up appointment systems or send reminders: your site includes a contact form that sends requests to your email, a WhatsApp button and, if you want one, a button linking to the tool you already use. For WhatsApp, see how to set up WhatsApp Business for free.
Local SEO: helping patients find your practice online
A well-designed website only helps if people can find it. Patients looking for a dentist or physiotherapist often search online for a service and a place, such as 'dentist in Alicante' or 'physiotherapist in Elche', so use those terms in your page titles and texts.
- Local keywords: mention your services and your town where they belong (see our guide to local keyword research).
- Google Business Profile: create or complete it with your opening hours, photos and services, using the same name, address and phone number as your website (how to optimise your Google Business Profile).
- Structured data: Schema.org markup helps search engines read your practice's name, address and opening hours (Schema LocalBusiness explained).
- Useful content: publish short articles answering common questions, such as what to expect at a first physiotherapy session, following the same advertising rules.
Every WebAutonomos website includes basic SEO: page titles and texts that mention your service and area, with details that match your Business Profile. For the bigger picture of your digital strategy, read our guide to what local SEO is.
What does a medical website cost in Spain?
Web design prices in Spain vary widely: a professional website costs around €800 to €2,000 from a freelancer and €1,500 to €4,000 from an agency, before maintenance (Social Media Pymes, 2026). With WebAutonomos, your website costs €15 a month with no setup fee and no commitment, or €349 as a one-off payment.
Both plans include the same services: website design, texts prepared from your real information, hosting, the SSL certificate, daily backups, technical maintenance, a contact form, a WhatsApp button, the legal texts and one change a month after launch. The .es domain is included the first year, then costs about €12 a year. With the one-off payment, the website is yours.
We prepare a demo of your site in less than 24 hours, and you see it before paying anything; if it isn't right for you, it costs nothing. Request your free demo or compare the options in our guide to website costs in Spain.
Checklist before your website goes live
Before you publish your healthcare website, check that:
- the legal notice shows your details, Colegio, colegiado number and qualification;
- your health registration number appears wherever the site presents your services;
- the form asks only what you need to reply, never the reason for the visit;
- there are no patient testimonials, reviews or before-and-after photos;
- no text promises results, relief or a cure, and nobody uses a title they don't hold;
- any prices are full final prices, with no promotional offers;
- the call, booking and WhatsApp buttons are easy to tap on a mobile;
- your name, address and opening hours match your Google listing;
- you have prior authorisation for your advertising if your region requires it.
Medical website design is about clarity: who you are, what you do, where you are and how to book, explained honestly and within the rules. Start with these essentials and keep them updated.