After years of running SEO for Australian health practices, we have seen what works across different sectors and what simply doesn’t. Not every clinical offering responds to the same approach, and definitely not the same keyword strategy.
A dermatology clinic and a psychology practice might both want more patients, but the way people search for them, and how hard it is to show up in those results, could not be more different.
So we decided to dig into the data properly.
We analysed keyword demand and SEO competitiveness across 17 healthcare categories in Australia. That included GPs, psychologists, dentists, dermatologists, speech pathologists, podiatrists, audiologists, and more. The dataset covers monthly search volumes, keyword difficulty scores, traffic potential, and cost-per-click data.
Here’s what the data told us.
- The most searched healthcare categories are not always the easiest to compete in. High demand and real opportunity are often two very different things.
- Cost is driving search behaviour across the entire system. Bulk billing searches appear in almost every category we looked at.
- "Near me" searches dominate healthcare. Australians are not searching for specific providers, they are searching for whoever is available and close.
- A handful of categories, including dermatology, speech pathology, and audiology, have strong local search demand but very little competition. The opportunity is there and most providers aren’t taking it.
- The mental health sector is under serious strain. Searches are high, but click data shows many Australians are not finding what they need.
The search demand winners
When we looked at raw search demand, three categories stood out: dentistry, optometry, and psychology. These are the services Australians search for most consistently, though as we will get to, high demand does not always mean the rankings are easy to get.
| Term | Monthly Searches | Keyword Difficulty | Clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| dentist near me | 30,000 | 38 | 19,210 |
| psychologist | 24,000 | 62 | 6,840 |
| optometrist | 18,000 | 49 | 4,640 |
| gp | 17,000 | 48 | 3,630 |
| physio near me | 16,000 | 24 | 9,970 |
| doctor | 15,000 | 65 | 3,860 |
| podiatrist | 15,000 | 39 | 5,390 |
| optometrist near me | 14,000 | 35 | 6,040 |
| dermatologist near me | 12,000 | 21 | 7,790 |
| doctor near me | 11,000 | 27 | 5,560 |
| podiatrist near me | 11,000 | 34 | 6,820 |
| physiotherapist | 11,000 | 42 | 3,830 |
“Dentist near me” generates 30,000 monthly searches, the highest hyperlocal query across all 17 categories. Australians are not shopping around for a specific brand or practice. They want someone local who can see them, and providers who rank well for these terms are picking up patients who have likely already decided to book.
Physiotherapy shows up with consistent demand. “Physio near me” draws 16,000 monthly searches at a keyword difficulty of just 24, and “physiotherapist” adds another 11,000 at a difficulty of 42. For a category this size, those are very workable numbers, and the click data backs it up.
Podiatry is the dataset’s most underappreciated category. “Podiatrist” draws 15,000 monthly searches at KD 39, and “podiatrist near me” adds another 11,000 at KD 34. We’ve even found potential for sub-terms like “podiatrist services, which sits at a KD 12 with a traffic potential of 16,000. There is real volume here, and not many providers are going after it.
High demand doesn’t always mean real opportunity
High search volume is not the same as opportunity. Several of Australia’s highest-demand healthcare categories are also the hardest to compete in organically, and the gap between the two isn’t likely to close.
Psychology and psychotherapy are the clearest examples. “Psychologist” draws 24,000 monthly searches, but keyword difficulty scores between 62 and 80 mean page-one organic placement is out of reach for most independent practices without years of content investment behind them.
Major telehealth platforms have poured serious budget into terms like “online doctor,” and it shows. With a keyword difficulty of 63 and a CPC of $4.00, independent GP practices are not going to win there. The smarter move is to focus on suburb-level content targeting terms like “GP near me” and “bulk billing GP,” where the demand is strong and the competition is far more manageable.
| Keyword | Monthly Searches | Difficulty | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| counselling near me | 900 | 83 | Saturated |
| psychotherapy | 3,600 | 80 | Saturated |
| psychotherapist | 2,600 | 76 | Saturated |
| disability support | 1,200 | 67 | High difficulty |
| doctor | 15,000 | 65 | High difficulty |
| online doctor | 4,100 | 63 | High difficulty |
| psychologist | 24,000 | 62 | High difficulty |
| dentist near me | 30,000 | 38 | Achievable |
| “dermatologist near me” | 12,000 | 21 | Strong opportunity |
“Dentist near me” generates 30,000 monthly searches, the highest hyperlocal query across all 17 categories. Australians are not shopping around for a specific brand or practice. They want someone local who can see them, and providers who rank well for these terms are picking up patients who have likely already decided to book.
Physiotherapy shows up with consistent demand. “Physio near me” draws 16,000 monthly searches at a keyword difficulty of just 24, and “physiotherapist” adds another 11,000 at a difficulty of 42. For a category this size, those are very workable numbers, and the click data backs it up.
Podiatry is the dataset’s most underappreciated category. “Podiatrist” draws 15,000 monthly searches at KD 39, and “podiatrist near me” adds another 11,000 at KD 34. We’ve even found potential for sub-terms like “podiatrist services, which sits at a KD 12 with a traffic potential of 16,000. There is real volume here, and not many providers are going after it.
The healthcare categories with the most realistic path to page one
Dermatology
“Dermatologist near me,” with 12,000 monthly searches and a keyword difficulty of just 21, is one of the most compelling data points in the entire analysis. For context, “dentist near me”, the most searched near-me healthcare term, has a difficulty of 38. Dermatology near-me searches are both higher-intent and easier to rank for than most comparable healthcare categories.
Specific sub-terms also have great opportunity. “Dermatologist bulk bill near me” draws 600 searches at KD 13, and “Dermatology clinic near me” has a traffic potential of 13,000 at KD 28.
These are terms where a dermatology clinic with a well-structured local SEO presence could realistically achieve first-page visibility, all without the budget a national brand would require.
Speech pathology
“Speech pathologist near me” has a difficulty of 22 but a traffic potential of 22,000, and “Speech pathology near me” scores 11 with an 18,000 traffic potential.
For a category serving paediatric and adult populations, this is a structural gap that a single, well-optimised location or audience-focused service page can take advantage of. Think “childrens speeth pathologist” or “speech pathology for kids”.
Audiology and hearing tests
“Hearing test” generates 4,400 monthly searches at a difficulty of just 12 and is notably one of the best volume-to-difficulty ratios in the entire dataset.
“Audiologist near me” sits at KD 28 with 2,400 searches.
In a category serving an ageing Australian population, this demand will only grow. Even searches like “ear doctor” and “ear doctor near me” are worth striving for.
Bulk-billed mental health
“Bulk billed psychologist” sits at KD 18 with a traffic potential of 6,200, and “Bulk bill counselling” is at KD 17.
These searches come from Australians who cannot afford private rates, a cohort that is only growing as cost of living rises. Providers who rank here are capturing the highest-intent, highest-need patients in the mental health space, so if you are a bulk-billing mental health practitioner, make it known.
Where SEO is becoming harder for smaller providers
Some categories have reached a point where the big players have absorbed most of the available search real estate, and smaller providers are largely shut out.
Mental health (broad)
Keyword difficulty scores of 62–83 on primary terms such as psychotherapy, counselling, and psychologist. National directories, telehealth platforms, and government mental health resources dominate page one. Independent practices are largely invisible on these terms.
psychotherapy: 76
counselling near me: 83
psychologist: 62
Online GP and telehealth
Aggressive paid and organic investment from telehealth platforms has made this category a costly battleground. CPCs up to $4.00, difficulty scores above 60, and very low click-through rates on the primary terms.
online doctor: 63
gp telehealth: 48
gp appointment online: 61
Disability support (NDIS)
Government bodies, peak agencies, and major NDIS providers dominate the broad terms here, and smaller providers are not going to displace them. But the broad terms are not where the real opportunity sits anyway.
Someone searching “disability support services” is at the very start of their journey. Someone searching for support for a specific condition, age group, or participant type already knows what they need and is much closer to making a decision.
Those specific terms are almost certainly less contested, and they attract a far more qualified audience. For independent NDIS providers, that level of specificity is likely where the visibility, and the patients actually are.
disability support: 67
disability support services: 61
disability support services near me: 76
disability services near me: 78
Medical spa services
KD 86, the highest score in the dataset. The broad category term is completely saturated by the main players and franchises. Independent operators must target location and treatment-specific terms where difficulty drops to 16–35.
medical spa services: 86
What the data reveals about how Australians are searching
Cost is reshaping search intent across the entire system
One of the clearest signals in the dataset has nothing to do with which category is most popular. Bulk billing searches show up across almost every single category we looked at.
| Term | Monthly Searches | Keyword Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| bulk billing GP | 2,400 | 38 |
| bulk billed psychologist | 400 | 18 |
| bulk bill physio | 150 | 0 |
| bulk billing dentist | 500 | 0 |
| dermatologist bulk bill near me | 600 | 13 |
| doctor bulk bill | 100 | 25 |
| bulk bill counselling | 20 | 17 |
| bulk billed audiologist | 30 | 2 |
Every term in this table sits below KD 40. Most are well below that. Australians are searching for affordable care across every discipline, and almost no providers are actively targeting these terms.
For practices that offer bulk billing or Medicare rebates and aren’t communicating that clearly online, they are losing patients before they ever get a look in.
The "near me" search is a capacity search
When 30,000 Australians search “dentist near me” every month, many are not looking for their preferred provider. They are looking for someone who can see them in their local area, and most of the time, pretty quickly too.
| Term | Monthly Searches | Clicks | Keyword Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dentist near me | 30,000 | 19,210 | 38 |
| Physio near me | 16,000 | 9,970 | 24 |
| Doctor near me | 11,000 | 5,560 | 27 |
| Podiatrist near me | 11,000 | 6,820 | 34 |
| Psychologist near me | 6,600 | 7,230 | 34 |
| Optometrist near me | 14,000 | 6,040 | 35 |
| Dermatologist near me | 12,000 | 7,790 | 21 |
| Audiologist near me | 2,400 | 1,720 | 28 |
The mental health data shows visible system strain
Australians searched for psychologists, counsellors, and psychotherapists more than 33,000 times last month. Fewer than 9,200 of those searches resulted in a click. That means roughly 7 in 10 people searching for mental health support are not clicking through to a provider.
That kind of dropout doesn’t happen when people are finding what they need. It happens when page one is not giving them what they’re after, whether that is because the results are dominated by directories, government resources, or practices with no availability showing.
The demand is there, but the access clearly is not keeping up with it.
Children's health is an underleveraged signal
Every paediatric term in the dataset sits at a keyword difficulty of 4 or below, which is very achievable for a small, independent clinic. Parents searching for help for their child are operating in a completely different, far less contested search environment, and almost no providers are taking advantage of it.
It is also worth thinking about who is doing the searching. Parents looking for paediatric specialists tend to be thorough, committed, and once they find a practice they trust, they stick around, refer friends, and bring siblings. Practices that show up for these searches are building some of the most valuable patient relationships in the business.
| Term | Monthly Searches | Keyword Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Child psychologist | 1,300 | 4 |
| Speech pathology for kids | 350 | 4 |
| Child speech pathologist | 150 | 0 |
| Paediatric podiatrist | 150 | 0 |
| Paediatric audiologist | 150 | 4 |
Telehealth demand has split by discipline
GP telehealth is a category that platforms like HotDoc and InstantScripts have made their own, and independent practices are not going to compete with them on budget. Psychology telehealth is a completely different situation. The search volumes are smaller, but the competition is thin, and the traffic potential points to a much larger pool of related queries sitting behind these terms.
For independent psychology practices, these are more achievable terms with real patients behind them.
GP TELEHEALTH
| Keyword | Monthly Searches | Keyword Difficulty | Traffic Potential |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online doctor | 4,100 | 63 | 34,000 |
| Gp telehealth | 80 | 48 | 28,000 |
PSYCHOLOGY TELEHEALTH
| Keyword | Monthly Searches | Keyword Difficulty | Traffic Potential |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online psychologist | 800 | 27 | 2,500 |
| Telehealth psychologist | 250 | 24 | 6,400 |
What this data means for healthcare providers
1. Local SEO is the clearest path to new patients for many providers
Dermatology, speech pathology, audiology, and podiatry all have great search demand with very little competition behind them. Across these four categories, near-me keyword difficulty scores sit between 21 and 34, some of the lowest in the entire dataset, yet the searches and clicks are very much there.
And these aren’t searches where someone is looking for the best dermatologist in Australia. They want one near them, and in most cases, the first practice to show up with a well-optimised Google Business Profile and strong location and service pages is the one that gets the call.
In categories like these, local SEO is one of the fastest wins available.
2. Mental health providers should not abandon SEO but instead, redirect it
The broad terms are out of reach for most independent practices, and chasing them is a losing battle. But the data shows there is still a very real path to visibility for mental health providers who are willing to get specific.
Terms like “grief counsellor,” “relationship counsellor,” and “anxiety psychologist” sit in a completely different competitive bracket to “psychologist” or “counsellor.”
These are terms that independent practices can realistically rank for, and they attract people who already know exactly what kind of help they are looking for, which makes them far more likely to book than someone who just typed “psychologist” into Google.
3. Bulk billing communication is a visibility requirement
Bulk billing searches show up across almost every category in this dataset, and almost none of them are being targeted. There are roughly 4,200 bulk billing searches happening every month across eight different healthcare categories, with keyword difficulty scores sitting below 40 across the board. In some cases, well below that.
These are not casual browsers. They are people who have already decided they need care and are filtering specifically by affordability. They know what they want; they just need to find someone who offers it.
If you provide Medicare rebates or NDIS funding and that is not clearly communicated on your website, you are not just missing an SEO opportunity. You are invisible to the patients who need you most.
