My Healthcare Website Predictions for 2026
As we head into 2026, I’m sharing my top website and marketing predictions for health and wellness practitioners. From the rise of one-on-one services to the return of blogging and the growing importance of accessibility, this episode dives into what’s working now—and what will matter most next year. You’ll learn how to adapt your website strategy for AI search, build trust with clients who are tired of cookie-cutter marketing, and make small but powerful updates that help your practice stand out in an evolving digital world.
Key Takeaways
Niche matters more than ever. Practitioners with a clear specialty will thrive as clients seek personalized, one-on-one support over generic online programs.
Authentic proof builds trust. Referrals, Google reviews, and real testimonials will outweigh polished marketing claims.
SEO isn’t dead—it’s foundational. Optimized keywords, alt text, and metadata are what help AI and Google know who to recommend.
Blogging is making a comeback. Consistent, relevant blog posts show expertise, improve SEO, and help AI understand what you do.
Simple design wins. Clean, accessible layouts with clear next steps will convert better than overly designed sites.
Accessibility is non-negotiable. High color contrast, readable fonts, and captions not only expand your reach—they protect your business legally and ethically.
Transcript
Episode 246
[00:00:05] Samantha Mabe: I am Samantha Mabe, website designer and founder of Lemon and the Sea, and this is Elevate your practice. If you're a holistic health practitioner ready to grow your practice without wasting time on things that don't work, you're in the right place. Each week I share a website, SEO, and marketing advice along with guest experts so you can bring in the right clients and feel confident about how you are showing up and serving the people that you help. Let's get started.
[00:00:43] As we wrap up 2025, I have loved seeing everyone's business predictions for 2026, and I thought that I would share the predictions I have when it comes to website design specifically.
One-on-One Services Will Outperform Courses
[00:00:59] My first prediction for business owners, specifically in the health and wellness industry, going into 2026 and throughout the year, is that service providers with a clear niche are going to thrive where others fall behind.
[00:01:16] This is kind of a two part prediction. The first is that service providers are going to be able to grow more than people who are offering courses or group programs. As people have gotten used to signing up for courses and many of them are not getting the results that they were expecting and were promised. People are going back towards working one-on-one with service providers so that they can get an outcome they know is going to work for them because it is specific to them. They are working with somebody who understands their needs and is helping them to make steps forward.
[00:02:03] This is something that I offer to my clients because I do one on one designs and refreshes for their websites, but it also applies to health and wellness providers who see patients in a one-on-one capacity and are able to help them learn about their bodies and make changes, implement those changes, and then follow up and continue to work with them as they're getting results and as they have more questions.
[00:02:34] Part of the reason this is so important is because we now have the ability to search for pretty much anything we have questions about. We can learn how to do lots of stuff through AI and Google, and so just answering questions about how to plan healthy meals is not going to cut it. People want something that is tailored to them, that is customized to what they are going through, what their needs are and their lifestyle, instead of you just spitting out the same information they could get from ChatGPT.
Niche Practices Will Grow Faster
[00:03:16] The other part of this is that people with a clear niche are going to be way ahead of those who are still trying to serve the general public or are open to working with anybody. When you niche down, you are better able to tailor your marketing, your copy, and even the types of services that you offer towards those specific people. You can speak their language, you know what they are experiencing, and you're able to create something that they want to buy into because they trust you to help them through what they are experiencing.
[00:03:58] Anyone who is still trying to sell courses by the old model, especially with extended payment plans, is going to suffer in 2026 because people don't want to learn that way. They've been burned by courses and programs before, and now they just want to sit down with somebody and get a real outcome.
Referrals and Reviews Build Trust
[00:04:22] I do think that there is one key in this, and that is that people are going to look for referrals even more than they have before. Let's face it, we can fake testimonials and ChatGPT will write you up some great ones if you ask it to. So we have to be able to prove that we can do what we say we do. That means Google reviews, testimonials on your websites, case studies are going to be really important as are having people you have worked with interact with you on social media, share your content, comment on the results that they have seen from working with you so that people know you can be trusted to deliver on the promises that you are making.
SEO Will Become Even More Important
[00:05:09] My second prediction is that SEO is actually going to be more important as AI searches grow. We've talked about this before on the podcast, and I have heard so many times that SEO is dead and AIO is the way to go. But that's really not the right mindset to take. Good SEO is foundational to showing up in AI, to showing up on those Google AI summaries.
[00:05:41] You want to make sure your website is set up for success from the very bottom. That means using keywords in your SEO descriptions and your page titles. It means adding alt text to all of your images, but it also means that you are creating content that answers people's questions and directly relates back to that niche we talked about in the first prediction.
Blogging Is Back
[00:06:09] And all of this leads into my third prediction, which is that blogging is going to have a resurgence. Sorry to say it, but blogging isn't going anywhere because blogs are the best way for you to tell Google and AI what it is that you do, who you work with, how you help them, and give them the ability to recommend you to people who are looking for someone with your skills and with your expertise.
[00:06:39] I do think that blogging is going to look a little bit different because we now have the ability to search for pretty much anything with ChatGPT and it can explain lots of things to us. Any blog post that you write will need to answer people's specific questions and use their language so that we can showcase why we are trustworthy. Doing that is going to help you show up in search results because they're going to say, "oh, I got this answer from this practitioner's website and blog." But it's also going to mean that when AI is looking for someone to recommend for a specific symptom or a specific industry, they are going to prioritize you because you are putting out content that speaks to your audience that answers the questions those people are actually typing in, and that highlights what you do and where you're located.
[00:07:40] My recommendation here is that you can use something like ChatGPT to brainstorm some blog posts and questions that people are asking, but you don't want to use it to fully write your content. You still have to go in there and make sure that it is done in your voice, that it is factual, that it's answering questions in the way that you would if you were sitting across from somebody asking that question of you.
[00:08:08] We want to make sure that our voice comes through. And that the things we are doing are actually going to get in front of the right people and are going to be impactful for them so that when they realize, "I can't do this on my own, I don't wanna figure this out," they know exactly who to go to for that one-on-one help.
Website Will be More Simple and Strategic
[00:08:29] My next prediction is around the actual design of websites and how I think they are going to get simpler and function as a place where somebody can get answers to their questions and then take the next step towards booking with you. Because people are finding you through referrals, through Google, through AI, and through social media. They already have an idea of what you do and who you work with. They have that general sense and so your website is going to be the place where they are actually making the decision whether they want to work with you or one of the other people that have been recommended to them.
[00:09:15] You're no longer competing just to get on the first page of Google because people are not starting out by looking for 10 different practitioners. They are getting a recommendation for two to three people, and then they are doing a deep dive into those people to see: do they serve people like me? Do they understand the things that I am dealing with? Do they take the insurance that I have, or if they are cash pay, is it something that I can afford?
[00:09:46] Your website doesn't need to be fancy with lots of movements and icons and graphics. What you really need to focus on is making it simple for people to find the answers to the questions that they have in order to get them to schedule an appointment or a consultation with you. It is a place to show off your personality and your expertise, your credentials and what makes you different but that all needs to take place in a really clean and simple way so that you can stand out from other people.
Accessibility Will Be Essential
[00:10:22] My final prediction is that accessibility is going to become more forefront in people's minds and that we may even start seeing more lawsuits over inaccessible websites. This has already been a concern for larger corporations, but it is going to start trickling down into smaller local practices because more and more people are online and they are using websites as the deciding factor on who to work with, which means we want to make sure our websites are accessible not only so that we can avoid a lawsuit, but also so that we can serve everyone who wants to come and work with us.
[00:11:08] There are lots of technical factors that go into accessibility, but you can start by making sure that your color palette has enough contrast, that your fonts are easy to read and that they are large enough, that you're using captions on your videos and transcripts on your podcast episodes. Things like that show that you care about people and are making the effort to build an accessible website and follow accessibility guidelines, even if you aren't building your website from scratch and having an entire team behind that effort.
[00:11:49] I do think that it is going to be extra important if you have DIY your website or have purchased a template that you check the accessibility of your site. One of the biggest things I see here is that the color contrast is not high enough because people are prioritizing pretty designs over functional ones. And so those types of things are going to be what trips up health and wellness practitioners, where just a few small tweaks over a day or two could really improve their website design overall, their user experience, and therefore the conversions that they get in their business.
Prepare Your Website for 2026
[00:12:33] If you're concerned that your website is not ready for 2026, I'm happy to help you with that through a website review or a refresh to what you've already created. You can find information about all of that on my website at lemonandthesea.com and I would love if you would message me on Instagram and let me know what your predictions are for the upcoming new year.
[00:12:54] Thanks for listening to Elevate your Practice. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow the show and leave a review. It helps more practitioners find these tips and start growing their practices with confidence. And don't forget to check out the show notes for links and resources from today's episodes. I'll be back next week with more strategies to help you build a thriving practice.
