What HIPAA, ADA, and FTC Actually Require from Your Optometry Website

This guide is for optometrists and practice managers who want to grow their online visibility without creating regulatory exposure. If you're running Google Ads, collecting patient information through your website, or publishing content about eye care treatments, compliance intersects with your marketing at multiple points.

This guide covers three regulatory frameworks:

• HIPAA — How protected health information flows through your website and marketing tools
• ADA Web Accessibility — Title III compliance for digital properties serving the public
• FTC Health Advertising — Substantiation requirements for claims about vision care services

We also address state optometry board advertising rules, which vary significantly. California, Texas, and New York have particularly detailed requirements that go beyond federal guidelines.

What this guide is not: This is educational content about the intersection of SEO and healthcare compliance—not legal advice. Regulations change, and your specific situation requires review by qualified legal counsel and your compliance officer. We'll point you to primary sources and help you ask the right questions.

HIPAA affects your SEO and marketing the moment any tool touches protected health information. PHI includes obvious data like patient names and appointment details, but also extends to IP addresses and device identifiers when combined with health-related browsing behavior.

Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): Any third-party service handling PHI on your behalf requires a signed BAA. This includes:

• Website hosting providers storing patient forms
• CRM and email marketing platforms with patient lists
• Appointment scheduling widgets
• Live chat tools if patients discuss health concerns
• Analytics platforms tracking patient portal usage

Google Analytics considerations: Standard GA4 implementations can create HIPAA exposure when tracking logged-in patient portal users or capturing health-related search queries in URLs. Many practices either exclude patient portal pages from tracking entirely or use HIPAA-compliant analytics alternatives.

Remarketing restrictions: You cannot build remarketing audiences based on health conditions. A "people who visited our dry eye treatment page" audience likely violates HIPAA. Facebook's healthcare advertising restrictions add another layer here.

Form security requirements: Patient intake forms, appointment requests, and contact forms collecting health information need encryption in transit and at rest. Your form provider should offer a BAA and document their security practices.

Note: HIPAA enforcement has increased significantly for digital marketing violations. HHS Office for Civil Rights has issued guidance specifically addressing tracking technologies—verify current requirements with your compliance counsel.

ADA Title III applies to places of public accommodation, and federal courts have increasingly extended this to websites serving the public. For optometry practices, this creates both legal exposure and SEO opportunity—many accessibility improvements also improve search performance.

Accessibility elements that affect SEO:

• Alt text on images — Screen readers need it; so does Google Image Search
• Heading hierarchy — Proper H1-H6 structure helps both accessibility and content comprehension
• Link text clarity — "Click here" fails accessibility and wastes anchor text value
• Page load speed — Heavy scripts break screen readers and hurt Core Web Vitals
• Mobile usability — Touch targets and responsive design serve both audiences

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the most commonly referenced standard in ADA web accessibility lawsuits. This includes requirements for color contrast, keyboard navigation, form labels, and video captions.

Practical implementation: Run your site through automated tools like WAVE or axe DevTools to identify obvious issues. However, automated testing catches only about 30% of accessibility problems—manual testing with actual assistive technology reveals the rest.

For optometry practices specifically, consider that many of your patients have visual impairments. Building an accessible website isn't just legal protection—it's serving your actual patient population. Practices we've worked with often discover that accessibility improvements reduce bounce rates across all users.

The FTC requires that health-related advertising claims be substantiated before you make them. For optometry practices, this affects how you describe treatment outcomes, technology benefits, and comparative claims against competitors.

Substantiation requirements:

• Claims about LASIK co-management success rates need supporting data
• "Best" or "leading" claims require substantiation or clear context as opinion
• Before/after imagery implies typical results—disclosures needed for exceptional outcomes
• Testimonials must reflect typical patient experience or include clear disclaimers

State optometry board rules add additional restrictions. Examples from major states:

• California Board of Optometry: Specific requirements for advertising specialties, fee disclosures, and use of "doctor" title
• Texas Optometry Board: Restrictions on bait-and-switch pricing, comparative advertising, and guarantees
• New York State Education Department: Professional advertising must not be misleading or create unjustified expectations

These examples are illustrative—rules change and vary by state. Verify current requirements with your state board before publishing advertising content.

Practical guidance: Focus your SEO content on educational information where you can demonstrate expertise. Avoid specific outcome claims unless you can document typical results. When in doubt, describe the process and let patients draw their own conclusions about benefits.

Compliance doesn't prevent effective SEO—it shapes implementation. The practices we've worked with that take compliance seriously often build more sustainable SEO foundations because they focus on genuine expertise rather than aggressive claims.

Content strategy adjustments:

• Lead with educational content about eye conditions rather than treatment outcome claims
• Build topical authority through comprehensive guides that demonstrate expertise
• Use patient education as your primary content type—it serves SEO, compliance, and patient experience

Technical SEO within HIPAA constraints:

• Implement robots.txt exclusions for patient portal sections
• Use server-side analytics for aggregate traffic data without individual tracking
• Structure URLs to avoid capturing search queries with PHI implications
• Configure forms to avoid storing PHI in URL parameters or browser history

Local SEO considerations:

• Google Business Profile reviews cannot include PHI—have a review response protocol ready
• Patient photos require written authorization before website or social media use
• Appointment scheduling links from GBP should go to HIPAA-compliant booking systems

Link building within professional boundaries: Healthcare link building focuses on legitimate editorial coverage, professional associations, and community involvement. Purchased links or manipulative tactics create both Google penalties and professional ethics concerns.

The constraint actually helps—when you can't take shortcuts, you build real authority.

Use this checklist to identify potential compliance gaps. This is a starting point for discussion with your legal and compliance team—not a substitute for professional review.

HIPAA considerations:

• Do all form submissions use HTTPS encryption?
• Does your form provider offer a signed BAA?
• Is your appointment scheduling widget HIPAA-compliant?
• Are patient portal pages excluded from analytics tracking?
• Have you reviewed remarketing audience definitions for PHI exposure?
• Does your hosting provider offer a BAA if you store any patient data?

ADA accessibility baseline:

• Do all images have descriptive alt text?
• Does your site pass automated WCAG 2.1 AA testing?
• Can all functionality be accessed via keyboard navigation?
• Do all videos have captions or transcripts?
• Is color contrast sufficient throughout the site?

Advertising compliance:

• Can you substantiate all outcome-related claims?
• Do testimonials include appropriate disclosures?
• Have you reviewed state board advertising rules for your practice locations?
• Are fee advertisements complete and not misleading?

Next steps: Document your current state, prioritize high-risk gaps, and schedule a compliance review with qualified counsel. Many practices find that addressing these issues also improves overall website quality and user experience.