White label copywriting is simpler than it sounds. Your agency sends a brief, and the writer reads the client's site, writes the pages and checks them. Then you deliver the pages under your own brand. With a health client, 3 things also need to be in writing. The writer signs the copyright over to you and agrees not to be named. And the clinic approves every page before it goes live.
Got a health client and no health writer? Send me the brief. On a free 30-minute call we'll walk through the job, and you'll get a fixed quote within 48 hours.
What has to be in writing before a white label job starts?
A white label job with a health client rests on 3 papers, and each one closes a different gap.
| What you need in writing | What it does for you | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A copyright assignment, signed by the writer. | The words become your agency's to sell. | Copyright Act, section 196. |
| The writer's consent not to be named. | You can publish the work under your brand alone. | Copyright Act, section 195AWA. |
| The clinic's sign-off on each page. | The clinic sees and approves what goes live. | AHPRA's advertising guidelines. |
Skip the first, and the writer still owns the words you sold. Skip the second, and the writer keeps a legal right to be named. Skip the third, and the clinic publishes pages it never read.
Happily, none of this takes long. All 3 can sit in one short contract, plus one approval email per page.
Who owns the copy, your agency or the writer?
By default, the person who writes the words owns them. The Copyright Act says "the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is the owner of any copyright subsisting in the work".
So a freelance writer owns their copy until they sign it over. Paying the invoice doesn't make you the owner on its own.
Staff are a different case, because the employer owns what an employee writes for the job. A freelancer isn't your employee, so that rule doesn't help you here.
To own the words, you need a signed document. Section 196 of the Copyright Act 1968 says: "An assignment of copyright (whether total or partial) does not have effect unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor."
A verbal yes isn't enough, so the writer needs to sign. It matters because your agency sells the pages to the clinic as its own. You can only pass on what you own.
Why must the clinic still see every page?
White label hides the writer from the clinic, but it should never hide the pages.
AHPRA is the body behind the health ad rules. Its advertising guidelines say: "The person or entity who controls part or all of the advertising (i.e. who authorises the content) is the advertiser." They add: "Advertisers are responsible for their advertising, so they need to check any content produced by others on their behalf."
The guidelines even name your role, since they count it as control when a clinic directs "a third party, staff member or marketing agency" to draft content.
The clinic signs off, so the clinic carries the risk and needs to read each page first. Build that approval into every job. It protects the clinic and it protects you, because nobody can say a page went live unseen.
A writer who knows the rules makes that approval quick. The clinic reads a page that has already been checked, with the rule named beside each change.
Got a health client brief on your desk? Send it to me. We will go through it together on a free 30-minute call, and the clinic's sign-off step is built in.
How does a white label job run, step by step?
I run every agency job the same way, and each step ends with something you can see.
- Brief: You send the client's website, the page you need and a line on how the client sounds. You get a quote and a date back within 48 hours.
- Read: I read the client's site and sitemap. I look at the 2 clinics above them on Google and at what patients type into the search bar. You get a one-page plan to sign off, or to send on under your own name.
- Write: I write each page to the question the patient typed and to the health ad rules. It goes in the client's voice and your house style.
- Check: Every page runs through All Clear Audit, the 301-check tool I built. It reads the page the way Google, AI search and the rules do. Every flag is fixed or explained in the margin.
- Hand over: You send feedback, and one rework is included. Then the copy and the report come to you, with your logo on the cover.
Step 2 is the cheapest place to fix a problem. Any topic or claim the clinic doesn't want gets cut before anyone writes it.
You can see the full offer on my white label healthcare copywriter page.
What should your brief to the writer include?
A clear brief saves you a round of edits, so send these 7 things with every job.
- The client's website: The writer reads it before writing a word.
- The page or post you need: Add one line on what it is for.
- The profession: A dentist, a physio and a psychologist each have their own board, and medicines bring in the TGA rules too.
- What the clinic offers, and what it does not: A page should never hint at a service the clinic cannot give.
- How the client sounds: A past page they like is enough.
- Who signs off at the clinic: A name keeps approval from stalling.
- Your deadline and house style: Include any words the client always uses or never uses.
You can leave out patient reviews about treatment. They can't be used in a health ad, so sending them only slows the job down.
How does the writer stay out of sight?
Your client should see your brand and nobody else's. I keep it that way in 4 small ways.
- I never contact your client, so every question comes to you.
- The files carry your name, because I clear mine from each Word file's details before handover.
- The report wears your logo, because All Clear Audit goes out under your brand.
- Your work stays private, because I don't name the agencies I write for.
The second paper matters here, because the law gives a writer the right to be named. Section 193 of the Copyright Act says: "The author of a work has a right of attribution of authorship in respect of the work."
A writer's consent lets you leave the name off, and section 195AWA says it has to be in writing. The easy fix is to put it in the same contract as the copyright.
What goes wrong after the handover?
A page can pass every check and still go live with a problem, if someone changes it afterwards. These 4 changes are the ones to watch for.
- A review gets pasted in: The clinic adds a patient's quote about their treatment to the homepage. That is a testimonial, and the health ad rules ban it.
- A word gets upgraded: Someone swaps a plain line for one that says best or pain-free, and both can break the rules.
- An offer gets added: A free first visit with no terms stated can break the rule on gifts and discounts.
- Copy moves to a new place: A line from the website ends up in an ad or Google Business Profile post, where the same rules apply.
The fix is simple: if anyone changes a line after the check, that line gets checked again. Write that into your process, and let the clinic know too.
If you write for clinics today, 3 more guides will help. Read how a clinic should review agency copy to see what the clinic will look for. Then see what clinics should expect from their agency on AHPRA. You can also compare a freelance writer with a health writing agency.
How did I put this guide together?
How I put this together. I read the Copyright Act 1968 as in force on 2 April 2026, from the Federal Register of Legislation. The quotes from sections 35, 193 and 196 are word for word. The AHPRA quotes come from its advertising guidelines. The 5 steps are the ones I use for agency work.
- This is not legal advice. Ask a lawyer to draft or check your contract.
- Contracts differ. For some jobs, a licence to use the words can work instead of owning them.
- The right to be named has other rules. The Act has defences this guide does not cover.
- Your staff are a different case. Employees who write as part of their job follow other rules.
- The clinic stays responsible. No writer or agency can approve a clinic's ads for it.
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