Patients have more ways than ever to research their health and choose a provider. Alongside Google searches, online reviews, and personal referrals, they can now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other AI assistants to explain treatment options, compare services, and help them decide what to look for in a healthcare professional.
For an independent practice, this introduces an important question: Is your online presence ready for patients who begin their research with an AI-generated answer?
Traditional search engine optimization, or SEO, remains valuable. But healthcare professionals should also consider how clearly their practice is represented in the information AI tools can access. Your services, credentials, location, and educational content all contribute to the public picture of your practice.
At MedFlex Spaces, we see this change as an opportunity to build a more useful online presence—one that supports both conventional search and emerging AI search experiences.
The Numbers: AI Is Becoming Part of Healthcare Research
The shift is supported by research, although different studies measure different behaviors.
Nearly One in Three U.S. Adults Has Used AI for Health Information
In its March 25, 2026 report on AI use for health information and advice, KFF found that 32% of U.S. adults had used AI chatbots for physical or mental health information in the previous year.
The same survey found that 68% had sought health information through internet search engines and 80% through healthcare professionals. These channels coexist. Patients may use AI to prepare for an appointment, then rely on a clinician for evaluation and treatment.
Among people using AI for health information, 65% cited quick, immediate advice as a major reason, and 41% cited looking up information before seeing a provider. This suggests an opportunity for practices to publish clear explanations that help patients prepare for care.
KFF’s findings came from a nationally representative survey of 1,343 U.S. adults conducted February 24–March 2, 2026.
Hundreds of Millions Ask ChatGPT Health Questions
In its July 2026 announcement about Health in ChatGPT, OpenAI reported that more than 300 million people turn to ChatGPT with health-related questions each week.
This is a company-reported global figure. It includes a broad range of health questions and should not be interpreted as the number of people searching for a doctor or booking an appointment.
For healthcare professionals, its significance is the scale of health-related conversations already taking place through AI.
AI Summaries Can Change Website Click Behavior
Pew Research Center’s July 2025 analysis of Google browsing behavior found that users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when one did not. Links inside the AI summaries received clicks in just 1% of visits with a summary.
The analysis covered 900 U.S. adults and 68,879 unique Google searches from March 2025. It was not specific to healthcare and does not establish that AI summaries caused a particular practice to lose traffic.
Still, it highlights a practical consideration: some people receive information without clicking through to its source. Website visits alone may not capture all the ways patients encounter your practice online.
How AI Search Changes the Patient Journey
A traditional search might begin with a short phrase:
“Dermatologist in Sugar Land.”
A conversational AI question can include more context:
“What should I look for in a dermatologist who treats adult acne near Sugar Land, and what questions should I ask at my first appointment?”
The person can then ask about appointment preparation, treatment differences, or provider qualifications. When an assistant uses web search, it may draw on several websites and present information in a combined answer.
This makes the clarity of your content especially important. A page that only says “comprehensive dermatology services” provides less detail than one explaining the conditions treated, the provider’s qualifications, and the consultation process.
A useful way to think about the journey is that a patient may need three kinds of information:
- Understanding: What does this condition or service involve?
- Evaluation: What should I consider when choosing a provider?
- Action: Where is the practice, and how can I request an appointment?
Your website should help with all three.
ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Other AI Tools Work Differently
AI visibility is broader than appearing in one chatbot.
ChatGPT: OpenAI’s publisher guidance explains that public websites can appear in ChatGPT search, with content surfaced through links, summaries, and snippets.
Gemini: Google’s guidance on Gemini sources and related links explains that Gemini may provide links to public websites and other relevant content. Not every response includes sources, and a related link should not automatically be treated as proof of every statement.
Claude: Anthropic explains that Claude’s web search provides direct citations when incorporating information from the web into its responses.
Other AI assistants: Patients may also use tools such as Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. These are additional places to consider when reviewing how your practice is described, without assuming their responses or selection methods match those of other platforms.
Google Search: AI Overviews and AI Mode bring AI-generated answers into Google’s search experience. Google’s documentation for website owners addresses how content can appear in these features.
An assistant’s answer can vary with the question, location, settings, and use of web search. There is no single, permanent “AI ranking” that represents every patient’s experience.
Does AI Search Replace Traditional SEO?
Healthcare professionals should expand their search strategy while maintaining their existing SEO foundation.
You may hear the terms Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). They generally describe efforts to make information discoverable and useful in AI-generated answers.
Traditional SEO and AI visibility overlap, but they emphasize different ways of presenting information:
| Area | Traditional SEO emphasis | Added consideration for AI visibility |
|---|---|---|
| Patient questions | Relevant keywords and search intent | Detailed questions and follow-up explanations |
| Content | Useful pages that can appear in search results | Clear passages that can be understood in context |
| Practice identity | Accurate listings and provider information | A consistent public description across sources |
| Technical access | Crawlable, indexable website pages | Appropriate access for relevant search crawlers |
| Measurement | Rankings, traffic, and conversions | AI referrals, sampled mentions, accuracy, and inquiries |
Google states in its AI search documentation that existing SEO practices remain relevant and that special optimization is not required for AI Overviews or AI Mode.
The goal is to give patients and search systems a clear, trustworthy understanding of your practice. No agency can guarantee that an AI assistant will recommend a particular provider.
What Healthcare Professionals Can Do Now
Create Specific Service Pages
Give your main services their own pages. Explain what the service involves, the types of concerns addressed, what an initial visit includes, and how someone can request an appointment.
A therapist might explain individual counseling and couples counseling separately. An aesthetics practice might create distinct pages for chemical peels and microneedling.
Include meaningful details rather than repeating similar text with different service names. Patients need enough information to decide whether to contact you.
Answer Real Patient Questions
Use questions from your reception team, consultations, and inquiry emails to guide your content.
Examples include:
- “What should I bring to my first appointment?”
- “Do I need a referral?”
- “How does an initial consultation work?”
- “Do you offer telehealth?”
- “Which services are available at this location?”
Answer straightforward questions directly before adding detail. For clinical topics, explain limitations and involve an appropriate clinician in reviewing the content.
Show Who Is Behind the Information
Provider biographies should accurately describe credentials, specialties, and relevant experience. Educational articles should identify their author or reviewer when appropriate and link to reputable medical sources.
Update content when services or clinical information change. Specific, current information helps people assess your practice’s relevance and credibility.
Strengthen Your Local Information
Check names, addresses, phone numbers, hours, and appointment details across your website and relevant listings.
For multiple offices, build a useful page for each location. Tell patients which services and providers are available there. Include practical details such as parking or accessibility when accurate and helpful.
Local consistency supports a clearer public identity; it should not be presented as a guaranteed trigger for chatbot recommendations.
Review Website Access
Ask your website professional to check whether important pages can be indexed and whether essential information is readable outside images.
OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot for sites seeking discovery in ChatGPT search. Its crawler documentation distinguishes search crawling from GPTBot, which concerns potential model training. These are separate decisions.
For Google’s generative search features, its optimization guidance emphasizes useful content and cautions against unsupported shortcuts. Special AI markup is not required.
Measure Patient Interest Alongside Traffic
Track calls, appointment requests, and bookings alongside website visits. OpenAI’s publisher FAQ explains how ChatGPT referral traffic can be identified through analytics.
Also consider adding “AI assistant, such as ChatGPT or Gemini” to your patient discovery questions. Referral reports show clicks, while patient feedback may reveal an earlier interaction that did not produce a direct website visit.
Periodically test relevant questions and check whether assistants describe your practice accurately. Record the date, platform, prompt, and whether web search was used. Treat those results as observations rather than a fixed ranking report.
How MedFlex Spaces Practice Growth Services Can Help
Healthcare professionals already balance patient care, scheduling, administration, and business decisions. Translating changing search behavior into a practical marketing plan adds another demand on their time.
MedFlex Spaces Practice Growth Services brings together website design, SEO, digital marketing, and ongoing support. Those services provide a foundation for improving the information patients—and AI search tools—can discover about your practice.
An AI visibility strategy can be developed around the following priorities, with the specific work agreed during your consultation.
Build a Clearer Website
The first priority is to help visitors understand what you do, whom you serve, and how to contact you.
For AI visibility, this means planning service descriptions, provider information, and patient questions together. A practice should be recognizable from its content, with enough detail to distinguish its actual services and expertise.
A useful starting point is to ask: If someone read only this page, would they understand why and how to contact this practice?
Turn Your Expertise Into Helpful Content
Your clinical knowledge and everyday patient conversations are valuable starting points for educational content.
A content plan can organize those topics into service explanations, appointment guides, and frequently asked questions. Your role is to contribute expertise and review medical accuracy; the marketing work turns that input into understandable website content.
For example, a provider who repeatedly explains what happens during a first consultation can turn that explanation into a useful page that supports patient preparation and inquiries.
Connect Local Search With AI Visibility
A strong local presence starts with accurate, consistent practice information.
The same location and service details that support conventional search also help create a clearer public description of your business. Reviewing your website, business profile, and relevant directories together can uncover conflicting addresses, missing services, or outdated appointment information.
The aim is to make it easier for a prospective patient to verify that your practice fits their needs.
Prioritize Technical and Content Improvements
A practice may have good information that is difficult to find, buried in navigation, or presented only in graphics. Another may have accessible pages that lack useful detail.
An initial review can identify which improvements matter most. Rather than producing content without a plan, the work can focus on a manageable sequence: fix access problems, clarify core service pages, complete provider information, and then develop supporting content.
Connect Discovery to Appointment Requests
An AI mention has limited business value if a patient reaches your site and cannot find the next step.
Your pages should make appointment requests, contact details, and location information easy to find. Marketing decisions should account for the entire journey from initial research to an inquiry.
The relevant question is not simply whether more people saw your practice. It is whether suitable prospective patients understood your services and could contact you.
Develop a Realistic Measurement Plan
As part of planning, discuss which AI visibility checks and reporting can be included in your service scope.
Useful measures may include identifiable AI referrals, the accuracy of sampled chatbot responses, engagement with priority pages, and appointment inquiries. Results should be evaluated over time, alongside traditional search performance.
The specific reporting should match what can actually be observed. An AI mention is not a booking, and an increase in traffic does not by itself establish patient growth.
A Practical Starting Point for Your Practice
You do not need to rebuild everything at once. Start by reviewing your highest-priority services, the questions prospective patients ask, and the accuracy of your public practice information.
For a new practice, this may mean establishing a website and local profiles. For an existing practice, it may mean improving a few important pages and correcting inconsistencies before expanding the content plan.
AI search is another reason to make your expertise easy to understand and your practice easy to contact. A thoughtful strategy supports both patients who use Google and those who begin with an AI assistant.
Ready to strengthen your visibility across traditional and AI search? Explore MedFlex Spaces Practice Growth Services and request a free consultation to discuss your practice’s priorities.
Call 832-532-0784 or email growth@medflexspaces.com.
