More and more patients no longer ask Google but ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity: “Which GP near me is good?” The answer names only two or three practices. Test here whether yours is one of them and what moves it up.
How AI chatbots recommend practices
AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or Perplexity usually answer questions about doctors with a live web search. They read practice websites, the Google Business Profile, reviews and directories and condense them into a short recommendation. The AI Overviews above Google’s results work the same way.
Unlike Google, there are no ten results per page, usually just two to five names. The AI names the practices it can describe with confidence: specialty, location, services, opening hours and what others say about them. If this information is missing or contradictory, the AI prefers to name another practice.
How to rank higher in AI answers
Clear copy on your own website: state your specialty, location and services in full sentences, ideally with a page of its own for each focus area. AI models like to quote sentences that answer a question directly, such as “We make house calls in the 6th and 7th districts.”
Structured data: with Schema.org markup (for example Physician or MedicalClinic, address, opening hours, FAQ) machines read your details without guessing. Our websites include it automatically for every page and language.
Consistent details everywhere: name, address and phone number should be exactly the same on your website, your Google Business Profile, with your chamber and in doctor directories. Every mismatch makes the AI less certain.
Reviews and mentions: many recent reviews that you answer factually are a strong signal. So are mentions in the local paper, by professional associations or on partner websites.
Questions in patients’ words: an FAQ section with questions the way patients ask them (“Are you taking new patients?”, “Is the practice step-free?”) delivers exactly the answers chatbots are looking for.
Technology: let the AI into your website
Many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript, so they miss content that is only loaded in the browser. Make sure all text is in the HTML itself, the page loads fast and your robots.txt does not lock out search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Bingbot.
An llms.txt file does no harm, but it is no substitute for good content: whether and how much the major providers use it has not been shown so far.
Factual wins, with AI too
Professional rules for doctors call for factual, verifiable information instead of flashy advertising. That is exactly what AI chatbots prefer as well: concrete facts about services, insurers, languages and accessibility instead of superlatives like “best practice in town”. Inform clearly and both patients and machines will find you.