How Answer Engines Are Changing Search for Healthcare Practices

Ryan Miller’s Comprehensive Overview on Answer Engines and the Future of Search

Ryan: Hi again, it’s Ryan Miller with Etna Interactive. Whether you’re a CEO of a private equity firm owning several elective healthcare practices, a solo practitioner, or a marketing manager, today I want to talk you through the changes happening in online search and how answer engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overview will affect your marketing strategies. 

Imagine a future where your website might no longer be seen the way it is today. Patients are increasingly bypassing Google and using answer engines to synthesize information, particularly in the early stages of their research on procedures. By the time they land on your practice’s website, many of their questions have already been answered, and they’ve likely already received a summary of your providers’ reputations. 

So, what should we do about this? Let’s first look at how traditional search engine optimization (SEO) is impacted. Data tells us that around 90% of search traffic still flows through Google. Whether through traditional Google search or Google’s AI-powered reviews, it doesn’t matter much since they all appear on the same page. However, we are seeing a steady increase in the demand for and use of AI engines. 

When we think of traditional search, I like to compare it to using a dictionary: searching for answers that offer a singular or best definition for a particular word or phrase—keywords people typically enter into search engines. We then optimized pages to provide the best possible answer to those keywords, using backlinks as votes of confidence to tell Google that our page should rank for a specific term. Ultimately, we were rewarded with click-throughs. 

That model isn’t gone yet, but it’s now being supplemented and enhanced with a new approach to optimizing for answer engines, in addition to staying visible on traditional search engines like Google. 

I think of it as a shift from something like a dictionary to engaging with a learned philosopher—one who may have a bit of bias or attitude when delivering answers. But fundamentally, here’s the strategic shift: We’re moving from focusing on keywords to focusing on entities. Your brand is an entity. Each of your providers is an entity. Your locations are entities. 

Answer engines are sophisticated enough to look beyond keywords and understand how to reference individual entities within your practice. The shift is also moving from optimizing individual pages as the ultimate marketing currency to building an ecosystem that tells a specific story and reinforces it at every touchpoint. This ultimately influences citations and mentions of your brand. 

There are two types of citations you need to understand as clinic leaders and marketers. The first is the brand citation, which is the most important and similar to traditional organic search rankings. For instance, if someone searches for a facelift surgeon in Cleveland, and ChatGPT returns a list of 3 to 5 providers with direct links to their practices, that’s a brand citation. 

The second type is a general citation, which might appear as a mention of your brand in the answer, often in the form of a pill-shaped icon with a link or in a sidebar. In a general citation, you’re influencing the answer, but you might not be mentioned directly. 

The key difference between the old model of 10 blue links on Google and the new world of citations is the potential loss of click-throughs. This shift is crucial for understanding how your practice will be represented in the new search landscape. 

What does this mean for you? 
It could be either exciting or disruptive, depending on your perspective. But don’t worry—it’s entirely manageable, and you can use these changes to your advantage. The first thing to know is that we’re seeing declines in organic traffic, and it’s already happening. Although Google still retains the majority of the search market, its AI overviews are pulling clicks away from business owners. For example, if I want to know about facelift recovery, I might have used to visit 3 or 4 websites and synthesize the information myself. Now, Google’s AI Overview and other answer engines do that synthesis for us, reducing the need to click through to as many websites. 

As brand visibility conversations shift from rankings to answer inclusion, the focus is now on whether your practice was cited—either directly or indirectly—in the answer. This is where AI and reputation management play key roles. Your reputation signals, second only to your website, are crucial in determining whether you get cited and how your practice is described. 

Content strategy is also evolving. Answer engines love conversational context and are built to synthesize natural language queries into natural language responses. They also value knowledge gain—content that offers unique insights not readily available on other websites. The implication is that authoritative content that reflects unique experiences and speaks directly to your audience is becoming more important. 

As answer engine adoption increases, Google’s market share will likely be squeezed, not because fewer people are searching, but because answer engines allow people to search in new ways. 

As a business owner, you should expect to interact with bots in the coming year—likely not just for email tips but for interactions with patients. Digital agents or bots may soon be scheduling appointments or requesting consultations on behalf of patients. 

So, let’s get back to the fundamentals. The most important question for marketers and business owners is: What do you want to be known for? In the world of traditional SEO, you could rank for many different terms, but now, with answer engines and their focus on entities, it’s essential to pick a specific lane. You can’t expect to be seen as an expert in 60 different procedures. 

Answer Engine Optimization Fundamentals: 

1. Identify Your Expertise: Define what you’re going to be known for—whether it’s your clinical excellence, your patient experience, or the specific procedures you specialize in. 

2. Put It Into Action: Update your site to ensure that your brand message is clear across all key pages, including your homepage, about page, provider profiles, and procedure pages. 

3. Curate Reputation Signals: Actively manage your reputation to ensure that your practice is being positively reviewed and mentioned in connection with the procedures you specialize in. 

4. Reinforce Your Brand: Use your owned ecosystem—Google Business profiles, social media, and other local sites—to reinforce the same brand message. 

This is just the beginning, but laying this foundation will help you control your reputation in the AI-driven future. If we don’t do it, AI will shape the narrative for us. The big shift is moving away from chasing algorithms and instead, focusing on deliberately shaping the narrative about your practice and providers. 

Finally, if you need help navigating this new landscape, we offer a suite of products specifically designed to help our clients dominate answer engines. If you have any questions, we’re here to support you! 

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