How Doctors Can Be More Visible In An Online AI Search!


Life for physicians used to be so much different, and in some ways, much easier.

You start your practice, put up a sign, send a flier to potential referring physicians, and put a notice in the newspaper.

And patients came to see you.

Then, local newspaper use dwindled and searches online increased. 

Ten to fifteen years ago you just needed to be sure you showed up in the top 3 results from a patient's Google search.

Referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations still mattered. 

Well times sure have changed, haven't they?

Patients are now turning to AI to help them find the "right" physician.

Now, the search engines utilize an AI algorithm.

Patients use AI to wade through the doctors' websites, reviews, locations, etc.

Then, their AI search tells them which doctors they should see. 

What are you as a physician to do to be sure you are the chosen one?

Well, first, you need to know what the AI search is looking for.

Here is a list of some of what the algorithm searches through:

 1.  Your credentials

 2.  Your location

 3.  Your specialty or subspecialty

 4.  Your online reviews and testimonials

 5.  Your online visibility

 6.  Social media feedback regarding you

 7.  Your content regarding the patient's clinical issue


So, now that you know what the AI algorithm looks for, what can you do?

Well, you need to be very visible online.

Here are some suggestions:

1.  Review all third party sites that mention you to verify their accuracy.  That would include your  Google Business profile, Apple maps site, Healthgrades profile, WebMD profile, US News & World Reports profile, etc.  Claim your profiles.  Correct any errors.

2.  Google yourself.  Look yourself up online on Google, chat GPT, etc.  See what you find. Correct anything that isn't accurate like addresses, specialty, your name, your training, etc. Confusing and contradictory data gets ruled out by the algorithm.

3.  Look at your reviews.  How many are there on the various review sites.  How many do your competitors have? Be sure you have more reviews and a higher star rating than your competitors.  If you don't, make it a point to specifically ask patients of yours over the next month to leave you a review. You can increase your rating and the number of reviews fairly quickly by doing so.  It also matters that your reviews are within the last 6 weeks. If you have lots of great reviews, but almost all of them are 1 year or more old, that is no good. Patients discount reviews over 6 weeks old.  They assume a "good" doctor should have ongoing good, current, and recent reviews.

4. Make short videos about specific diagnoses you treat.  A 1-minute, 3-minute, 5-minute, or 10-minute explainer video is very helpful to patients. Make such videos and post them on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.  If you did such videos one year ago, do them again.  Those are way too old for the online world.  And you can use AI to make these videos for you.  There are various companies that use AI to make these videos with you as the spokesperson or someone else, even an AI "person." But if you post a video about the disease process a patient is currently suffering from, you are more likely to show up as the AI choice in their search.

5. Be sure you engage with your patients.  You or your office staff need to respond to patients who interact with you on social media. But always be HIPAA compliant!


The fact is that online visibility and engagement are no longer optional for physicians.

Following some or preferably all of the above suggestions is critical for your practice growth and patient acquisition in our increasingly digital world.

Word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals are great, but are of limited value today.

Increasingly, patients are trusting AI doctor choices over word-of-mouth recommendations or referrals.

In fact, surveys have shown that, even with a word-of-mouth recommendation, patients still check AI. 

And they are more inclined to trust the AI recommendation if there is a difference with the word-of-mouth recommendation. 

Be sure you show up first when potential patients are asking AI to help them find a doctor!


​Ben Holt, M.D.