Generation Generative: What Healthcare Marketers Need To Know About Generative AI

Imagine it’s 10 pm — the kids are asleep, and you’re not far behind. You’ve just turned off the lights and climbed into bed, minutes from dreamland, when suddenly, you feel sharp stabbing pains shooting up your leg. What’s the first thing you do? If you’re like 90% of Americans, the answer is — grab your phone and Google “sudden sharp stabbing pain in my leg.” And what you read on those first few lines of AI-generated text determines what you do next.

Given the cost and general inconvenience of accessing healthcare, it makes sense that many patients attempt to self-diagnose before seeking care. After all, there’s a big difference between waking up the kids and rushing to the ER because you might have a life-threatening blood clot versus taking ibuprofen and going back to bed because your arthritis is acting up.

Now let’s say Google has led you to conclude your condition is not an emergency — there’s no swelling, warmth, or redness, so you’re pretty confident it’s not deep vein thrombosis. But in the morning, you’re still in pain and can’t walk without limping. This time you hop over to your ChatGPT app. You need to find a doctor who can diagnose your condition, is near your home, someone who accepts your insurance and can see you ASAP. What comes up in that generative AI search result is likely to determine the future survival of health systems, hospitals, and providers (and those who market them).  

Organic is out

As generative AI reshapes how patients search for and choose healthcare providers, organic search traffic is becoming less relevant. In fact, organic traffic is projected to plummet by more than 50% in the next three years, which could lead to significant declines in patient acquisition and lost revenue. A dramatic rise in ‘zero-click’ searches, conversational experiences like ChatGPT, voice searches via AI assistants like Siri and Alexa, and decisions based on testimonials and online reviews, means effective digital visibility is going to require a new strategy — stat. 

If you want your company’s website to pop up on the right side of an AI-generated response, it’s crucial to build rich, authoritative content so that AI crawlers find your site and use your information to generate these overviews, leading patients to your digital front door. Here are some practical ways to do that.

Accuracy and authenticity 

Patient searches contain real patient questions, so your content needs to answer them. AI-generated information is easy to detect and leaves readers feeling skeptical of its accuracy. Provider bios, practice information, and other content won’t rank in AI results if they lack easy-to-understand, natural language, so it’s imperative all information is credible, updated, and written in a patient-friendly manner. And accuracy is critical because when patients find inconsistent information, 30% of the time, they skip that care option and move on to the next.

Google prioritizes content that meets the EEAT criteria: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. The more high-quality content you have, the better your chances of ranking well. In an industry with so many impressive credentials — MD, PhD, RN, PA, CNP, to name a few — you’ll earn extra points for linking content to the author’s bio.

Schema markup combined with internal linking helps AI search tools recognize and prioritize your providers, and search algorithms reward this structured, well-written, patient-first content. Incorporating videos, organically-generated reviews, and testimonials will reinforce credibility through social proof. And, of course, make certain the information is accurate across all the channels where patients shop for and choose care — social media platforms, third-party listings, maps, online review sites, health plan find-care directories, etc. — not just your own website.

Garbage in, garbage out

Even more important is the data that underpins all of this — it’s vital that you tightly manage the information about your providers and complex network of healthcare locations and keep that information updated across platforms. This is laborious work. Often systems of record are owned by various different departments within a healthcare organization, and growth through mergers and acquisitions brings more disparate systems and data in different formats. Often information about providers and locations isn’t even consistently accurate within a healthcare organization, nevermind in all the places it appears on the web where consumers search for care. Many organizations choose to implement a provider and location data management platform for this very reason, one that can ingest disparate data sources in various formats, partner with third parties, and create a golden record for providers and locations, as well as maintain the relationships between them. It’s key to get this data right, maintain it in one location and use that platform to syndicate out to the various places consumers look for care, whether that be integrating with the Google Business Profile listing or Apple Maps. Remember, you’re not just managing your Google Business Profile listing – you’re feeding Google validated information that then powers Gemini. You’re not just feeding Bing valid listing information — you’re powering ChatGPT. It’s more critical than ever.

Show and tell

To be effective, provider bios must balance structured data for AI with compelling storytelling for patients.

Search engines and AI tools rely on consistent, well-formatted provider details like specialties, locations, accepted insurance plans, provider credentials, operating hours, and more. Third-party listings and review platforms have increased prominence in AI-powered search results and help aid in patient decision-making by promoting trust. For some patients, convenience matters more than anything, so maps and location data are key for those “near me” searches. Enrich provider profiles with what matters most to patients, like appointment availability, accepted insurance, provider specialties, etc. 

Prioritize search engine results page (SERP) features through service pages linked to providers, local SEO tools, and multimedia for enhanced rich snippets. Be sure to amplify your digital presence across third-party channels and enable direct appointment scheduling from external listings.

In our actionable era 

Online marketing might be in its ‘zero-click’ search era, but your company’s website and the curated data that feeds it is still your most powerful tool, largely because patients who do make their way to it are much more likely to act in some way. So it’s especially important to provide them with clear, compelling, and structured content that reinforces your expertise and guides them toward the right action.

Content should capitalize on high-intent website visitors, guiding them toward the next steps in their healthcare journey, and be able to easily convert patients who are ready to learn more. Web pages should have prominent and easy-to-navigate calls to action with links to service line pages, blogs, relevant provider profiles, appointment availability, and contact details.  

By focusing on direct, credible content and data structure, healthcare marketers can increase their chances of having their company’s website and information appear in that coveted right-side column as part of an AI-generated response, giving a welcoming wave to patients from the proverbial digital front door.

Photo: sesame, Getty Images

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