As generative AI transforms search, healthcare marketers must rethink content. This is not an “SEO vs. AI” approach, but rather “SEO & AI”. There will be a transitionary period for the user behavioral shift from search engines to AI platforms. Therefore, it’s imperative to keep focused on the new SEO – Search Everywhere Optimization.
1. Audit & Optimize for Crawlers and AI
Technical SEO health is paramount. AI crawlers aren’t as robust as Google’s. Fix broken links, improve XML sitemaps, and ensure fast page loads. While none of this is new, now is the time to correct it for full visibility regardless of where the patient may seek information.
Structured headings & schemas are also important considerations with your onsite content. For those pages that have topical information on conditions, treatments, provider profiles, and FAQs, mark it up so AI models can parse and surface that information.
2. Create Conversational, Prompt-Friendly Content
We have watched as the search term queries have gotten longer and longer in organic search. Now we are witnessing patients researching in full-sentence prompts, for example, “How long does it take to recover from hip replacement surgery?”
An action item for your onsite content is to expand FAQ pages into mini dialogues. This helps incorporate more natural language, which aligns with how patients will be seeking out answers. Use bold Q&A, a conversational tone, and call-out boxes to mirror how AI models chunk information.
3. Diversify Media: Text, Video, and Beyond
We are moving toward a multimodal universe for all content being delivered to the user. Soon, AI Overviews and answers will include short videos, infographics, and data visualizations. If your system wasn’t already all in on video and graphics, this is an immediate step to take.
Tip: Embed short explainer videos on key web pages and optimize captions/transcripts. Where video has always been a great asset for both search and UX, it is now the next frontier of AI-driven discovery.
4. Off-Site Signals & Media
AI models look beyond your domain when retrieving sources. Having a strong and authoritative, positive reputation in your industry will be important to get the visibility desired by Generative AI and Large Language Models.
Surface any of your prior branding and PR initiatives and bring them current, using an updated date to show the progression and history of that piece of content. Keep in mind the Zero-Click experience of most AI responses – whereby in article branding is critical for exposure and future recall or recognition. In addition, start adding to that with:
- Publishing guest posts on reputable health sites
- Co-authoring with influencers or patient advocates
- Securing citations in industry journals and major news outlets, including the use of press releases.
5. Test, Measure, Refine
With declining referral traffic to your website over time, there is a need for a new set of metrics to be developed. This will be the new way to measure progress and define success (plus ROI). In addition, it’s important to be watching what Generative AI Agents (and others) are crawling your website and for what pages or information. Server log analyzers help to do that.
In addition, set up a monthly review of:
- AI overview share of voice (how often you’re cited)
- Organic vs. AI-driven referring traffic and conversions
- Branded vs. non-branded search trends
- Length of search query being used and shifts in user behavior for how to find certain conditions, treatments, etc.
- Enhance current Reputation Management monitoring and be sure micro-community networks are included (i.e., Nextdoor).
This information will support your decision on how to iterate your content mix based on which topics yield the highest AI citations and conversions.
An AI-first strategy doesn’t replace SEO … it amplifies it. By structuring content for both human and machine readers, you’ll secure top positions in classic SERPs and AI Overviews. This is how your healthcare brand will remain relevant and top of mind, while leading competitively!
