Not long ago, most patient journeys began the same way: a Google search, a list of links, and a click to a trusted provider’s website. Today, many of those journeys are starting somewhere else entirely: AI chatbots that answer questions instantly.
This shift has major implications for healthcare brands. If AI becomes the new gateway to care, how do you make sure you’re still found?
Read on to find out how common it is for people to seek medical advice from artificial intelligence, whether it’s a present or future problem, and what can be done to solve it.
The issue - the patient search journey is changing
AI is changing the way a lot of people search for information online. The traditional search journey looked like this:
- Type a query into a browser or search engine
- Click a website link on the results page
- Review the webpage to find answers
Now, with AI-driven search becoming a common alternative to the old way of doing things, the search journey is more like this:
- Type a query into an AI chatbot
- Get an answer straight away without visiting any websites
Even if you rank well on Google’s results page, your brand may not be cited, mentioned, or recommended in AI-generated results, which, for many, is now the first touchpoint on the patient journey.
Before AI, your healthcare brand was the expert. Now, AI presents as the expert, offering personalised, real-time guidance.
Are people really seeking medical advice from AI?
Several surveys and studies have shown that people are now turning to AI to answer their medical queries.
Importantly, it’s not that everybody has suddenly changed their search behaviour and your healthcare brand is now completely invisible online. It’s more of a steady shift that we see developing over time, particularly as Google gradually migrates more AI features over to their central search experience.
According to Health Watch, 1 in 10 men and 1 in 7 women in the UK turn to AI tools as a regular source of health information. And reporting from The Telegraph suggests 1 in 5 men under 35 are likely to use ChatGPT or similar AI platforms to research health conditions or check symptoms.
Find out if your target audience is using ChatGPT, in our demographic exploration.
Even as early in the AI boom as September 2023, an estimated 2 million UK adults had sought medical advice from artificial intelligence1. And AI search tools have only grown in popularity, case in point - ChatGPT is on the verge of mass adoption!
Mental health is also an incredibly common topic in LLM (large language models) interactions, with around 10.5 million adults across the UK reportedly using AI chatbots for mental health support2.
Similar things are happening around the world. In the US, for example - which has the highest AI use rate globally - 1 in 6 adults seek health information from AI chatbots on a monthly basis3. And, based on a Sentio survey, 48.7% of Americans who both use AI and self-report mental health challenges rely on popular AI chatbots for therapeutic support.
AI can’t treat people - but it can influence who does
People using artificial intelligence for medical queries still need to verify information, and they still need real clinicians for diagnosis, treatment, and procedures. But how they choose those clinicians is changing.
Instead of going to a search engine, browsing options, and comparing providers, many users now either click the sources cited by the AI or simply ask the AI to recommend a provider, clinic, or even a specific specialist.
This dynamic may become even more pronounced in areas that sit outside core or “serious” medical topics. Someone who would never use AI to self-diagnose chest pain may happily ask:
- “Best dermatologist near me for acne scars?”
- “Top cosmetic surgeons for rhinoplasty in London?”
- “Who’s reputable for laser eye surgery near Derby?”
Cosmetic and elective queries, although still healthcare decisions, often feel lower risk to users. That makes them prime for AI influence. These are the kinds of searches where convenience could outweigh caution, and where an AI-generated recommendation can heavily shape the patient’s next step.
In these scenarios, AI isn’t replacing clinicians, but it is increasingly acting as a gateway that decides which clinicians patients discover, trust, and ultimately book.
How agentic AI is impacting patient decisions
Agentic AI, which is artificial intelligence that can take actions on behalf of users (as opposed to just synthesising information, is being used to tackle research heavy processes - processes like reviewing and comparing healthcare providers.
It’s still in its infancy, and its primary use at this point in time is to simplify shopping and travel planning online, but the capabilities, adoption, and applications of agentic AI will likely expand exponentially over the next few years.
Before too long, AI could be choosing providers and booking appointments on behalf of a not-insignificant fraction of the population.
Is AI search a threat to healthcare brands now - or is it something to worry about in the future?
While traditional search still has a strong pulse, AI search is absolutely a threat to healthcare brands right now. Even though most people are sceptical of using AI chatbots to get answers to health queries, AI search is taking traffic from healthcare websites, which translates to missed opportunities.
Health search traffic is down roughly 30% sector-wide, primarily due to Google’s AI Overviews, but also in part to discrete AI search tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Mode. Not only does this mean you’re not getting the chance to convert a segment of potential patients, but brand awareness may erode over time due to lack of exposure.
Clicks from AI search are fewer than those typical of traditional search, but the clicks that are up for grabs tend to be of a higher quality, with the user already well-informed and nearing decision-stage thinking. You just have to be there to capture them.
Acting now will future-proof your healthcare brand’s exposure as AI becomes more commonplace in patient journeys and as a part of general health research. This is something TDMP is uniquely positioned to help you achieve.
We specialise in SEO and PPC for private healthcare brands and have a proven track record of improving brand exposure in both traditional and AI-generated search results, even in the face of sector-wide disruption from Google algorithm updates. Contact TDMP today to discuss your healthcare brand and how we can help.
What can healthcare brands do to boost performance AI-driven search?
With AI search growing in popularity, healthcare brands need to adapt on two fronts.
- Maximise the power of your owned and paid channels
Search is currently in a period of transition, and AI-related traffic losses may continue as users shift their behaviour. Strengthening your owned channels can help offset that volatility.
This means investing in:
- Social media that educates, reassures, and positions clinicians as trusted experts
- Email and newsletters that build long-term patient relationships
- Content-led nurturing that keeps your brand front-of-mind even when search visibility dips
- Paid advertising that ensures utilisation of facility and consultant capacity, regardless of organic fluctuations. As a Google Premier Partner PPC agency, we deliver custom PPC campaigns that both comply with strict healthcare regulations and deliver outstanding results. Learn more about our paid media services.
- Optimise your digital presence for AI visibility and recommendations
The second priority is to improve the likelihood that AI systems will cite, mention, or recommend your brand. The process is similar to traditional SEO, but with certain aspects and techniques weighted differently in terms of priority - or adjusted to benefit AI systems.
Find out what’s important to SEO in 2025 - and what no longer matters.
Key actions include:
- Ensuring your content is discoverable at a fundamental level
Review your overall crawl settings to make sure AI systems can access the content you want them to learn from.
Learn about the current state of AI and content permissions in our guide - Robots.txt, AI crawlers, and what (if anything) you should be doing about it
- Build topical authority
Create in-depth, well-structured content clusters around your core specialisms, interlinking pages to signal depth and expertise.
- Write content in ways AI understands and can reuse
Use clear definitions, self-contained sections, step-by-step explanations, FAQs, and plain-language summaries. These formats are especially easy for AI systems to pull into responses.
- Answer long-tail, conversational questions
Think the way users speak to chatbots: “Why does my knee click after I go for a run?” or “How long does rhinoplasty swelling last and how can I speed up recovery?”
- Implement structured data (schema)
Mark up content with schema for medical conditions, procedures, FAQs, clinicians, reviews, and locations. Structured data gives AI systems unambiguous signals about what your pages are about, increasing the chance of citation.
- Maintain strong technical health
Fast load times, mobile optimisation, clean architecture, and error-free pages help ensure your site is easily crawlable, indexable, and trustworthy — foundational for both search engines and AI models trained on web content.
… Of course, this is easier said than done, which is why we’re here to support your healthcare brand’s digital stability and growth as AI takes centre stage of search.
Futureproof your healthcare brand’s visibility online with TDMP
At TDMP, we’ve been helping brands in the healthcare space get noticed and secure patient bookings online for over a decade. Long before AI Overviews or ChatGPT hit the mainstream, we were already integrating AI-aware optimisation principles into our clients’ strategies, preparing them for the search landscape we’re experiencing today.
Combining forward-thinking digital strategy with deep technical expertise, we offer end-to-end support across both paid and organic search, ensuring your brand remains discoverable, trusted, and competitive as patient behaviour evolves.
Contact us today and start building a strategy that keeps you ahead of the curve.
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