How does a practice website get found in Google and AI search?

Make sure every page can be found

• Your robots.txt file allows search engines to crawl the site.
• A sitemap lists every page you want found, and it is submitted in Google Search Console.
• Every page is linked from at least one other page. A page nothing links to is hard to find.
• Important content is text on the page, not only inside an image or a PDF.

Give each page one clear topic

• One main heading (H1) per page that names the topic, with section headings (H2, H3) in order below it.
• A page title written for that page and short enough to show in full in search results. About 60 characters is a common guide.
• A description of about 160 characters or fewer that tells a patient what the page answers.

Answer the question near the top

Patients search in questions: what is a hernia, how long is recovery, do I need surgery for gallstones. A page that answers the question in its first few sentences, then explains, is easier for a reader to use. In our experience it is also easier for search engines and AI tools to quote. The condition page article covers how to structure that answer.

Show who wrote it

Name the physician on the page, with credentials, and link to an About page. Structured data can describe the physician and the practice to search engines, and it must match the text visitors see. Keep your Google Business Profile current, because Google lists it among the things site owners should maintain.

What Google says about AI search

Google’s guide AI features and your website states that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet. Google also states that you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special schema.org markup for these features. The same foundations above apply.

Other AI tools

• Crawlers. ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity each use their own crawlers, which you can allow or block in robots.txt. Blocking them can keep your pages out of those tools’ answers. This site names each of them and allows them.
• llms.txt. A proposed plain-text map of a site for AI tools. Google says its AI features do not need it, and support among other tools varies. It costs little to add, so this site has one.

Measure it

Search Console shows the searches that bring patients to each page. Google Analytics shows visits referred by AI tools, such as chatgpt.com, as their own sources. DrCRodriguez.com already receives visits from ChatGPT, so check your referral sources before assuming AI search sends you nothing.

Questions physicians ask

Do I need special markup to appear in Google’s AI Overviews?

No. Google states that no special schema.org structured data, AI text files or other new markup is needed. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet.

Should I block AI crawlers?

That is your decision. Blocking a tool’s crawler in robots.txt can keep your pages out of that tool’s answers, so a practice that wants to be cited by ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity should allow them.