When you search “How to get rid of a sore throat?” The first thing that appears in search results will not be a medical website or world-class doctor remedy but an AI overview that gives a short and concise answer to the question. 

This feature is revolutionizing healthcare SEO, but most marketers don’t know about it yet. Those who do are extremely terrified because it’s AI. But if you use the right tactics, AI Overviews can boost your healthcare website. 

In this article, we will dive into the nitty-gritty of AI overview and healthcare SEO. Get ready to dominate the SERP, so let’s get started. 

Impact of AI Overviews on Healthcare SEO

Have you used generative AI platforms like chatGPT, Deepseek, or Perplexity? 

AI Overviews work similarly to these platforms that synthesize and provide relevant information. In the healthcare niche, these Overviews particularly rank high compared to other industries like B2B tech and e-commerce.

Many SEO strategists have said that Google is extremely strict about healthcare content. It prioritizes reputable sources that deliver authentic medical information.

Every healthcare brand should have concise AI Overviews. Optimize content for clarity and credibility. Writing long paragraphs will repel the audience and negatively impact readability. So, make content skimmable with short paragraphs and bullet points.

How Healthcare Companies Can Optimize for AI Overviews

Now that you know the basics of AI Overviews, it’s time to dive deeper and discuss the practical steps you need to take to optimize your website for AI Overviews. 

But before that, you should determine the primary goal. 

  • Enhance your brand awareness and visibility via AI Overviews to reach a wider audience. 
  • Focus on conversion-driven keywords so website traffic and lead generation game is strong. 

Opt for a balanced approach that includes combining traditional SEO best practices with AI-focused strategies. Now, let’s look at a step-by-step strategy for maximum success.

Do Keyword Research

To win AI Overviews, you have to learn how it gathers information. So there’s one vital thing you need to do. 

It’s creating a comprehensive keyword strategy.  

For this, you should target a wide range of keywords. Here are the three main keywords you should know about. 

  • Short-tail Keywords: These are most commonly searched by people. That’s why Google pushes them in AI-generated summaries.
  • Long-tail Keywords: These keywords are often used to answer specific queries, which improves content relevance. Long-tail keywords provide detailed answers to users’ questions. 
  • Conversational Search Phrases: These phrases align with natural language queries. With the rise in voice searches and AI interventions, Conversational Search Phrases are becoming more common.

Your content should be relevant to user intent. Understand search behavior and generate high-quality content. This search engine optimization technique also enhances your website organic search traffic.

Avoid making duplicate content. Your content strategy should have

  • Helpful content
  • Valuable insights
  • High content quality
  • Informational content
  • Relevant content

Cite Credible Sources to Enhance Trust

Most people don’t know this, but AI algorithms are designed to prioritize authoritative and well-sourced content, improving website visibility and traffic. 

For this, healthcare companies should reference peer-reviewed studies, government health websites (e.g., CDC, WHO), and reputable medical institutions.

Furthermore, they should update citations regularly to ensure you’re adding accurate information. There’s another way to reinforce trustworthiness. 

It’s adding outbound links and doing internal linking strategically.

Adhere to Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines

Google uses a specific framework E-E-A-T, formerly known as E-A-T. This framework plays a major role in the healthcare sector SERP rankings. It stands for: 

  • E – Experience
  • E – Expertise
  • A – Authoritativeness
  • T – Trustworthiness

To meet these standards, provide detailed author bios in your content. For transparency, add credentials and linked profiles. 

Implement Technical SEO Elements

Is your website content well-structured & machine-readable?

If not, you need to work on it. It’s a critical factor for AI Overviews inclusion.

Here are some of the steps you should follow for this. Follow schema markup and structured data. It means adding medical-specific schema like: 

  • MedicalCondition
  • MedicalProcedure
  • Physician

It helps AI understand and categorize content. Furthermore, don’t make long paragraphs. They bore the audience. So, what should you do? 

Use bullet points, subheadings, and lists to improve content scannability.

Optimize Service & Location Pages

Your website service and location pages should be well-structured. Clearly outline the medical services you offer. Include AI-friendly descriptions and AI Overviews to enhance website ranking. 

Go one step ahead and use geo-specific keywords. It will improve local rankings. Include FAQs, testimonials, and structured data.

But what’s the significance? 

It improves relevance in AI Overviews. 

Pitfalls to Avoid in AI-Driven Healthcare SEO

AI is changing how marketers do SEO, but healthcare brands must approach content creation strategically. Most marketers use AI-generated content for their websites, but this leads to negative results.

Do you know why?

Medical content should be reviewed before publication.

Here are a few things every healthcare marketer should do: 

  • Make sure medical professionals should review every piece of AI-assisted content
  • Keep checking AI Overviews for any inaccurate or outdated information
  • Don’t fully rely on AI-generated summaries

You’re putting in a lot of effort. Now, what’s next? Should you follow this strategy even after three months or change it? 

It all depends on the ROI of AI Overviews. 

By tracking it, you can properly understand the success or failure of this tactic. If there there are high click-through rates, then your brand will get exposure. However, this will further complicate the conversion measurements. 

Special Tip: In modern marketing, focusing on omnichannel strategies is smart. It requires brands to incorporate AI-influenced searches with their marketing campaigns. 

Brick Mortar Digital has helped several healthcare companies dominate Google. So get ready to boost your healthcare website. 

Contact us now for further details.