SEO and GEO trends 2026: how AI is changing the way patients find practices

This is the most important SEO trend of 2026 for medical and dental practices. Google now answers many questions itself, with AI Overviews right above the search results. On top of that, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini recommend practices directly.

In this article we show what we observe with our clients, what has really changed and which three things a practice should tackle now.

Fewer clicks, better enquiries

The reason is zero-click search: many people are satisfied with the AI answer and no longer open a website. At the same time, more and more users move from the AI Overview into a chat, and Google actively encourages this step. Since October 2025, AI Mode has also been available in Germany: a Google search that works like a chat and allows follow-up questions (Google, 8 October 2025).

In a chat, questions become more specific. Whoever is named and clicked on there matches the need far better than in a standard Google search used to. We see this in conversion: the enquiries that still come in are considerably more valuable.

For practices this means: clicks alone are no longer a good metric. What matters more is how many suitable enquiries and appointments your visibility generates. Which metrics count instead is covered in our article on healthcare marketing KPIs. How we prepare this for practices every month is shown in our Reporting service.

SEO vs GEO: what stays the same and what is new

GEO builds on SEO but goes deeper. Keywords remain important, yet AI systems mainly assess how terms relate to each other in substance and whether a text answers the whole question.

Content that merely repeats keywords is rarely cited in AI answers. What is needed is content that meets patients at every stage: from their first question to the decision to go ahead with a treatment.

Incidentally, this article is built exactly that way: our own figures, a source for every external claim, clear examples. How to link content into topic clusters so that a website answers a question in full is described in our guide professional SEO for practices.

How an AI answer is created

Once you understand how an AI answer comes about, you also understand why thin pages are hardly cited any more. For its AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google describes a process called query fan-out: one question is broken into many sub-questions that are searched at the same time (Google Search Central).

For your practice this means: a page that only says “We offer implants” answers none of these sub-questions. A page that explains the procedure, costs, durability and risks answers almost all of them. That is why merging service pages comes first in the three steps further down.

ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini as new sources

AI assistants already bring measurable visitors today, to us and to our clients. Most come via ChatGPT, with the occasional visitor from Perplexity and Gemini.

An example from our own agency: a practice spent some time searching ChatGPT for support with its visibility in AI search. ChatGPT suggested us, and the practice called. It found us through the ads ChatGPT is currently testing.

The takeaway: whoever is cited in AI answers comes into focus at exactly the moment someone is looking for a solution. Specialists also call this ChatGPT SEO, LLM SEO or LLMO (large language model optimisation). It always means the same thing: preparing content so that AI models understand it and recommend it.

For these figures to be accurate, measurement has to be set up properly, with consent and in line with the GDPR. How that works is shown in our Tracking service. How we support practices with visibility in AI answers is described on our page about AI visibility.

Would you rather have us check this for you? You will find our AI visibility check under free tools.

What is GEO?

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Optimising content for AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews, so that a practice is named and cited in their answers.

Important: GEO does not stop at the AI tool. These systems also evaluate external sources. Whether a practice is cited therefore also depends on signals outside its own website:

How to get your Google profile and practice details in order is explained in the article How to be found more easily on Google. How reviews can be generated in a planned way is shown in our Review management service.

GEO should not be confused with local search. In SEO, “geo” used to refer to location. Today GEO almost always means AI search; optimising for location is called local SEO.

Health in AI answers: data protection, HWG and trust

Many people now use AI assistants for everything, including health questions. Personal health data does not belong there, yet patients still ask AI about treatments, costs and suitable practices. For practices this means: you should be findable in these answers.

Health data is the most valuable asset a practice has to protect. Anyone using a chatbot on their own website therefore needs a privacy-compliant provider and clear information for patients. What matters here is covered in our article AI in the medical practice.

There are limits on content, too. The German Healthcare Advertising Act (HWG) and the professional code of conduct for doctors (Berufsordnung) allow factual information, but no superlatives, no promises of cures and no misleading claims. That fits well with GEO: AI systems prefer factual, well-founded content from recognisable experts anyway.

Trust is built above all through clear information. A practice that openly explains the procedure, costs, risks and common concerns is seen as a reliable source by patients and AI systems alike. How these conversations succeed is described in our article on patient communication.

Three things a dental practice should do now

1. Merge and expand service pages

Instead of many short pages with just a few sentences, create one detailed page per treatment. It explains the procedure, costs, risks and common concerns, just like an informed consent conversation before treatment. This builds trust and gives AI systems exactly the depth they cite. How to embed such a page in a content strategy with a pillar page and topic clusters is shown in strategy 1 of our article Professional SEO: 7 strategies for practices.

2. Become visible locally

The practice should show clearly where it is, who it is there for and how it fits into its local area. This includes a well-maintained Google Business Profile, consistent details for address and opening hours, and content with local relevance. More on this in our article SEO for dentists.

3. Strengthen external signals

Reviews on Google and portals such as Jameda demonstrate experience and trust. How to deal with unfair reviews is covered in our article Deleting Google reviews. Mentions in trade media and an active presence on social media help as well. Structured data on the practice, its doctors, services and opening hours ensures that search engines and AI crawlers can read this information cleanly.

What can go

Thin service pages in their current form. Pages with only a few sentences explaining a treatment in general terms achieve little today. AI answers now cover these basic questions themselves. Even so, practices should not delete these pages but merge them into detailed ones.

Voice search as a separate buzzword. Voice search itself remains important, but it is no longer a trend in its own right. Young people have long communicated by voice message and phone rather than text. They will increasingly speak their searches too.

Above all, this changes the form of queries: long sentences and real questions instead of short keywords. If you align your content with such questions, you are well prepared for voice search and AI search at the same time.

• Keyword lists without context: a term repeated ten times on a page is no substitute for an answer.
• Clicks as the key metric: they fall even when the practice is highly visible. Count enquiries and appointments instead.

Your next step

Whether it is Google search, an AI Overview or a chat: in the end, the practice that answers a question most clearly and credibly wins. The quickest way to find out where you stand today is the goal Online visibility.

Prefer to talk directly? Book an initial call and we will look at your practice together.