AI search optimisation for dental practices: what actually works
AI search optimisation is sold under many names. Strip away the jargon and check what the companies running the AI tools actually say, and the work for a dental practice is shorter and more familiar than the sales pitch suggests.
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AI search optimisation for a dental practice means making it easy for Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot to find your practice, understand what you offer and name you when a patient asks. The good news is that the companies running these tools have published what they look for, and for a local dental practice it is mostly the same work as good local SEO, plus a few technical checks that are quick to do.
What is AI search optimisation called?
You will see several names for the same idea: generative engine optimisation (GEO), answer engine optimisation (AEO), LLM optimisation and SEO for AI search. They all mean making your content and business information easy for AI systems to find, trust and cite. They are marketing labels rather than separate disciplines. Google's own guide mentions AEO and GEO by name and says that, from its point of view, optimising for generative AI search is still SEO.
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Every practice competing with yours on one map, sized by the share of local search each one holds, re-checked every week. The sample town shows the whole thing now, with no sign-up.
Run on our own practice first: ninth of the 14 practices measured in its town in May, first of 18 in September, on UK-wide search value. Page-one keywords: 6 in May, 194 in September.
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Is SEO still worth it in 2026?
Yes, and Google says so directly. Its guide to optimising for generative AI features, updated in July 2026, says "the best practices for SEO continue to be relevant because our generative AI features" are "rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems". Google's AI features documentation adds that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond being indexed and eligible for a snippet.
Other assistants build their answers by searching the web too, so the pages and listings that do well in search are the ones they find. If you are new to the basics, start with what dental SEO is and come back to this checklist.
How do you optimise for AI search? An eight-point checklist
1. Let the search crawlers in
Each AI company publishes the name of the crawler that feeds its search answers. Check your robots.txt file and any security plugin or firewall setting that blocks bots.
| Company | Search crawler | What the company says |
|---|---|---|
| Googlebot | Pages must be indexed and snippet eligible to appear in AI features | |
| OpenAI | OAI-SearchBot | Sites that opt out will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though may appear as navigational links |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot | Used to surface and link websites in Perplexity's results, not to train models |
| Anthropic | Claude-SearchBot | Blocking it may reduce visibility in Claude's search results |
| Microsoft | Bingbot | Copilot citations are reported in Bing Webmaster Tools |
Training crawlers such as GPTBot and ClaudeBot are separate, and blocking them is your choice. OpenAI says each of its bot settings is independent, so a site can allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in search while blocking GPTBot. Anthropic lists ClaudeBot and Claude-SearchBot as separate crawlers too.
2. Make sure your key pages are indexed
In Google Search Console, inspect your homepage, your main treatment pages and your fees page. Each should be indexed. Look for stray noindex tags left over from a website rebuild, which are a common cause of pages vanishing.
3. Get your business facts right at the source
Assistants answer local questions from business listings as much as from websites. Gemini, according to Google's help page, uses Google Maps information such as addresses, websites, ratings and opening hours. Keep your Google Business Profile, Bing Places listing, Apple Maps listing and NHS website profile complete, current and identical.
4. Write treatment pages with facts only you can give
Google's guide asks for "a unique point of view" and warns against content "that could easily be produced by a generative AI model". For a practice that means your fees, who provides each treatment, how many appointments it takes at your practice, NHS or private status, and the questions your patients actually ask.
5. Keep your name, address and phone number consistent
An assistant that finds two phone numbers or an old address may pick the wrong one or leave you out. Search your practice name and postcode and fix every directory listing that disagrees with your website.
6. Build genuine reviews
Assistants summarise reputation, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. Use our guide to working out a review target to set a number based on the practices already holding the map in your town.
7. Earn real mentions, not bought ones
Local press, community sites, charity events and professional bodies are legitimate places to be mentioned. Google's guide warns that "seeking inauthentic 'mentions' across the web isn't as helpful as it might seem".
8. Measure what you can
Google Search Console's Generative AI performance report shows impressions of your links in AI Overviews and AI Mode by page, country and device, though not queries or clicks. Bing Webmaster Tools' AI Performance report shows citations in Copilot and Bing's AI answers. For ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude, ask your key questions by hand each month and record what they say.
What Google says you do not need
Google's July 2026 guide lists some of the most common pieces of AI search advice and says you can ignore them for Google Search:
- llms.txt and other AI files. "Google Search ignores them". They neither harm nor help.
- Chopping content into small chunks. "There's no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces for AI."
- Writing in a special way for AI. Google says you do not need to, and that its systems understand synonyms.
- Special schema markup. "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search", though it still helps with rich results.
- Chasing long-tail keyword variations. Not needed.
Other AI companies publish less detail. Their crawler pages linked above do not ask for special files. What they ask for is access for their search crawler.
AI search optimisation tools and services: what to be wary of
Google's guide says to "be wary of third-party tools that promise ranking success or claim to use 'internal' Google metrics". That is good advice for any AI search optimisation service sold to a practice. Be cautious of anyone who:
- guarantees your practice will be named by ChatGPT or appear in AI Overviews
- sells llms.txt files or "AI schema" as the main deliverable
- offers to place mentions of your practice across many websites or forums
- wants to publish dozens of AI-written location pages
The last one is a real risk. Google's spam policies list "using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users" as scaled content abuse. A legitimate tool or service records whether assistants name you, shows which sources they cite and helps you fix the facts and pages behind them. Practice Radar's Growth plan, for example, records whether assistants name your practice for your town's key searches.
An AI search optimisation example
Here is the kind of change that helps. A typical treatment page opens like this:
"We offer a wide range of cosmetic treatments to help you achieve the smile of your dreams, delivered by our friendly and experienced team."
There is nothing in that sentence an assistant can repeat to a patient. Compare an opening that answers the questions patients ask:
"Composite bonding is available privately at our practice from [your fee] per tooth. Treatment is carried out by [name, qualification, GDC number], usually in one appointment after a consultation, and depends on an assessment of your teeth."
The second version gives Google, ChatGPT and every other assistant something specific and checkable to cite. It also meets the GDC's advertising guidance, which asks for clear language, facts that back up claims, GDC numbers for named professionals and a clear statement that treatment depends on assessment.
A first month plan for your practice
None of this needs a big project. A practice manager can work through it in four short sessions.
- Week one: access and indexing. Check robots.txt and any firewall bot settings against the table above. Inspect your top ten pages in Search Console and fix anything not indexed.
- Week two: listings. Update your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Maps and NHS website profile so hours, phone, website and services match exactly. Search your old phone number and old address to find stray directory listings.
- Week three: one treatment page. Pick the treatment you most want to grow and rewrite its opening, fees and clinician details using the example above. Add the five questions reception hears most, each with a short direct answer.
- Week four: baseline. Ask Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot five patient questions for your town. Record who they name and which sources they cite. Repeat on the same day next month.
After that, the work becomes routine: one page improved a month, reviews asked for every day, listings checked each quarter, and the monthly record of what assistants say.
Can ChatGPT do SEO?
It can help with parts of it. ChatGPT and other assistants are good at drafting page outlines, rewriting text more plainly and suggesting questions patients might ask. They cannot see your rankings, your Search Console data or your town's map pack unless you give them that data, and they will happily invent facts about your practice. Use them as a drafting aid, check everything, and keep the decisions with someone who knows the practice. For a fuller view of what the work involves, see our guide to SEO for dental practices.
Know whether AI assistants name you
Practice Radar's Growth plan records whether AI assistants name your practice for your town's key searches, next to your map positions, rankings and a monthly brief of three actions with evidence.
Run on our own practice first: ninth of the 14 practices measured in its town in May, first of 18 in September, on UK-wide search value. Page-one keywords: 6 in May, 194 in September.
Thirty days free. No card, and nothing starts automatically when it ends.