How AI search ranks healthcare content: A ChatGPT vs. Google experiment
See the results of an experiment comparing how ChatGPT and Google deliver search results for healthcare information.
See the results of an experiment comparing how ChatGPT and Google deliver search results for healthcare information.
Author: Diane Hammons & Nikki Breen
Last updated: 08/26/24
AI is changing search and SEO, leaving many organizations scrambling to maintain, much less compete for, web traffic. ChatGPT, Perplexity and other search platforms are creeping in on Google’s search arena and affecting your lead generation. One of the biggest contenders is ChatGPT, which has more than 180 million users, compared to Google’s 276 million unique monthly visitors.
How do you land in ChatGPT’s results? Does ChatGPT use the same ranking criteria as Google? Do you need to change your content strategy? The experts at WG Content ran an experiment and created a case study to help answer these questions and more.
ChatGPT (GPT-4o) is an AI-based language model created by OpenAI that generates human-like, conversational answers. While it isn’t trained on the most current data, it can search the internet in real time. It takes the right prompt, but OpenAI’s SearchGPT will soon make that easier. The SearchGPT prototype, with a user interface similar to Perplexity AI, promises to streamline results with citations.
Consumers are turning to AI-first search because it’s streamlined. The results are conversational, digestible and personalized, too. That’s just the right combination for general healthcare queries. So our marketing minds wondered, “How do healthcare brands appear in ChatGPT?” We conducted a test to find out.
Our goal in this side-by-side test of ChatGPT versus Google search results was two-fold:
First, we defined our persona: a 50- to 60-year-old person looking for a healthcare specialist for a senior parent who was recently diagnosed with a health condition (breast cancer, congestive heart failure or stroke).
Next, we identified three service lines: breast cancer, cardiology and stroke rehabilitation. Our process was simple. We developed a list of broad-topic questions our persona would likely search. These prompts included variations of top-ranking keywords such as heart doctor, heart specialist and cardiologist. Then, we conducted parallel searches from IP addresses in Ohio, Illinois and Virginia.
Reliance on published rankings
Our test included questions like “Where can I find a good heart doctor?” Not specifying a search location, we expected Google and ChatGPT to return results related to top-rated health systems. ChatGPT took a national perspective, while Google generally served up local health systems.
Correlation with page one SERPs
Google favors sites that demonstrate experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). The same applies to generative search. We expected brands that rank high in Google SERPs to appear in ChatGPT, too. While some high-ranking brands appeared in ChatGPT, the citations did not align with Google SERPs.
Reference to health information websites
The majority of healthcare keywords trigger AI Overviews. And a recent study found that Healthline.com is among the most frequently linked websites in AIOs. We expected ChatGPT would also favor that healthcare media platform. Chat GPT claimed to have referenced several notable sources, but Healthline was absent from their list.
List of provider profiles
“Who are the top-rated breast oncologists?” Given the number of public lists, profiles, rankings and reviews, we anticipated Google could generate a list of qualified physicians in response to this and similar questions. We didn’t predict the same for ChatGPT, but testing delivered unexpected results.
A few findings stood out. Consumers are likely shifting from using Google for everything to ChatGPT because it offers:
Our comparative test revealed clear benefits to AI-first search for healthcare information. It also showed where we, as marketers, can improve to ensure we meet consumers there.
AI-first search tools like ChatGPT are shifting how users find healthcare information. Marketing strategies must evolve to remain competitive. Adopting a conversational tone, optimizing high-quality content and leveraging provider profiles are a few ways to keep your brand visible and relevant.
Ready to enhance your healthcare content strategy for the future of AI-first search? WG Content offers data-driven insights and content.
AEO strategy focuses on optimizing content to answer search queries. It’s an important part of SEO and if done properly, can help your organization appear in the answer box or featured snippet in search results pages and in other AI-first platforms. Embracing AEO is important for today’s content strategy and means researching and addressing common customer questions, optimizing for long-tail keywords and maintaining schema markup.
It’s important to maximize visibility is both search results. For Google, continue prioritizing traditional SEO tactics like optimizing for H-E-E-A-T (Healthcare, Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), targeting specific keywords, and ensuring content is relevant and location-based. For ChatGPT, it’s essential to create content that is concise, conversational and authoritative.
AIOs are common for healthcare keywords. The concise nature of AIOs can also reduce click-through rates, as users may get the information they need without visiting your site. To mitigate this, healthcare organizations should focus on creating content that not only answers the initial query but also encourages further engagement, such as offering in-depth guides, patient stories or links to related topics. It’s also essential to ensure that your content is structured to be easily digestible by AI, which increases the likelihood of being included in AIOs.
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