WRITER Paul Sallaway

What if Google became less like a directory and more like a concierge? Instead of handing users a list of web addresses, it points them directly to the clinics it trusts most. That’s what Google AI Mode will soon mean for eye care providers across Australia.1

How will you make sure Google recommends you, not your competitor? This article explains the changes, why trust and credibility matter more than ever; and provides a practical checklist to future-proof your online visibility.

Patients are already changing how they search. Instead of typing a short list of keywords, they’re asking detailed questions like, ‘Which optometrist in Melbourne is best for kids who are becoming short sighted but don’t like wearing glasses at school?’ They’re putting these queries to artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity – and now Google is signaling the same shift is happening in its own user search experience.

Australians have already noticed Google AI Overviews in some searches. But that’s only the appetiser. Google AI Mode – when it is fully rolled out here – will be the main course, reshaping the search page into full AI-powered answers that highlight specific eye care providers.

THE BIGGEST SHIFT IN SEARCH: GOOGLE’S EVOLUTION TO AN ANSWER ENGINE

Google hasn’t been simply ‘10 blue links’ for a long time. Knowledge panels, featured snippets, YouTube thumbnail links, ‘People also ask’, local map packs, and AI overviews already pull attention away from traditional results. Organic link click-through rates have been falling year after year.

And now traditional ‘ranking-based’ marketing strategies are about to get even more challenging. Why would a patient spend time scrolling through links when Google can summarise everything for them and pick the ‘best’ option? That’s the promise – and the challenge – of AI Mode.

CHANGING SEARCH BEHAVIOURS

Organic clicks may be dropping, but don’t be fooled into thinking that Google itself is fading away. In less than 12 months, question-based searches rocketed from 38% to 87% of total queries.2 The total scale is massive: Google searches jumped from 8.5 billion per day to 13.7 billion.2 As the recent inclusion of Google AI Overviews has made ‘search’ more useful, people have responded by searching more than ever.

SPEAKING TO THE MACHINE

Layered into this is the rapid rise of voice search. For years, it promised hands-free convenience but fell short because of poor accuracy and difficulty handling accents or noisy environments.

Recent advances in AI platforms, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice,3 are changing that. Instead of typing a query, a patient might simply speak out loud: ‘Where can I take my child for an orthokeratology lens consultation in Brisbane’s inner west that is open Saturday morning?’ and follow that up by having a conversational dialogue with ChatGPT’s AI assistant. Google is sure to follow OpenAI’s lead and improve on its own voice search experience.

‘Near me’ and local searches already make up 76% of voice searches4 and this number is expected to grow.

HOW GOOGLE AI MODE WORKS

Google’s AI Mode runs on Gemini, a large language model (LLM) AI algorithm. Gemini outputs initial responses of around 300 to 500 words. Behind the scenes, it uses something called Query Fan-Out.5 This means Google takes a person’s question, splits it into many smaller background searches, then pieces together an answer from different sources. For a clinic owner, this means you’re no longer competing for one keyword – you’re competing to be the best answer to many sub-questions.

It crawls the web in real time to update it’s training data, an approach called retrieval augmented generation (RAG).6 The old ‘outdated training data’ issues from AI’s early days are now a thing of the past.

This new approach reshuffles the deck. A blog post that might have sat quietly on page two can suddenly appear as a citation in Google AI Mode. Recency, relevancy, and clarity can help your content to jump the queue.

WHY AUTHORITY AND TRUST ARE CENTRAL

Traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) practices, such as having a solid site structure, on-page optimisation, and quality backlinks still matter. But in Google’s AI Mode they’re no longer a differentiator – they’re simply the baseline to be ‘in the running’. The real competition is for authority and trust. Who does Google have enough confidence in to recommend to patients? That’s the critical question now.

KEY TRUST AND AUTHORITY SIGNALS

The framework is clear:

EEAT. Google looks for real world experience, professional expertise, authoritative recognition, and trust signals (EEAT).

Consistency. Align your branding across your website, Google Business Profile, Facebook business page, LinkedIn company page, and local directory listings. Contradictions undermine confidence.

Engagement patterns. Longer time spent on your website by online visitors tells Google that people value your content. Videos and interactive features (like widgets, calculators, and quizzes) on your web pages can boost your standing for these metrics.

Citation graph. Mentions in news outlets, community forums like Reddit, and reviews from multiple sources reinforce your online presence.

Technical trust. Schema markup (a machine readable data format), structured data (organising pages under clear typographical hierarchies), and fast load times make it easier for AI systems to crawl your content and find what they need.

THE DECAY OF TRUST SCORES

Google distributes exposure to sources with the strongest signals of reliability. Even then, those signals can fade. A trust score is like a battery that needs charging – it drains away unless you consistently add new content, update listings, and drive fresh engagement. A good part of your digital marketing effort should be devoted to reviewing and updating old content on your website.

CONTENT STRATEGIES FOR AI MODE

Make Content Accessible

Create blog posts structured for easy digestion by both machines and people:

• Lead with the answer – place it high on the page,

• Avoid filler and keep paragraphs short,

• Use bullet lists and clear subheadings for easy scanning,

• Use a logical HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) semantic hierarchy e.g. H1 headers, H2 subheaders etc.,

• Add a TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) summary or ‘key takeaways’ box up front, and

• Include FAQs – they mirror the question and answer style AI prefers to lift directly.

Think Beyond the Home Page

To be taken seriously by Google’s AI Mode algorithm, it’s no longer enough to have a basic website with just a home page, an ‘about us’ section, and little else. Although these pages are still important (and the usual destination for ‘brand searches’) 82% of Google AI overview results link to ‘deep’ pages, at least two or more clicks from the home page i.e., service pages, product pages, and blog posts.7

The implication is clear. A well developed, professional website is a decisive strategic asset if you want Google to recommend you to new patients.

Build Depth, Context, and Authority

In AI Mode, surface-level explanations won’t cut it – user queries are broken into multiple sub-questions, and your content needs to provide both depth and credibility:

• Anticipate related questions readers may ask, not just the primary query,

• Expand topics with connected details (e.g., a ‘dry eye treatment’ article should also address symptoms, triggers, and therapy comparisons),

• Move beyond generic facts by adding first-hand experiences, patient stories, and practical insights,

• Strengthen authority with case studies and internally collated patient survey data (anonymised, of course),

• Include clear author bios to establish trust in the source of the information by mentioning certifications, awards, professional memberships, and LinkedIn personal profiles,

• Link to respected external sources to situate your content within a credible knowledge network, and

• Enrich presentation with varied formats – videos, diagrams, infographics, quizzes, and interactive features.

When you layer depth with authority, your content becomes more than informative – it becomes trustworthy, scannable, and primed for both human engagement and AI citation.

Create an Omni-Presence Beyond Your Website

AI systems draw heavily on a wide digital footprint to decide who is credible and quotable.

Off-site mentions and signals. AI engines scan Reddit threads, and Quora answers. If your practice never shows up in these forum spaces, you’re at a disadvantage. It pays to create an account and engage generously with the communities.

Being cited in media stories also reinforces your brand profile. This is where digital public relations tools such as HARO8 or SourceBottle9 become useful. A mention of your practice in an article or a professional quote used by a journalist becomes another signal that your clinic is visible and trustworthy.

Video. It’s now 2025 and YouTube should be a non-negotiable for most businesses. Not having a video channel for your brand is a risky strategy. The video platform is owned by Google and YouTube results feature prominently in standard search results. Google’s AI algorithms are fully capable of drawing on this content when making recommendations.

Local optimisation. For healthcare, location is often decisive. Google’s AI Mode leans on local signals more heavily than many expect. A well-maintained Google Business Profile (GBP) is essential.

Patient reviews carry extra weight in Google’s recommendations. Both the volume and average rating of patient reviews can directly affect how often a clinic appears in AI responses. Mentions of your services within those reviews can also be especially helpful.

FROM PRACTICE TRUST TO PATIENT REVENUE

Clinics that show up as trusted sources in Google can gain attention from users. But the next step is turning that attention into real patients:

Build the trust-to-revenue bridge. When users click through on a Google generated link, the next move is guiding them toward deeper engagement. This could be subscribing to a newsletter, becoming a social media follower, taking a quiz, or suggesting a related page on your website.

Every piece of content you create should end with a relevant next step. Think of these as gentle nudges, not hard sells.

Measure what matters. The absolute volume of visitor traffic to your website is no longer the gold standard. AI-driven search may reduce raw traffic volumes, but the patients it delivers are more likely to be pre-qualified and a better fit for what you offer.

That shift means measuring different metrics: citations in AI responses, brand mentions across platforms, and conversion rates from key calls-to-action.

Independent practices should focus less on volume and more on the quality of leads – patients lower down in the patient-journey funnel who are ready to take action.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Patients are already getting direct answers and confident recommendations from AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. This is the new information retrieval paradigm and it’s about to become the norm. If you rely on Google for new patients, the implications are massive. The era of chasing search result page rankings is drawing to a close.

For independent practices that shift may feel confronting, but it’s also liberating. Visibility is no longer locked behind big advertising budgets or the dominance of national chains. It’s tied to authority, clarity, and the ability to provide information that genuinely helps people.

We’ve already seen this play out in our own agency. A client in Western Australia now dominates national visibility for specialty contact lenses, appearing in AI-driven results ahead of larger competitors. Another small town clinic has become an Australia-wide ‘go to’ recommendation for dry eye treatment. And in Melbourne, a suburban practice is frequently cited for city-wide paediatric eye care – proof that niche expertise can rise to the top.

In the age of AI search, patients don’t find you – Google recommends you.

And you need to start planning to be part of the shift or get left behind.

Paul Sallaway is the founder, owner, and web strategist behind Optics Digital Marketing. His agency specialises in assisting business growth for eye care practices through conversion-optimised websites and data-driven marketing. For a free consultation, visit: opticsdigital.net.

References
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