The YMYL bar

Health questions are the most scrutinized class in AI answers. Engines hold medical claims to institutional-grade corroboration and prefer credentialed, clearly-authored sources. For clinics this means: credential content is your whole game, and marketing superlatives are disqualifying.

What to publish

  • Practitioner facts: degrees, board certifications, license references, languages spoken — quotable lines per practitioner.
  • Logistics: insurance networks accepted, booking channels, wait times, telehealth availability, parking. The questions patients actually ask AI before calling.
  • Specialty focus: what the clinic does and does not treat, stated plainly — engines route "where should I go for X" answers on exactly this.

Never

Outcome claims, cure language, testimonials implying results, or invented credentials. Beyond compliance, these get hedged or dropped by synthesis — they are both non-compliant and non-citable.

First moves

  1. Practitioner schema + quotable credential pages.
  2. Insurance/booking answer blocks.
  3. GBP health categories precise; healthgrades-class profiles complete.
  4. Review responses professional and HIPAA-careful (never confirm patient status).

Frequently asked questions

Can clinics respond to reviews without HIPAA exposure?
Yes, with discipline: respond to the experience, never confirm the reviewer is a patient, never reference treatment. 'Thank you for the feedback; we take scheduling concerns seriously — please call our office' is safe and engine-positive.