Healthcare marketing Q&A · ICG Editorial

What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) for healthcare?

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is the practice of structuring content so AI search engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews — cite your clinic when patients ask health questions. 67% of Indian patients now consult AI tools before booking healthcare (ICG Patient Lifecycle Research 2026). Brands not optimised for AEO are invisible to this growing patient segment. AEO uses FAQPage schema, MedicalClinic and Physician markup, citation-quality content under 300 characters, internal-link graphs LLMs can traverse, and entity disambiguation.

Detailed answers

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are now primary search interfaces for a meaningful share of patient queries. ICG's April 2026 Patient Lifecycle Research found 67% of Indian patients consult AI tools at some point during health decision-making. Clinics not visible in AI answers are invisible to those patients. The window for first-mover advantage is open through 2027.

SEO optimises for ranking in Google's traditional search results. AEO optimises for citation inside AI-generated answers. SEO weights backlinks, content depth, and engagement signals. AEO weights structured data, citation-quality phrasing, entity clarity, and Q&A formatting. ICG runs SEO and AEO as integrated programmes because they reinforce each other.

MedicalClinic, Physician, MedicalCondition, MedicalProcedure, FAQPage, HowTo, BreadcrumbList. Each healthcare page should carry the schemas relevant to its content type. ICG deploys schema in waves: site-wide foundational schema first, then page-specific layers per content type. Healthcare schema is high-priority because LLMs weight it heavily for medical citation.

First AEO citations typically appear in 30-90 days after structured deployment. Material AI search visibility (citation across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews for target queries) usually builds at month 3-6. Citation share against named competitors is a 6-12 month build.

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