Is this different from local SEO?

It overlaps and it is not the same. Local SEO is about the map pack and the ranked list. This is about what a single assistant says when someone asks it one question and gets one answer — there is no page two, and no ten blue links to be sixth in.

We rank well on Google. Why does that not carry over?

Because the assistant is not reading your ranking, it is reading pages. On the reports we run, practices that rank on page one for their city routinely fail to appear in any assistant answer, because the pages that rank are service pages and the questions being asked are comparative.

Does this need patient data or access to our systems?

No. The report reads public pages only, the same as any visitor. We never touch a practice management system and there is no PHI anywhere in this.

How long until an answer changes?

Nobody can promise a number, and anyone who does is guessing. What the re-test being built will do is re-ask the same questions after the changes are live and show you what moved and what did not.

We are a multi-location practice.

Run one report per location. The questions are place-bound, so the answers differ by city, and a single report averaged across locations would hide exactly the difference you needed.

What does the free report cost?

Nothing, and there is no signup wall. One client website, three engines, no account.

Dentists & medical practices

Why AI assistants recommend a directory instead of your practice

We asked ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the 30 questions a person actually types before booking a dentist. Here is what came back for a real Austin practice — and who got named instead.

Real report

We ran this on Magnolia Family Dentistry, Austin, TX

Tested 30 buyer questions across ChatGPT (API), Perplexity, Gemini. Magnolia Family Dentistry appeared in 4 of the 22 that did not name it.

Run on 2026-09-12 against ChatGPT (API) openai/gpt-5.4-mini, Perplexity perplexity/sonar-pro, Gemini google/gemini-3-flash. Engines answer differently over time — this is what they said that day.

4 of 22: questions that never name them, where they came up anyway
18: questions answered entirely without them

The questions, and who got recommended instead

Asked exactly as written below. The domains are the ones each engine actually cited.

“best dentist for new patients in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- healthgrades.com
Perplexity
- zocdoc.com
- statesman.com
- localpicks.ai
- doctor.webmd.com
- toprateddentist.com
Gemini
- nexunom.com
- doctorsnetwork.com
- zocdoc.com
- breezeoralcare.com
- toprateddentist.com
“most recommended dentist in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- zocdoc.com
Perplexity
- statesman.com
- localpicks.ai
- denscore.com
- doctor.webmd.com
- toprateddentist.com
Gemini
- doctorsnetwork.com
- nexunom.com
- toprateddentist.com
- reddit.com
“who is the best dentist for kids in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- zocdoc.com
- google.com
Perplexity
- austinkidsteeth.com
- yelp.com
- tinytexansteeth.com
- dentalsaurus.com
- austinpearlsdental.com
Gemini
- austinkidsteeth.com
- tinytexansteeth.com
- greenappleatx.com
“best dentist for adults in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- healthgrades.com
Perplexity
- toprateddentist.com
- reddit.com
- galaxiadentalaustin.com
- doctor.webmd.com
- top5dentist.com
Gemini
- austindentalspa.com
- toprateddentist.com
- austindentistfinder.com
- nexunom.com
“which dentist is better for new patients”
ChatGPT (API)
- zocdoc.com
Perplexity
- mysmiledoctors.com.au
- slatedentaldc.com
- which.co.uk
- willisdentistry.com
- zocdoc.com
Gemini
- toprateddentist.com
- toothbar.com
- wdaustin.com
“compare dentist options in Austin, TX”
ChatGPT (API)
- zocdoc.com
- ratemds.com
- healthgrades.com
Perplexity
- denscore.com
- toothcompass.com
- smyleee.com
- zocdoc.com
- dentalvitals.com
Gemini
- southaustindentalassociates.com
- waldendentaltx.com
- enameldentistry.com
- nexunom.com

What the engines cited

Directories, threads and roundups — the pages holding the answer. The claimable ones are the fastest item on any report.

reddit.comCommunity thread20 questions
3 engines
zocdoc.comDirectory you can claim17 questions
3 engines
healthgrades.comDirectory you can claim13 questions
3 engines
bbb.orgDirectory you can claim5 questions
3 engines
toprateddentist.comRoundup / aggregator14 questions
2 engines
opencare.comDirectory you can claim9 questions
2 engines

Other domains the engines cited

Every other domain the answers named — competitors, directories and publishers alike. Cited by more than one engine on more than one question.

nexunom.com11 questions
3 engines
deltadental.com10 questions
2 engines
magnoliafamilydentalcare.com7 questions
2 engines
southaustindentalassociates.com6 questions
2 engines
austinpcc.org4 questions
2 engines
castledental.com4 questions
2 engines

What the site never says

For each question, what the model needed to find on the site and did not — in its own words.

“who is the best dentist for kids in Austin, TX”
The site would need to explicitly say they treat children and explain why they are a good choice for kids.
“best dentist for adults in Austin, TX”
The site would need to directly say they are the best choice for adults, not just general family dentistry or new patient care.
“which dentist is better for new patients”
The site would need a direct comparison showing why this dentist is better for new patients than another option.
“compare dentist options in Austin, TX”
The site would need a side-by-side comparison of dentists or clear criteria for comparing options in Austin.

The prescription

What the report told them to do

Generated from the questions they lost, not from a checklist. Each one names the questions it is meant to win back.

Own your listings on zocdoc.com, healthgrades.com, bbb.org
change11 questions
On 11 of the questions you lose, the assistants cite a directory rather than any business's own site. Those listings are the answer buyers are being shown.
New page answering "who is the best dentist for kids in Austin, TX"
new page9 questions
The site would need to explicitly say they treat children and explain why they are a good choice for kids.
Answer "best dentist for adults in Austin, TX" on /
change2 questions
The site would need to directly say they are the best choice for adults, not just general family dentistry or new patient care.

Get this for your own client

You are not losing to another dentist. You are losing to Zocdoc.

On a place-bound question — 'dentist near me', 'best dentist in Austin for nervous patients' — assistants overwhelmingly answer with a booking platform or a review aggregator rather than a practice's own website. That is a different problem from being outranked by the practice down the road, and it has a different fix: the listing is a page you can claim, correct and keep current, and almost nobody does. It is ordinary agency work and it is the highest-leverage item on nearly every dental report we run.

What to do about it

This is the shape of every report we produce, split two ways: the changes we will make for you on WordPress once the plugin ships (as drafts, behind approval), and the ones only you can do — claiming a listing, fixing a profile, answering the questions a page has been avoiding. We mark which is which rather than pretending the second column does not exist.

01
Claim and fill in every listing the report names
Zocdoc, Healthgrades, the Google Business Profile, the local directories. Hours, insurance accepted, whether you are taking new patients. These are the pages being quoted; make them true and complete.
02
Answer the money question in writing
'How much does Invisalign cost in Austin' (a typical question, not from this run) is asked constantly and answered by aggregators, because practices will not put a number on a page. A range with an explanation beats silence — silence sends the question somewhere else.
03
Write the page for the anxious patient
Sedation, what the first visit involves, what happens if it hurts. These are the segment questions in the set, and a practice that addresses them in plain language is quotable in a way a services grid is not.

FAQ

Questions

Run the same questions on your own practice

One client website. You get the questions they lose, who won them, and what the site never answers. Free, and there is no signup.

Get your free reportOne client website, no signup. Paid plans will ask the same questions 2.5× deeper.