CATEGORY 104 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Last month we looked at how search is changing faster than most of us realise. Google’s long dominance is being challenged by AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and others. e Wild West has returned – and if your practice wants to be found by patients in 2026 and beyond, you need to understand how the new game is played. So how exactly is AI search di erent from the Google we’ve all relied on for the past 25 years? Imagine this. A potential patient in Noosa types “best dentist in Noosa” into Google. ey’re served a familiar page full of blue links, Maps listings, and paid ads. Google is essentially acting like a very e cient librarian – it matches keywords, looks at backlinks, and decides which pages are most popular and relevant. Now the same person asks ChatGPT or Gemini the exact same question: “Who is the best dentist in Noosa?” e AI doesn’t just hand over links. It reads hundreds (sometimes thousands) of sources in real time, weighs up reviews, considers how recent the information is, evaluates the credibility of each practice’s website, and then gives a thoughtful, summarised recommendation. It behaves more like a well-informed local friend who has done all the research for you. at shift – from “here are some links” to “here’s what I recommend and why” – changes everything about how you need to market your practice. The old rules versus the new rules Traditional Google search rewards strong keyword optimisation, a high volume of backlinks from other websites, fast-loading and mobile-friendly websites, as well as good click-through rates and time spent on page. AI search rewards something deeper. It favours clear, authoritative, and trustworthy information, content written in natural and conversational language, and structured data that tells the AI exactly who you are, what you do, and where you are located. It also strongly prefers genuine patient reviews and real-world proof of quality, along with content that directly answers the questions patients actually ask. In short, Google still cares about being found. AI platforms care about being recommended. ere’s a big di erence. When an AI is deciding whether to recommend your practice, it is constantly asking itself several important questions. Does this dentist appear to be experienced and expert in their eld? Do real patients speak highly of them? Is the information about this practice consistent and up-todate across the internet? Can the AI easily understand exactly what services are o ered? And is there evidence this practice is active, modern, and patient-focused? If the answers to most of these questions are yes, your practice has a strong chance of being named. If not, you’ll be invisible – even if you rank well on traditional Google. What this means for your dental practice right now AI platforms love clarity and structure. at’s why practices with well-written FAQ pages are already appearing in AI answers more often. ose FAQs should answer real patient questions in plain English, such as how much Invisalign costs on the Sunshine Coast, whether same-day emergency dental appointments are available in Noosa, or what patients should expect during a dental implant procedure. AI also favours practices that maintain strong, consistent pro les across Google Business Pro le, and other reputable directories. Con icting addresses or phone numbers can confuse the AI and reduce your chances of being recommended. Perhaps most importantly, AI systems place heavy emphasis on E-E-A-T signals – Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. In healthcare especially, trust is everything. Practices that publish educational blog posts, share before-and-after stories (with permission and AHPRA compliant), and demonstrate real patient outcomes are far more likely to win AI recommendations. A simple test you can do today Go to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity right now and type “best dentist in [your suburb/ town]”. See which practices are mentioned. en ask yourself honestly: Why those ones and if yours is not one of them, why not? e gap between the practices that appear and those that don’t is usually not about who has the ashiest website. It’s about who has made themselves understandable and trustworthy to both humans and machines. e good news? You don’t need to become an AI expert. You just need to start creating content and structured information that both search engines and AI platforms can easily read and trust. In the next article in this series, we’ll move from understanding to action. We’ll share the exact optimisation strategies that forward-thinking dental practices are using right now to appear in AI recommendations. For now, the message is simple: the way patients nd dentists is changing. e practices that adapt earliest will enjoy a signi cant advantage in the years ahead. As you’ve seen, both the quality of your content and the way it’s structured are critical if you want AI platforms to recommend your practice. While much of this can be handled in-house, not every team has the time or expertise to do it well. If that’s the case, the team at IDM can take care of it for you through their new IDM Search AI service. It’s designed to be highly a ordable for practices of all sizes, and importantly, IDM works with only one client per local area – so you bene t from true exclusivity. Like any emerging trend, there’s a window of opportunity. Practices that act early tend to gain a disproportionate advantage before others catch on. If you’d like to understand where you currently stand, IDM’s SEO expert and strategy consultant, Tony, would be happy to provide a complimentary assessment of your AI search presence and walk you through how it all works. Feel free to get in touch to arrange a time with him. u www.idm.com.au • carl@idm.com.au (02) 9211 1477 AI search vs traditional search – what every dentist needs to know Part two of a five-part series on the rise of AI search. By Carl Burroughs Carl Burroughs
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTc3NDk3Mw==