A family member searching for IOP options at midnight used to get a list of ten blue links. Now they get an AI answer, a short paragraph, a few citations, a direct recommendation. If your site isn't cited, you don't exist in that search. They never see your name.
Case managers and referring clinicians still Google your program before they pick up the phone. That hasn't changed. What's changed is that the search result is increasingly AI-generated, and the sources it cites are determined by your site's structure, your schema markup, and whether your content was written by someone who can answer clinical questions correctly.
Generic content produced by agencies who rotate between dental practices and treatment centers doesn't pass that test. Clinical content written by a licensed LMFT with an active caseload does.