How to Keep Your Clinic Visible in Google’s AI-Powered Search
💻 Podiatry clinic website & digital marketing services: https://podiatrygrowth.com/schedule-more-patients/
🤝 Podiatry business coaching: https://www.tysonfranklin.com/Coaching
In this episode of Podiatry Marketing, Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald, DPM, discuss the latest shifts in Google’s search functionalities influenced by AI, including the AI overview and AI mode features. Learn how these changes affect podiatry practices and gain insights on optimizing your website for better visibility and patient engagement.
With practical tips on SEO, patient reviews, and creating relevant content, this episode is a must-watch for podiatrists aiming to stay ahead in the digital marketing game. Tune in for actionable advice on keeping your clinic top of mind in an evolving digital landscape.
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Jim McDannald, DPM:
You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin, and welcome back to this week's episode of Podiatry Marketing. With me, as usual, as he is every week, it is big Jim Mac. How are doing today, Jimmy boy?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Tyson, I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Getting getting excited. It's it's been beautiful here in Montreal. Glad to be back in Canada, and now just things are good.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
How about things with you?
Tyson E. Franklin:
Fantastic. This is my birthday week. So
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Here we go.
Tyson E. Franklin:
As this episode comes out, it is my birthday this week. So, yeah, we're I'm I'm open to gifts if people wanna send me something and say, hey. Thank you for all the episodes that you've done, and we would love to send you a birthday gift. By all means, send away.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
There we go.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So what are we talking about today?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. So in the past, we've talked a little bit about how search and specifically Google, you know, could be kinda changing over time as, you know, things like ChatGPT, you know, these different kinds of AI ways of, you know, finding information and searching are happening. It's actually, what's happening now is Google is changing. So today, we're gonna kinda go over a little bit about how Google is changing based off of, you know, different kind of AI kind of elements being added to their search. You know, what those things are, and then how clinics can kind of adapt to them and take some proactive steps to make sure that their their website and their practice is kind of AI approved in a way.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. I think it's a good idea because things are changing fast. I think back to way back when we did that first episode, we mentioned just chat GTP, and it seemed like something so foreign. Now everybody everybody's using one form or another.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. Absolutely. You know, like, these different kind of assisted you know, the search assisted by AI is, you know, trying to help, basically, patients find the kind of care you provide. Right? You know, they go to Google.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
They're looking for kind of an answer to the medical problems, you who can take care of the problems. And, you know, the the type of answers that can be provided by Google can be really, really helpful, almost to the point where, like we've talked about in past, Google doesn't always wanna send traffic to your website. So it's important to know, you know, what what's going on with these different kind of forms of AI that Google is using when patients are looking for your practice because, you know, it's gonna really give you a better ideas and kinda better opportunities to kind of maybe someone down the street, you know, the clinic down the street that doesn't know about these things. It can kinda help you stay in front of the game to make sure your clinic is remaining visible and the patients have the opportunities to to make appointments even while Google is changing things up on you.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. So where where should everyone start?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. So we'll start by kinda, like, defining those kinda two new things that have kind of come on to Google that, you know, kind of in plain English so people understand what those things are. And a lot of you maybe have already seen it if you've been searching on Google. First and foremost is what's called the AI overview. So when you're searching for, you know, podiatry or podiatrist or maybe it's the name of your town in in podiatry, you're gonna see at the very top of the regular Google search these kind of almost like a live thing is being generated.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Right? So, like, it's almost it's not just like those links below or even the ads. You're gonna see a paragraph that maybe has an expand area, and it's gonna talk about this is what heel pain is or this is how you should treat heel pain or, you know, this is what a podiatrist is. And it's gonna be a long explanation and almost like Google is trying to answer all the patient's questions right there in that paragraph. Like I talked about previously, maybe there's not even a link to a clinic or a link to like a reference site.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So that AI overview is kind of the first thing that most people have probably seen, but the next time you search for something on Google, take a take a look out for the AI overview.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I'm gonna do that because I think I have I think I have noticed that even though I'm not using I'm actually using Google as much to search things anymore. I've been using something else, but we're not talking about that in this episode. But I will I'm gonna next time I look at it, but I'm pretty sure I have seen it where it gives you a little bit more information in a particular area. So you're saying that Google is trying to answer the questions for them and go, hey. Look at us.
Tyson E. Franklin:
We're awesome. You don't need to go and talk to that particular business.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. Sometimes, don't think it's it hasn't affected the local quite stuff quite as much. So maybe if you're typing in, like, the actual name of your town and podiatrist, maybe you're still gonna not pull up that kind of general AI overview. But definitely for anything that is, like, symptom specific or, you know, what is bunion surgery, you're gonna get less of those kind of organic people coming to that blog post or that page on your site that maybe you wrote up. Maybe Google's gonna use that as a reference, but they're gonna put almost the full text in that area above the fold at the very top.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So, you know, if you're you're hoping if you're getting in the past, maybe you're getting patients coming to your website, they're looking for more, I would say, like, informational, you know, blog posts or pages to learn about different types of foot or ankle care. Maybe they don't even go to those pages on your website anymore because those pages that are being created, those AI overuse that are being created on the Google within Google might just deliver the answer they're looking for there.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And then then they don't search any further.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. They don't really search any further. Maybe they're gonna be a little bit more specific about the the type of search they use beyond that, but it is something to be considered of.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. So some so the more generic the question, the more Google's gonna probably use that. And then if a person gets a question, the answer straight away, they go, oh, I don't need to know anything else. If they want more information, then they're gonna have to dig further.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. It's they're probably gonna be prompted that now they have a little bit of understanding about maybe what the issue is, but they didn't go to your website. Right? So because what the path will sometimes happen is that when it was Google, it was just links. Maybe you wrote about three different types of bunion surgery.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And the person clicked through and they went to, you know, they went to x y z podiatry, and they saw, you know, they learned and they were building trust with you and your website. Right? They see that you're the expert. They see that you can they can make an appointment because there's an there's a button there. Even though it's a blog post or informational post on a page, there is a way to interact and basically make that appointment potentially.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
But with the AI overviews, if they just read similar types of information on that AI overview while they're still on Google, there's no button to make an appointment on Google for your clinic in that same kind of educational or that kind of informational page.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Well, I'm actually on the Google page because you said next time you do that. So I've actually clicked on them and done exactly what you said to do. What is bunion surgery? Has bunionectomy over on the right hand side. Has a bit of information.
Tyson E. Franklin:
There is a link to a particular clinic, but nothing local. Yeah. When I look on here, because it's such a vague question that I've asked or search, there's nothing local about any particular local business at all.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. For sure.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So then you'd probably have to be, like, said, more specific. He does bunion surgery in my area.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. That that might not pull up those AI reviews, but definitely, there is some traffic loss because of those educational, you know, queries that the patients are asking questions about. And jumping into the second part of the thing that, like, basically, Google has introduced is that if you go to google.com, at least in North America, maybe it's might because I have the Google Labs kind of the experimental features that they're doing that maybe they don't roll it out to everybody yet. But if if you go to google.com, maybe if you have the Google Labs, maybe it's only in The US, but there'll be a button there now next to just the regular search that basically says AI mode on it. So when you basically search with AI mode, you're getting something almost similar to the AI overviews.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
But instead of, you know, if you do ask things like podiatrist near me, it could pull up the kinda IP address of your computer or your or your mobile phone. And it's gonna give you a list. Maybe it's gonna give you a list of podiatrists. Has done that for me when I pulled it up. But the funny thing is that the list and the links the links that are associated to that list are not links to your website.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Those are links to the Google Business profile. So, like, now instead of linking out directly to your website to kind of hopefully build trust with patients and have them make an appointment, Now they're going directly to these different Google Business Profiles. So like we talked about previously, the Google Business Profile has to be optimized in a way where, you know, you're relevant so that the AI mode pulls you up, but also people can transact or make an appointment either by giving you a phone call or a good link that's on that Google Business profile for them to make to make it easy for them to make that appointment. So it's like almost like another layer that people have to get through in order to go to your website, and you're just gonna a lot of people are seeing less and less traffic coming to their websites because of these two different features, both the AI overviews, like I talked about previously, and now this kind of Google a Google Search AI mode.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. I have seen articles recently on some different platforms, some forums, and people have actually been talking about the amount of traffic for their businesses has just dramatically dropped. Not just a little bit, and they thought, maybe it was one month, but then they've just seen it month after month. It actually get less and less. So this is probably exactly what's happening.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. And it's kinda funny too because, like, the the traffic, the kinda general traffic is getting less and less, but what's happening is that people, when they look at a percentage of kinda like the conversions or the the number of patients that are actually making appointments, it's higher because they're getting all their information from Google.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So the only reason maybe they're even coming to your website now is to make that appointment. But it usually is less, you're getting less overall traffic. So there hasn't been seen like crazy dips when it comes to the amount of like conversions or patient appointments that are being made, but the overall traffic is down in long term. That's not necessarily a great thing for a website and kind of for the general awareness of what you're trying to do in your your local community.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. There's something I said to a coaching client yesterday, and I said, Google will give you information. I said, but your website will actually close the sale.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
That's what it should do. Right?
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. And it's what you're talking about here is exactly what's happening with Google's now, hey. We can give you the information. You don't need to go anywhere else. But once they've got the information and they go, okay.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Now I need a podiatrist locally, Your website then has to back up what it is that they're searching for.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. Absolutely. And I think there's a lot of people who've been trying to, you know, be number one for a ton of different search terms. Right? They spend a lot of money on SEO.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And there's definitely some terms now that are still super important. I think, like, you're talking about those transactional ones where they're gonna make an appointment, but now people are chasing different terms now that Google is providing those answers. You know? So, like, even if you're ranked number one for, you know, information about bunion surgery, if the patient's not necessarily reading it, like, on your website, there's that you know, you're not really kind of building that trust or having the opportunity to kind of convert or for the patient to make an appointment there. So not not not trying to diminish the the value of SEO, but like we talked about in previous podcasts, making sure that you're locally relevant, that local SEO is becoming even more important because of the less informational educational pages are gonna be seen by these patients.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
They need to make sure that, you know, you are local, so you're gonna rank on maps in those areas where people are more likely to transact and make those appointments.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Jeez. Google's making it tougher for all those people to say, hey. We can get you on all these emails I get every week about they can get me on page one. Google's making it tough for them.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Well, they're making it tough for them. It is also that thought of, I'm just gonna build a website and people will find me. Right? I'm just gonna, like, kind or just, you know, I'm gonna run some ads and just do some generic ads, and I'll be fine. Like, I don't really need to it it doesn't have to be kind of a it's kind of a set it and forget it mentality.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And, you know, Google is more than happy to take those people's money and then basically benefit the people that are, you know, staying engaged and understanding things how things are working because you really have to train you know, you you really need to train the AI how to trust, and we'll kinda get into this specifically what you should be doing. But, you know, you wanna make sure that, you know, you're being trusted and quoted in these different places where they're pulling the AI RVs from, or you're you're understanding how the Google AI mode is working so you can be one of those kind of trusted providers by the by the AI bots.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. So what can podiatrists specifically do to help with all this?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. There's a few things that you can do. Number one, wanna make sure that, you know, you have pages built out for the different locations where you have your best patients from. Know, like we talked about previously, kinda areas we serve pages. So making sure that, you know, if someone two two towns down from you, they have great patients.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
They always come see you. Make sure you're crafting a page that is relevant for them on your website. You know, these should be pages also about the type of care you even, you know, maybe Google's pulling this information from your stuff, but, you know, you wanna make sure you have well written pages about the different types of care you provide. Now these are three three hundred to 800 word pages. They don't have to be super long.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
They should be short and concise, but also feature things like, you know, patient reviews and testimonials when possible. You know, sometimes embedding video to make sure that, you know, people are staying longer on the page to make sure you get the most opportunities to kind of have that patient trust you. Also, it comes down to, like, you wanna make sure that you're utilizing FAQs and headers and these things that bots and different kind of crawlers will signify that, you know, this is a well built page that we should send our, you know, traffic to. So this is using utilizing SEO plugins like Rank Math or Yoast on the website to make sure that the kind of the code of the website is in a way that not only humans will react in a positive way to it, but also, you know, different types of website crawlers and AI bots.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Never heard of Rank Math?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. It's just a it's just basically kind of a an add on to a WordPress blog that will basically allow you to type in different meta descriptions or meta titles to make sure that they're very relevant and kinda hitting the different keywords that AI or different search crawlers are looking for.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And that is why I let you look after all that side of all that side of stuff. Because, listen to me, I I do not build my own website. I write all the content for it. But when it comes to the technical side behind the website, there's certain people like you, Jim, who that's why you're there. That's why I don't touch it.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. It it can be a tricky thing. Right? Because, you know, a lot of even some, you know, clinic websites I've taken over in the past, you know, they have one single page with the the 30 different things they wanna treat. You know, maybe it's 30 different little paragraphs about heel pain is flat pain or flashlight is on the same thing where there's the same page where there's an ingrown toenail description.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Right? So bots and, you know, AI crawlers of websites, when they see, you know, 30 different diagnosis and 30 different paragraphs, they have no idea what to rank that page for. Or if I put every, you know, location where I if I have the 10 nearby towns or suburbs that I treat all on one page and they don't have separate pages, like the crawlers both with AI and search search bots are not they're they're not gonna know what to rank me for. So you have to really focus on having high quality pages for these different topics, whether it be locations, diagnosis, or treatments, to make sure that you can rank as high as you can in these different areas. And then, you know, answering questions from the patient's perspective.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Right? You know you know, is, you know, is that ingrown toenail when is an ingrown toenail serious? When should they see a podiatrist? And just, you know, these are questions that they have that they don't have they don't know if it if a toe is red and draining, you know, from a nail. Is that is that something that I should do bathroom surgery on?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Or is that something that I should go to the ER for? Or is it these are things you have to understand kind of the important questions your patients are gonna be asking. And then provide those questions for them because that's the kind of things that when people are gonna start putting things in the chat GPT or Gemini for Google, those are things they're gonna start answering it. And these AI bots are gonna be much better at surfacing those answers that are very relevant and true. So the more you can write up content like that, the more you can be engaged in answering patients' questions and having specific pages that answer their questions, the better off you and your clinic are gonna be.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. And that's when you're talking about having a specific problem, having a specific page for that problem. Right. Therefore, it will look at that information and go, okay. We're gonna rank that number two because of the quality of the information.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Whereas it has, like you said, heel pain and ingrown toenails and and nail fungus all on one page. It's gone. Now I'm confused.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Absolutely. And you can provide a lot like Google and a lot of search engines are kind of based off of keywords. So there was ways to kind of game keywords. Right? Like, there there are people, like, keyword stuff by just using that term a lot.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
You know? But now people are out can ask a very specific question like, when should I see a podiatrist for an ingrown toenail? And if you have a page built around that or or it's a really specific section of the page, you know, and you answer it thoroughly in a way that, you know, helps provides value to people. Right? And Yeah.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Like we talked about, when people have Google Analytics kind of embedded or loaded up on the back end of their website, Google knows when people click that take an action button or they stay there and they don't go back and see look for a different page. So it it you know, these search engines in AI are gonna wanna send people to the best answer. So, you know, whether they're gonna house that on their own system and then maybe give you a reference or maybe a link within the answer, you wanna be seen in some way as the expert. So it's really, really important that these pages are built.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. What next? Because you've covered you've covered a lot so far. I know there's gonna be more to come.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. There's definitely more to come. And, like, that's talking about, you know, the next step is really important is to really distinguish yourself from others to be seen as that local expert. Obviously, you don't wanna be just seen as, like, a just a generic clinic listing. Right?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. A l AI is gonna especially Google's AI is gonna pull a lot from a different a lot of different sources. Probably one area that they're gonna pull from is, you know, what type of reviews do you have. Now you're obviously your clinic is located in a certain area. Google and different types of AI chatbots and other things could probably ping your IP address to see where you're at.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And so they can pull in things like either Google reviews, other types of medical site reviews, and it's gonna put together, you know, some type of score probably in the background about who is the most trustworthy. You know, does it is it all five stars with no comments? Is it 4.7 with someone that has people parents you know, patients writing, you know, paragraphs about the great care they received? So there's you know, as these search engines and AI bots are getting smarter, they can tell the difference between what feels very superficial
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
And almost, like, you know, not very relevant to something that is, like, feels human. They're getting a lot of engagement on their platforms. Like we talked about in the past, whether it be LinkedIn or Google post or anything, when people are are commenting on different posts or willing to spend time telling their stories on different platforms, that's a huge sign. That's the biggest sign of engagement. And that's what you know, since people want Google and other companies want people to stay on their properties, that's the type of behavior they're gonna incentivize.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So it's really, really important that, you know, Google Business Profile is up to date with the amount of services you have, that, you know, questions and answers on the site are updated and, you know, all questions that have an answer that, you know, you respond in a non canned personal way to all the type of reviews you provide, whether it be a a five star or a one star. So those are the things that are super important. You know, obviously, five star patient reviews are fantastic. But when they mention specific conditions and the patient's willing to volunteer that information, obviously, not something you wanna, you know, for you you can't force it out of them. But if you phrase how you ask for a review in certain ways, they're gonna be much more open to to sharing details to make sure that other people in their local community receive great care.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So these are the types of ways to help your yourself stand out and be that local expert.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. And one of the thing a question I had for you, though, and I think I had mentioned it on previous episodes about on your different pages is making sure your address is on that page or the the town that you're in. Because when I get people to join the podiatry business owners club on Facebook, ask for their email address in different locations. And I I try and figure out where that where they are. And sometimes the the web address won't necessarily just indicate, you know, if it's .co.uk, I know they're in The UK.
Tyson E. Franklin:
So I'll go to their website. And, yeah, some of them, I can't find I'm like, where are you? I'm struggling through pages through pages trying to find where. And then I go to the contact page and go, okay. And I scroll all the way down.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And finally, there's one map and one little address there. And I'm like, that's that's not good enough.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. I think it's not good enough. I think I like I've talked about in the past, I build a lot of areas you've served pages, but at the same time, I think there needs to be a very clear indication on the homepage. And then sometimes you have a separate location page that has your the the map, the directions, the actual, you know, address, the the phone numbers of the clinics, and then also the hours of each of the clinics on a separate page that's very clear usually in the menu. Right?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
I think it can there can be some help. I see it a lot in the footers sometimes. I think that's sometimes not always the best. I think it's sometimes better to have that kind of a location, you know, hours location in in the menu just to make it very clear about where those specific locations are, even if you're building these kind of areas we serve pages.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. And it's not just podiatrists. I've seen that in lot of businesses where I do I can't figure out where you are. It's so you you've really gotta search for it, and I think it shouldn't be that hard to know straight away. I'm looking at a website that's in the area that I'm that where I am.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. So you got any action steps?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. Another thing that can be helpful, and we've talked about this, and and maybe we'll talk about it in a future podcast. But anytime you can create video and I say, like, kind of voice friendly content, it's super important because I think, you know, like you talked about, when you're answering patients' questions, some people like to read. I know that when I'm trying to learn things, sometimes it's having a thirty or, you know, ninety second video about something where you can just learn about something in a quick hit. I think, you know, especially the younger generation, they're getting used to these short short form videos.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
You don't need to go on for ten minutes about that you're board certified, you went to Shoal College, and you did this amazing residency. People don't want that. You know, like we talked about previously, if you can answer a patient's question in a way that feels relevant to them and really helps them, they're gonna take positive action on your website or take positive action on your Google business profile. So creating some of these short videos about what are the questions that patients have about, you know, bunion surgery or what questions do they have about ingrown toenail that I can answer? When should they see a podiatrist for certain conditions?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
These are very valuable because these are questions that patients have. So and they're more willing to to know, like, if they don't want to read that paragraph, having a video or a link to a video there can really help kind of build trust in who you are and the type of care you provide. And like you said, it doesn't have to be, you know, you don't have to be a genius in putting together, you know, twenty minute videos about, you know, where you're located and those kind of things. It can be thirty to ninety seconds about one very specific question a patient has, and it can really create a lot of value not only for your clinic, but also for the patients that are watching the video.
Tyson E. Franklin:
I must admit, if I go to a website and there's a video there that I can watch, I will watch it every time over reading anything
Jim McDannald, DPM:
with No. Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Without a problem. And what I do like is when there's a video there or even if it's just an audio file that you click on that, and as you're scrolling through, it's almost word for word what they're talking about. And you can scroll through and sort of be reading it and listening at exactly the same time. Because sometimes, I do find in a video or an audio, you can pick up the tone of what they're saying compared to what they're just writing. So sometimes you can write something, but they may not necessarily get the meaning, and I think that's where audio and video can help.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. No. Audio and video can be a huge help.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Imagine someone just reading our podcast.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Wouldn't worse that on my worst enemy sometimes.
Tyson E. Franklin:
No. They'll be just spread that caught that line then and and then gone and in brackets, had laugh, laugh, laugh, and then we'll go, no. I don't get it. Got a bonus tip? Oh, the bonus tip is actually because I'm going through as we've mentioned before, we do have notes that we sort of follow.
Tyson E. Franklin:
But people may not know this, but Jim is a wild man and just goes all over the place. Okay. Is it sometimes you do. No. It's just really a bonus tip.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And this is every sixty second video film on on your phone. It was a bonus tip that you're bringing down.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. I said, like, you know, you don't have to have a professional video camera. You don't need to have like I talked about, you know, a lot of these you know, a lot of people are using their phone, you know, in this in this direction because of, you know, TikTok and those kind of things these days. You know, it's it's it's a way to connect with people, and you don't have to have something special. We all of us have great cameras in our pocket.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
So, you know, just, you know, thinking about creating some of this stuff can be a great way to, like, you know, build trust and, like, answer patient questions. So the bonus tip is just, you know, don't be shy about, you know, considering getting started using video.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Well, if you have a look at the 750 so videos I have on my YouTube channel, nearly all of them are in my room here just shot using Zoom, or it's just my phone that I've used. Nothing really flash at all.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Absolutely.
Tyson E. Franklin:
And I think if you ever think about it too much, you just won't do it.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. For sure.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. So do you have a a checklist or anything like that that people should follow?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Yeah. So kind of wrap things up as far as, you know, like you talked about, there's those two ways that Google will start to change. Number one, the AI overviews, and then obviously the AI mode in search. And there's some ways that you can kinda stay ahead of the game to make sure that you're showing up and your clinic is visible, and the care you wanna provide is visible on those different channels. And number one, it's either, you know, I think considering number one, updating some of the conditions and treatment pages on your sites.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Maybe just do one a month or the clinic you're maybe the podiatrist, the podiatry marketing clinic you're working with. Whoever you're doing your marketing, maybe it's you yourself. But just, you know, consider how you're treating a condition or treatment. What patients what what patient questions come up over and over and over again. It's a great opportunity to answer questions, and maybe it's just adding a video to a page.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Maybe it's improving the copy. You know, you can use things like chat GPT to look at a page and say, how can I improve this page for SEO? You'd be surprised, how much better it can make your pages. So consider that. Number two is just like getting a consistent workflow of getting patient reviews.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Super important. Right? You know, I think it's great to ask for them in a way that when you ask for them at the right time, they're gonna be more than happy to shout your name from the rooftops. You know, what they say about you on Google or, you know, a video testimonial potentially could really benefit you and your clinic. And like I said, maybe help you show up a little bit better on some of these AI platforms.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Also, you know, what are their local listings like? How's your Google business profile? You know, what are you showing up on these different health review sites? You know, doing a little bit of these things on a monthly basis or working with someone in the marketing space to help you figure those things out will help you stay ahead of the curve. So when, you know, obviously, these AI rollouts are still kind of they're out there, but they're kind of gaining more knowledge and gaining more sophistication.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
It helps you stay in front of things. So when people are searching on ChatGPT or on AI mode for Google search, your clinic shows up. So doing these, you know, three things, whether it be improving your pages, getting good online reviews, you know, checking out your local listings and other health review care websites, Consider doing those things because it's in the long term, it should pay off significant dividends for you and for your practice.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. And when you're talking about posting just once a month, are you saying just write it or you should be including a video with it as well, or you can do them as two separate things if you wanted to?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
I think it's just it could be two separate things. You know, like I talked about, if you there's a great question you're getting over and over again, maybe that's a great opportunity for you to either write it up or to have a thirty to ninety second video about, you know, that specific question about, you know, when should you see a doctor about your ingrown toenail or something.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
You know, just kinda giving more information to patients so they can make better decisions. You know, this know, it can be good sometimes to, you know, create an educational video. It may be a little bit it doesn't have to be form, but just commit to that. And then also, you know, if you're working with a marketing provider, there's things that you can't see on your website that are kinda behind the scenes, like you and I mentioned that rank math and the Yoast. Like, the people that are, you know, running running a busy clinic, you probably have no idea what those things are, and that's okay.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
But you need to be working with someone that understands what schema markup is, know how to optimize for mobile speed. These are things that should be taken care of on a monthly basis to make sure that your your website's performing at a level that these different AI channels will rank you well and and kinda show you near the top of the list.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Yeah. Yeah. And just one thing I wanna share with people, if you're not sure what to write about or what to shoot a video on, give your receptionist a sheet of paper and just tell her. Every time someone rings up and asks a question, write it on that sheet of paper. Ask for the sheet of paper at back at the end of the week, Look for the most common question, and there's your content.
Tyson E. Franklin:
That's what you talk about, and that's what you shoot the video on. It's really that simple.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. That's a great that's a great point, Tyson.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. Anything else before we wrap up?
Jim McDannald, DPM:
No. I think that's good, Tyson. I think it's a good topic for today.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. This leads on well with next week's topic, so people have to stay tuned for that one. Yes.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Looking forward to it.
Tyson E. Franklin:
Okay. Talk to you then. Bye.
Jim McDannald, DPM:
Bye. Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.
