A note from Chris this week. Search as we know it is disappearing. There’s no longer a “number one on Google” in the sense we’ve all traditionally understood it — and when your clinic does appear, what your patient sees about you is increasingly not simply what you’ve written about yourself. That sounds dramatic, but none of it is bad news if you know what’s happening. Read on to find out why…
Google’s been taking notes on your clinic — you can now read them
Google has quietly been gathering information about businesses through its automated assistant — including by ringing, texting and WhatsApping them — and this week it started adding a new “Collected Info” tab to Google profiles, where you can see exactly what it’s noted down and delete anything that’s wrong. It’s rolling out gradually by region and business type, and it hasn’t reached UK clinic profiles yet — so don’t worry if you go looking and it’s not there. One catch worth knowing for when it lands: deleting a wrong note doesn’t fix your actual profile — that still needs editing separately.
What this means for you: two things, both worth doing now rather than when the tab arrives. Keep your details — hours, services, phone number — accurate and consistent everywhere they appear, because Google is cross-checking. And make sure your contact channels are genuine and answered: if Google WhatsApps you to check your opening hours, you want the answer to match your website. (If we manage your profile, we’ll be auditing this tab the moment it appears on UK profiles.)
Source: Search Engine Watch — review and delete Google’s collected info
The first thing patients read about you may now be written by AI
When someone Googles your clinic by name, the panel that appears is starting to lead with an AI-written summary of your business — Google’s paraphrase, not your words — with a button that expands into a full AI chat. These summaries are generated from your profile, your website and what’s written about you around the web, and they can drift out of date.
What this means for you: Google yourself, this week, and read that summary as a patient would. If it’s wrong or stale, the fix is feeding the machine better ingredients — an up-to-date profile, accurate services, current information on your site. The AI writes the summary; you still control the source material.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — local panels showing AI Overviews
There’s no “position one” anymore — and that’s fine
Industry experts made a point this week that’s worth sitting with: there is no longer a single “number one” ranking in local search. What each person sees is shaped by where they are, what they’ve searched before, and increasingly by a back-and-forth conversation with an AI. Searches are becoming so detailed — “physio who treats runners with plantar fasciitis, evening appointments, near Hoddesdon” — that ranking for a broad term like “physio near me” matters less and less.
What this means for you: the winners of those long, specific conversations are clinics that clearly show everything they can help with, and have built trust around it. A knowledge base or blog on your site that goes into genuine detail about a wide range of conditions and treatments has honestly never been more important — it’s exactly the material AI draws on when it decides who to recommend.
Source: Near Media — why “position one” doesn’t exist in local anymore
Fewer clicks — but your website matters as much as ever
New data from Ahrefs this week: on searches where Google’s AI answers appear heavily, websites lost around 23% of their clicks — and health information was hit hardest of all, because medical questions tend to have short answers that fit neatly in an AI box.
Before that ruins your morning, balance it with last week’s news: 81% of people still go to Google when they’re making a decision. So the picture isn’t “websites are dead” — it’s that your website’s job has changed. It matters less as a place every patient visits, and more as the source of truth that lets Google and AI describe you accurately — and choose you over the clinic down the road — sometimes without the patient ever clicking through.
What this means for you: keep investing in what your website says, not just how it looks. Clear services, real expertise, detailed condition pages — that’s what gets you picked, on and off the page.
Source: Ahrefs — AI Overviews cut click-through rates by 23.1% in France
Ads are quietly claiming more of the map
Google is testing map ads (“Sponsored Places”) that expand when someone hovers over them, showing much more about the business before any click. In plain terms: the paid spots in local results are getting bigger and better, which means your ad is likely to count for more than before — and your hard-earned unpaid ranking, a little less.
What this means for you: it’s a sensible moment to think about your ad budget, and about how visible your Google profile is within ads rather than only in the unpaid results. We can talk you through what that looks like for your clinic.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — expandable Sponsored Places
Running ads with a target cost per enquiry? A quiet change you should know about
Google has changed how it handles campaigns that are set a target cost per new enquiry. Campaigns that previously out-performed their target — delivering enquiries cheaper than asked — are now being steered to land at the target instead, and costs per click have risen noticeably on budget-limited campaigns since mid-August.
What this means for you: if your ads have historically beaten expectations, they may need adjusting rather than leaving alone. If we run your ads we’re already reviewing this — and if we don’t, speak to us for details.
Source: Search Engine Land — Smart Bidding update appears to have ended bid suppression
Coming soon: ads inside AI answers
Google is testing adverts placed directly inside its AI answers. Early days, and nothing to do yet — but you can be sure we’ll be first to keep you updated as it develops, and we’re here if you’d like to try it for your clinic when it arrives.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Google AI Mode tests text link ads
And finally: Google had a shaky week
Google’s rankings have been jumping around since 15 September — big news inside our industry, with UK websites reportedly among the most affected, though Google hasn’t confirmed anything. For clinic owners the practical version is: if your traffic or enquiries look odd this month, this is very likely why, it usually settles, and the worst move is panic-changing things mid-wobble. We’re watching it closely — if you’re at all concerned, check in with us.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — ranking volatility, 15 September
Questions about any of this? Just ask — explaining it is literally what we’re here for.