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When AI assistants search the web, they build healthcare answers from the pages they retrieve and cite, which Google says can include blogs, videos and forum discussions, and Curve Compliance's AI Visibility shows which sources ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini cite for your patients' questions. AI Visibility is a feature in Curve Compliance, and Curve also offers it as a managed service. It also shows where competitors are named and you aren't, and who leads each topic.
Next step. Want to see which forums, directories and publishers AI cites for your specialty? Book a call to see AI Visibility on your own questions, or to talk about the managed service.
What each assistant says about its sources
Every major assistant documents where its web answers come from and how it shows them. Here is each one in its own words, from its own help or developer pages.
| Assistant | Where web answers come from | How sources are shown | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | “ChatGPT can search the web to answer questions with current information and links to relevant sources.” | “Select Sources, when available, to view cited sources and other relevant links.” | OpenAI Help Center |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google's systems rely “on our core Search ranking systems to retrieve relevant, up-to-date web pages from our Search index.” | They show “prominent, clickable links to relevant web pages that support the information in the response.” | Google Search Central |
| Perplexity | “It searches the internet, gathering information from authoritative sources like articles, websites, and journals.” | “Each answer includes numbered citations linking to the original sources” | Perplexity Help Center |
| Claude | “Claude invokes a search tool to inform and ground its generated responses with content from the live web.” | “Every response includes citations, so you can easily verify sources yourself.” | Claude Help Center |
| Gemini | Grounding means “providing content from the Google Search index to the model at prompt time to improve factuality and relevancy.” | “Gemini Apps may provide links to sources and related content for you to dig deeper.” | Google crawlers; Gemini Apps Help |
Google is direct about the mix of sources: “our generative AI features can show what's being said about products and services across the web, including in blogs, videos, and forum discussions” (Google). Perplexity's own health example says that for a question about yoga it will “Scan health and fitness websites, medical journals, and yoga blogs” (Perplexity). So a patient's question about your specialty can be answered from a forum thread, a video, a directory, a health publisher and your website, all in one reply.
The source types behind healthcare answers
The sources behind healthcare answers fall into a handful of types: forums and social posts, videos, directories and listings, health publishers, news, reference, government and education sites, and practice websites. Each type asks something different of a practice.
- Forums and social. KFF finds “three in ten adults (31%) using social media at least monthly for health information and advice,” and among adults who use social media for health information and advice at all, over a third (36%) call learning from people with the same health condition or similar experiences a major reason (KFF). Patients look to peers, and Google says its AI features can show forum discussions.
- Videos. Google lists “Supporting your textual content with high-quality images and videos, when applicable” among the practices that still matter for its AI features (Google). A short video that answers a common question can earn a place in answers that a long page misses. See healthcare video strategy.
- Directories and listings. Google says “generative AI responses can include product listings, product information, and information about local businesses,” and points to Google Business Profiles (Google). OpenAI says ChatGPT may share a general location with providers that help with “nearby business listings or weather reports” (OpenAI). Keep every listing accurate.
- Health publishers, news, reference, government and education. These carry general medical questions. Google's guide explains why a practice can still earn a place: “Our AI systems take a look at a variety of sources, so it can be helpful to have a unique viewpoint that stands out” (Google). First-hand clinical experience is that viewpoint.
- Your own pages. Your website is the one source you fully control. Pages that answer a patient question plainly, in text, with your services, places and insurance stated clearly, are the easiest for an assistant to use.
The sources behind your competitors
The most useful source list is the one that compares you with a rival. Take the questions where an assistant recommends a competitor and not you, and look at what those answers cite: a directory where you're missing, a publication that quotes another clinician, a video that answers the question better than your page does. Those sources show what AI treats as evidence in your specialty.
Be real about how you show up there. Google warns that “seeking inauthentic "mentions" across the web isn't as helpful as it might seem,” and says its generative AI features depend on both its core ranking systems and the systems that block spam (Google). An accurate listing, a clinician quoted where a publication covers your specialty, or a video that answers the question will hold up. Mentions placed to look like patient reviews are the kind Google's warning describes.
Forums and threads: you decide
Forums and social threads are where patients compare notes, and assistants cite them. Some threads are worth answering. Others are not a place a clinic belongs. The choice is yours, and it should rest on whether real patients read the thread, not on how often it is cited.
If you do take part, post openly as the practice, answer the general question, and never discuss a patient or ask anyone to share health details in public. For the advertising side of community platforms, see community-based advertising compliance.
Make your own pages the easy source
- Let search crawlers read the site. OpenAI says “Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links.” (OpenAI) Perplexity says “PerplexityBot is designed to surface and link websites in search results on Perplexity.” (Perplexity) Anthropic says “Disabling Claude-SearchBot on your site prevents our system from indexing your content for search optimization, which may reduce your site's visibility and accuracy in user search results.” (Anthropic) See which AI crawlers to allow.
- Keep the answer in text. Google lists “Making sure that important content is available in textual form” among the basics for its AI features (Google).
- Answer the question patients actually ask. Start with the questions where a rival is named and you aren't. See a content roadmap your clinicians can keep up with.
Each assistant has its own details: see ChatGPT visibility, Perplexity visibility and Gemini and Claude visibility.
How Curve Compliance helps
AI Visibility is a feature in Curve Compliance, and Curve also offers it as a managed service. AI Visibility shows how often AI assistants, including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini, name and cite your practice for the questions your patients ask. It shows where competitors are named and you aren't, who leads each topic, and which sources AI cites. It ties AI answers to the visits and bookings they bring you. It turns what it finds into a weekly roadmap sized to what your clinicians can publish, with medical topics flagged for clinical review. AI Visibility asks AI assistants only the marketing questions you track, screened for PHI first, never anything about a patient. See AI Visibility in Curve and AI share of voice.
With the managed service, Curve's team sets up your questions, competitors and topics, writes the pages on your roadmap, and makes the technical fixes that help AI assistants read your site. Your clinicians review and approve anything medical before it goes live. If your developer manages your site, Curve's team hands them the exact fixes. Each month, Curve's team walks you through your results on a call and sends a one-page report. AI Visibility is available on request: book a call to get started.
In one AI Visibility program we've run, for a HIPAA-focused healthcare software brand, AI assistants named or cited the brand in more than half of their answers to its 40 core buyer questions about five weeks in. Across 184 buyer questions, its site was cited in more AI answers than any competitor's, more than 2.5 times as many as the nearest one.
Sources, checked November 2, 2026: OpenAI Help Center, Searching the web with ChatGPT; Google Search Central, AI features and your website; Google Search Central, optimizing for generative AI features; Google's common crawlers; Perplexity Help Center, How does Perplexity work?; Claude Help Center, Enable and use web search; Gemini Apps Help, View related sources; OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI Crawlers; Perplexity Crawlers; Anthropic, Does Anthropic crawl data from the web; KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Use of Social Media and AI.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does AI get its healthcare answers?
When they search the web, AI assistants answer from the pages they retrieve and cite, which Google says can include blogs, videos and forum discussions. Curve Compliance's AI Visibility shows which sources ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini cite for your patients' questions.
Why does AI cite Reddit and other forums?
Google says its AI features “can show what's being said about products and services across the web, including in blogs, videos, and forum discussions” (Google). Patients also value peers: over a third of people who use social media for health advice tell KFF that learning from others with the same condition is a major reason (KFF). AI Visibility shows which sources AI cites for your own questions, forums included.
Should my practice post on forums?
That is your call. If you post, do it openly as the practice, answer the general question and never discuss a patient, since Google says seeking inauthentic mentions “isn't as helpful as it might seem” (Google).
Which directories matter for AI answers?
Google points to Google Business Profiles for local business details in AI responses (Google), and OpenAI mentions nearby business listings for local ChatGPT answers (OpenAI). Start there, and keep every listing accurate.
How do I see the sources AI cites for my questions?
Each assistant can show citations or a Sources panel on answers that use the web, so you can check one answer at a time. To see them across the questions you track, Curve Compliance's AI Visibility shows which sources AI cites, and where competitors are named and you aren't.
Does AI Visibility send patient data to AI assistants?
No. Only the marketing question you track is sent to AI assistants, screened for PHI first, and never anything about a patient. Curve is SOC 2 Type II and signs a BAA on every plan.
Is AI Visibility a Curve feature or a managed service?
Both. You can use AI Visibility as a feature in Curve Compliance, or Curve's team can run it for you as a managed service. AI Visibility is available on request: book a call to get started.
Talk to Curve Compliance
Next step. Want to know which sources shape what AI tells your patients about your specialty? Book a call to see AI Visibility on your own questions, or to talk about the managed service.