Search behavior in the long-term care industry is more fragmented than ever. Families can now turn to tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overview and receive complete answers without ever visiting a website.
For long-term care facilities, this represents a significant marketing challenge. Visibility is to be trusted and recommended by AI systems, in addition to being ranked in regular Search Results. The good news is that success still depends on fundamentals: clear, authoritative content, consistent online signals, and a layer of technical SEO that helps AI understand and surface your facility.
The Difference Between AIO and GEO
Marketers love their acronyms, and there is no one standard acronym for the goal of being recommended by ChatGPT or other AI systems. It’s important to distinguish between AI Search and Generative AI.
- AI Search – relies on search data, so the optimization is very similar to regular LTC SEO.
- Generative AI – generates results based on the training set. Optimizing for generative AI differs from traditional SEO.
The focus of this article is primarily on the Generative AI experience, covering the differences from traditional SEO.
| AI Search | Generative AI | |
| AI Type | Google AIO, Perplexity | ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude |
| Knowledge | Search Data | Training Set + Search Data |
| Result Generation | LLM matches query to search index | LLM routes to either the training set or the search index |
| Ability to Optimize | Similar to SEO | Challenging and Unpredictable |
| Speed to Optimization | Similar to SEO | Slow |
| Main Factors | Content, Links, Reviews | Content, Brand, Reviews, Links, Social |
How ChatGPT and Google AI Recommend Long-Term Care Facilities
Let’s look at a simple example of someone asking ChatGPT, ‘What are the top Memory Care facilities in Hilton Head, SC?’ What does ChatGPT need to do to respond appropriately to this prompt:
NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number): The first thing ChatGPT needs to validate is how close you are to the locality the user is requesting.
You need to ensure that your NAP is consistent across the web and is correctly displayed on the website using Schema Tags.
Relevance: The degree to which the facility is relevant to the user’s request. For example, if a user is asking for a Nursing Home, AI doesn’t want to show an Assisted Living facility.
You need to ensure that you have sufficient content on the website and third-party websites to display the services provided clearly.
Reviews: Since the user is asking for a recommendation, AI will look at overall sentiment about the facility, so it will look at 3rd party reviews
There is no way around it. Generative positive reviews is one of the most critical actions you can do for your facility to help humans, Search Engines and AI systems.
Example of ChatGPT Conversion
Here is the actual ChatGPT Conversation. Notice a few things:
Importance of Reviews (one more time): Here are three highly-rated memory care facilities. Even the response starts with a qualification of highly rated facilities.
Map with Reviews: It creates a map based on your Google Business Profile reviews.
Listing inside ChatGPT: Once you click on the facility, the listing is displayed on the right. A user doesn’t even need to go to your website. They will find photos, phone numbers, or can click on ‘Directions,‘ which will lead them to the Google Business Profile listing.
You need to have great reviews, great photos and a consistent business description across the web.
Sources: What you and your SEO company need to look at are the sources. What websites does ChatGPT use in generating the answers? You will typically see a combination of the company website and 3rd part Top 10 lists. The good news is that everything on your website is under your control, and you can control at least that part of the story.
Cost: After nearly 20 years of running SEO for LTCs, we know that the bulk of search traffic is driven by cost. Naturally, ChatGPT led me to it. Notice the sources.
We understand that some property managers prefer not to mention prices on their websites, as they focus on booking tours and then selling.
Now, your LTC brand needs to decide whether you want a 3rd party aggregator to discuss your prices or provide accurate information. The benefit of mentioning prices on your website is that, instead of sending traffic to an aggregator and then paying for a lead, a user will click through to your own website.
AI Optimization
Let’s put this all together to see what you actually need to do to be visible to AI and to be recommended.
- Schema Tags: All critical information, such as zip code, area served, about us, and more, needs to be inside Schema tags.
- Relevant Content: You need relevant content about your facility that AI can ingest. Write about your team, life in a community, local events, etc. Avoid an urge to write about general topics, as you won’t get traffic that way.
- Cost: Consider putting cost on your website to prevent 3rd party aggregators from being the source of truth
- Google Business Profile: Ensure it’s up to date and accurately represents what you want people to see when they ask about your facility in ChatGPT.
- Reviews: This is the third time we mention reviews in this article, and they will be the final determining factor in who shows up at the top.
- Consistency: Since AI stitches content from across the web, all aspects of the brand story need to be consistent in each listing and publication on the web.
Is There Any Difference Between SEO and AIO Then?
Pretty much everything we wrote so far applies to traditional SEO, so is there any difference? Yes, there are differences:
- Branding: Traditionally, we have focused on non-branded keywords for SEO, as most businesses rank for their own brand names. For AI, we care a lot about the Brand sentiment (no matter how small your business is).
- Links vs. Brand Mentions: For SEO purposes, we primarily care about inbound links from high-authority sites. For AI, we will take an unlinked Brand Mention. Even top-10 advertorial articles can influence AI.
- Structured Data (Schema): While Google is actively removing Schemas and it’s not as crucial for Search Engines, the structured data is excellent for AI systems, so Schema tags or even your own JSON structure are essential.
- Importance of your own website: Currently, AI relies heavily on your own website to gather information about your brand, which is a valuable lever to tell the proper brand story.
Loophole Warning: The fundamentals remain the same: consistent brand story, clear content, and great reviews. Avoid the noise of self-proclaimed experts promising shortcuts or loopholes to “appear in ChatGPT.” The facilities that succeed are those that invest in branding, not tricks.
Final Thought
AI Optimization is not a passing trend. It represents the next phase in the evolution of online trust and visibility. For long-term care facilities, this shift toward AI-driven discovery creates both new challenges and new opportunities.
Partnering with Experts in AI Optimization for Long-Term Care
Most LTC organizations are busy with attracting caregivers and actually providing the services. Partnering with a performance agency like ours, which specializes in LTC and Healthcare, ensures that all of your marketing channels —SEO, Paid, and AIO — are working together. Each piece helps amplify another.
We typically begin with an AI visibility audit, which examines the accuracy of your data, consistency of citations, and how your brand is referenced across multiple AI-generated responses.
Ready to make ChatGPT and Google recommend your facility? Contact our marketing team today.
