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SEO for doctors and clinics means helping patients find the practice on Google and in AI answers. In Brazil, it also means following the rules of the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM). So, in practice, that takes a complete Business Profile, a site with license numbers, matching directory data and educational content, with no promise of results.
In short
- With search on, ChatGPT uses the asker’s approximate location to find local results. Google, in turn, says the Business Profile helps businesses appear in AI answers.
- Brazil’s CFM Resolution No. 2,336/2023 allows doctors to share hours, health plans and the consultation fee. However, it bans promising results and accepting promotional titles such as “best doctor”.
- There is no paid shortcut in ChatGPT: outside the US, OpenAI generally prohibits ads for health services.
- Track presence by specialty and city with fixed prompts, and check whether AI gets license numbers, address and health plans right.
Does AI recommend doctors and clinics when patients ask?
Yes, especially when the question includes a place, such as “dermatologist in Belo Horizonte”. In that case, the AI runs a local search and relies on profiles, directories and sites. For questions about symptoms, however, each AI company applies stricter rules.
According to the OpenAI Help Center, ChatGPT estimates location from the IP address to find local results. In addition, it may share that location with partners that provide nearby business listings. On Google’s side, its guide to generative AI features says Business Profiles help services appear in AI answers. The full path for businesses with a physical address is in our guide to GEO for local business.
The habit has already reached Brazilian patients. In a Doctoralia survey, 12% of Brazilians said they use AI tools when a health question comes up. By contrast, 39% turn to Google. But the data came out as partner content on a health portal, with no sample or method. Also, Doctoralia sells online booking.
What changes in SEO for doctors when the question is about health?
In health, however, AI rules get stricter. In March 2025, Google said it keeps improving AI Overviews on health so they “continue to meet a high bar for clinical factuality”. At the same time, it announced expansion to more languages, including Portuguese. OpenAI’s usage policies, for their part, ban tailored medical advice without a licensed professional involved. Also, Health in ChatGPT, so far only in the US, is not intended for diagnosis or treatment.
There is no paid shortcut either. Under OpenAI’s ad policies, the company generally prohibits ads for health services outside the US. In addition, it shows no ads in conversations about mental health. So AI SEO for doctors and clinics has two organic fronts. Local search leads to the appointment, and educational content shows expertise. If GEO is new to you, start with our guide to what GEO is.
What does Brazil’s CFM resolution allow in SEO for doctors?
The rule in force is CFM Resolution No. 2,336/2023, valid since March 2024. It lets doctors share facilities, hours, health plans, prices and provable results, as long as no patient is identified. On the other hand, it bans promising results, sensationalism and self-promotion. These rules cover sites, blogs and social media, in other words, all SEO for doctors and clinics in Brazil.
| Topic | Allowed | Not allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Identification | Name, CRM and, for specialists, RQE on the main page | Leaving out CRM or RQE |
| Specialty | Up to 2 specialties with RQE | Claiming to treat an organ or disease without the title |
| Price | Consultation fee and payment methods | Promotions tied to bundled sales or prizes |
| Results | Provable results, with no patient identified | Guaranteeing or implying good results |
| Testimonials | Sober text, with no promise of results | Adjectives of superiority |
Identification, hours and health plans
Every ad must show the doctor’s name, CRM number (the regional medical council license) and the word “médico” (doctor). If the doctor is a specialist, the specialty with its RQE (specialist registration number) goes in too. On social media, blogs and sites, this data sits on the profile’s main page. A clinic, in turn, shows its own CRM registration and the medical director’s name, with CRM and, where required, RQE.
The resolution also allows sharing how to book, hours, parking, health plans and procedures offered. Likewise, it allows sharing the consultation fee and payment methods. These are exactly the practical questions patients ask before booking. That’s why, in SEO for doctors and clinics, each doctor’s page should answer all of them in text.
Before and after photos, testimonials and “best of” lists
Before and after images are only allowed for educational purposes. They must come in a set with good results, poor results and complications. Text on indications and factors that affect the outcome must go with them. The resolution also bans editing the image and identifying the patient.
Reposted patient testimonials and photos must be sober, with no adjectives of superiority or promise of results. After all, what the doctor reposts counts as the doctor’s own post. In addition, patient praise for technique and results, when repeated or systematic, must be investigated by Codame. That is the CRM’s medical advertising committee, and the rule applies even when the doctor does not repost.
In ads for clinical and surgical treatments, however, annex G of the CONAR Code bans testimonials from laypeople. CONAR is Brazil’s advertising self-regulation council. So our recommendation is to use testimonials with care and build on educational content, with the doctor identified.
There is one more ban that matters for GEO. Doctors cannot let their name enter “best doctor” or “top in the specialty” lists with a promotional or sponsored purpose. In other words, buying or accepting a spot on promotional “best of” lists in the city is off limits in AI SEO for doctors and clinics. When in doubt, the resolution itself gives doctors the right to consult the CRM’s Codame.
What about SEO for dentists?
Dentists answer to Brazil’s Federal Council of Dentistry (CFO), not to the CFM. Their rule is the Code of Dental Ethics, approved by CFO Resolution 118/2012 and amended since. In February 2025, the CFO created a group to revise the chapter on ads and advertising. Therefore, check the version in force on the CFO site before you publish.
What sources does AI use in SEO for doctors and clinics?
AI builds the answer from what it finds in search: Google Business Profile, health directories, the clinic’s site, videos and press. No AI company publishes the full recipe. Even so, official documentation and a few studies show where it pays to be.
In a Yext study of 6.8 million citations from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity in local searches, listings made up 52.6% of health citations. The leaders were WebMD and Vitals, which are US directories. However, Yext sells listings management and did not split the sample by country. To find the equivalents in your sector, see the sources AI cites most.
Google Business Profile in SEO for doctors and clinics
Google’s Business Profile guidelines treat doctors and dentists as individual practitioners. A practitioner can have their own profile if they serve the public and can be contacted at the verified location. However, they should not create one profile for each specialization.
When several doctors share an address, the clinic creates a profile for the location. In that case, each doctor’s profile carries only the doctor’s name, without the clinic’s. A doctor who is the only practitioner at a branded location uses a single profile, in the format “brand: practitioner name”. For SEO for doctors and clinics, the profile is the base of local search. In every case, use the same data that appears on other channels, such as the clinic’s site and signs.
Doctoralia and other directories in SEO for clinics
In Brazil, we found no study that measures the weight of Doctoralia or other health directories in AI answers. Still, the Yext data suggests that listings matter in health. So, in SEO for clinics, keep each directory profile in line with the site: address, phone, health plans, hours and specialty with RQE.
The resolution also covers these channels. According to the text, the required data must appear in all advertising material, physical or virtual. Thus the clinic’s directory profile follows the same rules as the site.
Video, press and the clinic’s site in medical SEO
Video also shows up in citations. SE Ranking analyzed 50,807 health searches in German, run from Berlin in December 2025. YouTube was the most cited domain in AI Overviews, with 4.43% of citations. Of the 25 most cited videos, 24 came from medical channels, such as hospitals and clinics. SE Ranking sells SEO tools, and the data applies to Germany.
In the press, on the other hand, doctors speak as representatives of medicine, without seeking patients. In an interview, they cannot share an address or phone number, only their identification data. This way, the story covers the topic, and the path to an appointment stays on the profile and the site.
On the site, create one page per doctor and per specialty, with CRM, RQE, health plans, hours and address in text. Educational content on diseases and procedures is allowed, including signs that call for a medical visit. Google also says its search systems give even more weight to E-E-A-T signals on topics that can affect health. So, in AI SEO for doctors and clinics, every article should have an author with a CRM number and sources.
How do you avoid wrong health information about the clinic?
Keep the same data across all sources and check often what AI says about the clinic. In health, old data is costly: a doctor who left, a health plan that ended or an old address. When the error comes from a third-party source, ask for the fix at the origin.
- Take inventory. List doctors, CRM, RQE, specialties, health plans, locations and hours.
- Make the site the single source. Profiles and directories copy the site’s data, not the other way around.
- Update everything at once. When a doctor leaves or a plan changes, update the site, profile and directories on the same day.
- Ask AI about the brand. For example: “does Clinic X take health plan Y?”.
- Fix it at the origin. Find the page the AI cited and ask its publisher for a correction.
The resolution, in fact, already requires part of this. For example, it requires up-to-date internal signs listing the clinical staff. Also, if a news outlet attributes rule-breaking statements to a doctor, the doctor must request a correction and inform the CRM.
The steps to find the page behind the error are in our guide on when ChatGPT is making up information about a company. In AI SEO for doctors and clinics, this check becomes a monthly routine, along with tracking.
How do you track AI SEO for doctors by specialty and city?
Build a fixed list of prompts that crosses specialty, city and intent. Then run each one several times in more than one engine and record who appears and which sources the AI cited. Finally, separate presence from accuracy, because showing up with the wrong health plan is also a problem.
| Group | Sample prompt |
|---|---|
| Specialty and city | “dermatologist in Belo Horizonte that takes Unimed” (a Brazilian health plan) |
| Procedure | “where to get a dental implant in Campinas” |
| Comparison | “Clinic A or Clinic B for a checkup” |
| Brand | “is Clinic A open on Saturdays?” |
For each answer, note whether the clinic appeared, whether it was recommended and which source the AI used: Google profile, directory, site or press. Then check CRM, RQE, address and health plans. Because ChatGPT uses approximate location, put the city in the prompt or collect from that city.
Run counts, margin of error and the report format are in our guide on how to measure brand visibility in AI. In AI SEO for doctors and clinics, the difference lies in the specialty and city matrix and in checking regulated data.
Frequently asked questions
In most cases, no. OpenAI’s ad policies generally prohibit ads for health services outside the US, and OpenAI shows no ads in mental health conversations. That’s why AI SEO for doctors and clinics depends on profiles, sites, directories and content.
Brazil’s CFM Resolution No. 2,336/2023 does not ban patients from posting. However, a testimonial the doctor reposts counts as the doctor’s own post and must be sober. In addition, patient praise for technique and results, when repeated or systematic, must be investigated by the CRM’s Codame.
Yes. Brazil’s CFM Resolution No. 2,336/2023 allows sharing the consultation fee and payment methods. It also allows discounts in campaigns, but it bans tying a promotion to bundled sales or prizes. So patients can find the fee before they book.
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Main sources
- Federal Council of Medicine (CFM), CFM Resolution No. 2,336/2023, on medical advertising in Brazil (2023).
- Google, guidelines for representing your business on Google, with the rules for individual practitioners (2026).
- OpenAI, Searching the web with ChatGPT (2026).
- Google, health AI updates shared at The Check Up (2025).
- OpenAI, Health in ChatGPT (2026).
- OpenAI, ChatGPT ad policies (2026).
- Yext, study of 6.8 million AI citations in local searches (2025).
- SE Ranking, sources cited in health AI Overviews in Germany (2026).
