AI relies on different sources for different types of questions.
This study analyzed 3,234 AI answers and 10,133 citations to 72 patient questions on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overview, checked against 18,492 practice listings in five US metro markets: suburban Chicago, Philadelphia-South Jersey, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Phoenix West Valley and suburban Houston.
On local medical provider discovery questions in Javvo's study, AI built its answers mainly from practice websites (37% of citations per answer) and healthcare directories (29%), plus patient reviews. General health questions were answered from health information sites like Mayo Clinic and Healthline, and named a practice in only 3% of answers.
Whether AI names practices at all depends on the question
Provider discovery questions tied to a condition or treatment, the searches closest to booking a visit, produced practice names in 81% to 98% of answers. General health questions produced names in 3%, even though 91% of those answers advise seeing a professional. AI creates the referral moment on general health questions and leaves it empty.
| Question type | Answers naming a practice |
|---|---|
| Provider discovery (condition-based: 'dentist for tooth pain') | 98% |
| Provider discovery (urgency & availability) | 94% |
| Provider discovery (treatment-based: 'ingrown toenail removal') | 81% |
| Provider discovery (insurance-based) | 79% |
| Provider discovery (general: 'best chiropractor in [city]') | 77% |
| General health questions ('what causes tooth pain') | 3% |
The top citation sources are practice websites and healthcare directories
On provider discovery questions, AI builds its answers from what it can read about specific practices: their websites, and their profiles and patient reviews on healthcare directories such as Healthgrades. General health questions are answered from health information sites like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Healthline, and practices are almost never cited there.
What AI cites, by source type
- Practice websites
- Healthcare directories
- Health information sites
- Other
| Specialty | Practice websites | Healthcare directories | Health information sites | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 37% | 29.2% | 5.4% | 28.5% |
| Podiatry | 33.2% | 32.9% | 6.9% | 27% |
| Dentistry | 41.7% | 25.7% | 3.5% | 29.2% |
| Chiropractic | 36% | 28.9% | 5.9% | 29.2% |
AI reads social media but doesn't use it for recommendations
Seventy-one percent of practices have a Facebook page and forty percent have Instagram. AI crawlers read those pages, yet social media accounts for only 0.4% of the sources AI cites. When AI cites social media, it cites the practice profile itself and not what the practice posts. Video content is no different as a source for AI recommendations: on Google AI Overview, YouTube is only 11% of sources on general health questions and 0.4% on questions asking for a provider. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity almost never cite video content.
What the 'Other' sources are
Presence figures (Facebook 71.2%, Instagram 39.9%, YouTube 21.1%) are based on a stratified sample of 450 practice homepages, 150 per specialty, weighted to the roster's specialty mix.