Most practices are invisible to AI.
The visible ones are cited frequently.
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.
AI recommendations of providers are hyperlocal. In the local areas AI recommends from across five US metro markets, only 16% of dental, podiatry and chiropractic practices were named in an AI answer. The citation concentration is high across all specialties. The three most-cited practices appeared in 29% to 63% of AI answers, depending on the specialty and market.
AI recommendations of providers are hyperlocal
In 12 of the 15 market-specialty combinations studied, 90% of AI citations landed in the city patients asked about, or in it plus one neighboring town. For example, in Tampa-area podiatry, 82% of citations went to practices in Clearwater itself, while St. Petersburg, twenty minutes away, received 1%. If AI was not asked about a practice's city, that practice rarely appears. Visibility in this report is therefore measured within each city's AI recommendation area (see How this study was run).
Only 16% of local medical practices showed up in AI answers
Within the areas AI recommends from, 422 of 2,644 practices were cited at least once; 84% never appeared in any AI answer, on any engine, for any question. Chiropractic has the highest coverage at 26%, dentistry the lowest at 13%, and podiatry sits between the two at 18%. Coverage runs inverse to local supply: where a town has few practices, AI cites a large share of them, and in the densest areas, such as dentistry around Pearland and Houston, coverage falls to 5%. Across the 15 AI recommendation areas, coverage ranges from 5% to 45%.
| Specialty | Practices in AI's recommendation areas | Cited by AI | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiropractic | 454 | 119 | 26.2% |
| Podiatry | 477 | 85 | 17.8% |
| Dentistry | 1,713 | 218 | 12.7% |
| All specialties | 2,644 | 422 | 16.0% |
The practices that AI cites, it cites frequently
Repeated citation of the same providers is common across questions, engines and scans. Of the 693 practice listings AI cited, 65% appeared six or more times and 30% appeared twenty or more times. The pattern is strongest in podiatry and chiropractic, where roughly 40% of cited practices reached twenty or more mentions. In crowded dentistry, 18% did.
Repeat citations across AI answers
- Overall
- Dentistry
- Podiatry
- Chiropractic
| Times a practice was named | Overall | Dentistry | Podiatry | Chiropractic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.6% | 1.6% | 2.5% | 0.9% |
| 2 | 9.8% | 12.3% | 10.0% | 6.0% |
| 3-5 | 22.8% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 17.9% |
| 6-19 | 35.6% | 43.4% | 23.1% | 33.5% |
| 20+ | 30.2% | 17.7% | 39.4% | 41.7% |
Within a specialty and a market, AI citations concentrate on a few practices
Concentration is real once visibility is measured inside a specialty, the way a patient searches. In podiatry, the most concentrated of the three, the citation rate of the three most-cited practices was 53% to 63%, and their Share of Voice accounted for 44% to 64% of all podiatry practice mentions, depending on the market. Chiropractic and dentistry follow the same pattern at lower levels. (Citation rate: the percentage of AI answers that name a practice. Share of Voice: a practice's share of all practice mentions in AI answers.)
| Specialty | Top 3: AI citation rate (range across markets) | Top 3: AI Share of Voice (range across markets) |
|---|---|---|
| Podiatry | 53% to 63% | 44% to 64% |
| Chiropractic | 34% to 49% | 32% to 55% |
| Dentistry | 29% to 44% | 18% to 35% |
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AEO for partnersAugust 2026 edition.