How generative search is transforming consumer health marketing

Generative AI is rapidly reshaping how consumers search for and interact with health information online. At Click Consult, we’re seeing this transformation first-hand as AI-powered search changes the way consumers research symptoms, treatments and healthcare products.

Recently, our Managing Director Julia Sowa joined Tom Salmon, Co-Founder of Agency by Agency, and Matthew Stewart, Global Marketing Associate Director at IQVIA Consumer Health, speaking at the AI & Generative Search: Transforming Consumer Health Marketing in 2026 webinar to discuss how AI-driven discovery is redefining consumer health marketing. The conversation explored how generative search is reshaping consumer behaviour and what healthcare and wellness brands must do to remain visible, credible and trusted.

One theme stood out clearly: search is no longer confined to search engines. Instead, we are entering an era of “total search”, where discovery happens across a network of AI platforms, social channels, marketplaces and digital communities.

For healthcare marketers, this shift represents one of the most significant changes to search behaviour in decades.

The changing consumer health discovery journey

The way consumers discover health information has become significantly more complex. Instead of relying solely on traditional search engines, users now move between multiple digital platforms as they research symptoms, treatments and healthcare products.

Instead of relying solely on Google, today’s users move fluidly across multiple digital environments as they seek answers and reassurance. In many cases, consumers now:

• Research across at least four digital platforms
• Have 10 or more online interactions with a brand
• Spend around seven hours engaging with content before converting.

This behaviour reflects what Julie Sowa describes as total search – a fragmented but highly interconnected discovery environment.

Consumers might start with a question in an AI assistant, validate information through social media or online communities, watch explainer videos on YouTube, and finally research product options through search engines or marketplaces.

Alongside traditional search engines like Google and Bing, discovery increasingly happens across:

• AI assistants and chatbots
• Social media platforms
• Online forums and communities
• Video platforms
• Review platforms
• Marketplaces and retail sites.

For healthcare brands, this means visibility must extend well beyond organic rankings alone.

Generative AI is becoming a health information gateway

Generative AI tools are rapidly becoming a major entry point for health-related queries. Millions of people now turn to AI assistants to ask questions about symptoms, treatments and lifestyle changes before consulting other sources.

The scale of this shift is already significant. For example:

• Google processes over 1 billion health and wellness queries every day worldwide
• More than 230 million people ask health-related questions on ChatGPT each week
• Google AI Overviews now appear in around 55% of searches, covering 89% of healthcare-related queries.

These developments are already influencing click behaviour. When AI Overviews appear in search results, the top organic listings can see a drop in clicks of around 34.5%. Across the UK and EU, 59.7% of Google searches now result in zero clicks, meaning users often find their answers directly in AI-generated summaries.

For brands, this means traditional ranking positions are no longer the sole measure of success. Increasingly, visibility depends on whether your content is referenced within AI-generated answers.

Trust is becoming the deciding factor in AI search

Trust has always been central to healthcare marketing, but generative AI is making credibility even more critical to brand visibility.

As more consumers turn to AI assistants and generative search tools to ask questions about symptoms, treatments and wellbeing, the way information is evaluated is changing. AI systems don’t simply rank webpages; they assess information from multiple sources and prioritise content that appears credible, consistent and authoritative.

In practice, this means that recognised healthcare brands have a significant advantage. When people are researching health-related topics, they are far more likely to trust information connected to established organisations, medical expertise and reliable sources.

At the same time, AI platforms are rapidly expanding their healthcare capabilities. Technology companies are investing heavily in systems designed to interpret and summarise complex medical information, integrating authoritative health data directly into their generative search experiences. For brands, this shift reinforces an important principle: visibility in AI search is closely tied to trust.

Organisations that demonstrate clear expertise, evidence-based information and a strong presence across trusted platforms are far more likely to be recognised by generative AI systems. Conversely, brands with limited authority signals or inconsistent information across the web may struggle to appear in AI-generated responses.

As generative search becomes a central gateway for health information, building and maintaining credible, authoritative brand signals across the digital ecosystem will be essential for long-term visibility.

The strategic challenge: multi-platform visibility

One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing at Click Consult is the growing importance of visibility across the entire digital ecosystem.

Generative AI systems don’t rely on a single source when generating answers. Large language models (LLMs) evaluate information from multiple websites, platforms and datasets to determine which sources are the most credible and relevant.

This means brand authority is no longer built in one place. If a brand has strong visibility in one channel but is largely absent elsewhere, AI systems may struggle to verify its credibility. By contrast, organisations that appear consistently across trusted sources are far more likely to be recognised and referenced in AI-generated responses.

For healthcare marketers, this makes cross-platform presence a critical part of modern search strategy.

Signals such as brand mentions, expert commentary, reviews and third-party references all help reinforce credibility. When these signals appear consistently across reputable platforms, they strengthen the overall authority that AI systems use when deciding which brands to surface in answers.

In the era of generative search, visibility is no longer just about ranking well in a single search engine – it’s about building a strong, consistent presence across the entire digital landscape.

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)

To adapt to this evolving landscape, marketers are beginning to adopt Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). GEO expands traditional SEO practices by focusing on how AI systems retrieve and interpret information.

At its core, GEO combines several key elements:

• Technical optimisation – ensuring content is crawlable, fast and structured so AI systems can understand it
• Content strategy – producing authoritative content that answers real consumer questions
• Brand authority – reinforcing expertise through consistent presence across trusted platforms
• Trust signals – building credibility through evidence-based information and reliable sources.

AI models are more likely to reference brands whose claims are supported across multiple trusted sources. As a result, brand consistency across the web is becoming a core part of modern search strategy.

For a deeper explanation of how this approach fits within the wider search landscape, you can read our guide on the difference between GEO, SGE and SEO.

How AI search decides which brands appear

Unlike traditional search engines that primarily rank webpages, generative AI systems evaluate information in a much broader context. These models analyse content to understand the intent behind a user’s query and determine which sources are the most credible.

AI systems typically prioritise information that demonstrates:

• Clear expertise and authority
• Evidence-based claims
• Consistency across multiple sources
• Original insights rather than generic information.

Rather than simply matching keywords, AI models aim to understand the real problem someone is trying to solve. This means brands need to focus on providing genuinely helpful, trustworthy content rather than relying on traditional optimisation tactics alone.

Creating content that performs in generative search

Content remains one of the most important drivers of visibility in AI-powered search environments. However, healthcare content must prioritise clarity, safety and trust.

Effective content typically includes:

• Clear explanations written in accessible language
• Evidence-backed statements and references
• Transparent information about who products are suitable for
• Clear descriptions of risks, contraindications or limitations.

Structuring content clearly can also help AI systems retrieve information more effectively. A common approach is the question → answer → explanation structure, which aligns well with how many AI models retrieve and summarise information.

For healthcare brands, aligning content strategies with E-E-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) is essential. For further insights into how AI is changing brand visibility, see our article on why brand perception matters more in the age of AI.

Expanding your brand’s AI footprint

Improving visibility in generative search requires strengthening your brand’s digital footprint across multiple platforms. AI systems analyse a wide range of signals when deciding which brands to reference in their responses.

Some of the most important signals include:

• Brand mentions and citations across trusted websites
• Reviews and social proof
• User-generated content
• Consistent brand coverage across platforms
• Participation in relevant online conversations
• Video content and multimedia presence.

When these signals appear consistently across the web, AI models gain greater confidence in the reliability of the brand and are more likely to include it in generated answers.

Measuring success in generative search

Instead of focusing solely on rankings and clicks, marketers are beginning to track indicators that reflect how often their brand appears within AI-generated answers. At Click Consult, we’re seeing growing interest in metrics such as:

• Prompt coverage across AI platforms
• Cross-model visibility (how consistently a brand appears across tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews)
• Share of voice within generative responses
• Brand citation rates
• Mentions across trusted sources and platforms

These indicators provide insight into how AI systems perceive a brand’s authority and whether it is considered a credible source when answering user questions.

As Tom Salmon emphasised in discussion with Julie Sowa, brands that want to succeed in AI-driven discovery must begin measuring visibility across the entire generative ecosystem, not just within traditional search results.

AI search visibility in practice

The impact of a structured generative search strategy is already becoming visible.

During the discussion, Tom Salmon highlighted an example involving an online pharmacy brand that implemented a Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) strategy designed to strengthen its authority signals across multiple platforms.

At the start of the programme, the brand had no visibility within AI-generated responses across major generative platforms.

By implementing a coordinated strategy focused on technical optimisation, authoritative health content and stronger brand signals across trusted websites, the brand was able to significantly increase its visibility within AI systems.

The results included:

• 30% citation rate within Google AI Overview results
• 27% citation rate in Perplexity responses
• 30% citation rate within ChatGPT answers for targeted prompts

These outcomes demonstrate how generative AI systems reward brands that present consistent, credible information across the web. Rather than relying on a single high-ranking webpage, AI models identify patterns of authority across multiple sources when deciding which brands to reference.

For healthcare marketers, this reinforces the importance of building a strong, consistent digital footprint that AI systems can validate.

The first-mover advantage in generative search

Generative AI is fundamentally reshaping how consumers discover healthcare information. Instead of relying on a single search engine, users now move between AI assistants, social platforms, search engines, video content and online communities as they research health questions and product options.

As Tom Salmon and Julie Sowa discussed, this shift towards total search means brands must rethink how they build visibility, authority and trust online.

The organisations that succeed will be those that:

• Build credibility across the entire digital ecosystem
• Develop authoritative, evidence-based content
• Strengthen brand signals across trusted platforms
• Optimise their presence for both traditional search engines and AI-driven discovery.

For healthcare brands willing to adapt, the opportunity is significant.

Generative search is still evolving, and organisations that start building GEO strategies today will be well positioned to capture visibility as AI becomes an increasingly central gateway for health information.

In the emerging AI search landscape, the brands that AI systems, clinicians and consumers trust the most will ultimately be the ones that win.