Some people don't type "osteopath Exeter" into Google any more. They ask a question, in full, to something like ChatGPT: "Who's a good osteopath in Exeter for a bad back? Somewhere I can book online." Then they often get a short answer with a handful of names.
If your clinic isn't one of those names, you never even get the chance to impress them. So it's a fair question to ask what makes a clinic get mentioned.
I'll be honest from the start. Nobody can promise you'll be recommended. These tools don't publish a rulebook for who gets recommended, and they change often. But after more than a decade building websites made to be found, first on Google and now through things like ChatGPT too, I can tell you what clearly helps, and none of it is a trick.
Try it yourself first
Open ChatGPT (or a similar tool) and ask the question your ideal patient would ask. Be specific: your treatment, your town, and something they care about, like "for a sports injury" or "that does evening appointments". Ask it two or three different ways.
Note who gets named and what's said about them. Then ask directly about your own clinic: "What do you know about [your clinic] in [your town]?" If the answer is thin, out of date or wrong, that tells you where to start.
They read the web, so be easy to read
When these tools answer a local question, they can search the web and summarise what they find (ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity all describe search features like this in their own documentation). That means the basics that help on Google help here too, and a few things matter even more.
Say the important facts in plain words, on your own site. What you treat, who does it, where you are, how to book, and roughly what it costs. If those facts are buried in images, sliders or a PDF price list, a tool reading your page may simply miss them.
Make sure your pages can be read without running scripts. Some modern websites show a nearly empty page until the browser runs its code. People never notice, but not every automated reader runs that code. Google's own developer documentation says it plainly: "not all bots can run JavaScript". A reader that doesn't may see very little. When I build a site, I check the raw page, the one that arrives before any scripts run, and make sure every important word is already in it.
Keep your facts the same everywhere. Your name, address, phone number and treatments should match on your website, your Google Business Profile and any directory or professional register you're on. When sources agree, a summary is much more likely to be confident and correct.
Answer the questions people actually ask
Think about the questions you're asked on the phone every week. "Do I need a GP referral?" "How many sessions will I need?" "Is there parking?" "Do you see children?"
Answer each one plainly on the relevant page, in a short question and answer section. It helps real people straight away, and it gives any tool summarising your clinic a clear, quotable answer written by you rather than a guess.
Structured information (schema), briefly
Schema is a small block of information in the code of each page, written in a standard format that search engines read directly. For a clinic it can say: this is a medical business, this is its name, address, phone number and opening arrangements, these are its treatments, these are its prices, and these are its questions and answers.
You never see it on the page. But it removes guesswork, and it's part of every site I build as standard.
llms.txt, in plain words
llms.txt is a simple text file that sits on your website at an address like yourclinic.co.uk/llms.txt. It's a short, tidy summary of your business written for tools like ChatGPT to read: who you are, what you offer, your prices where you publish them, your address, how to book, and links to your key pages.
Think of it as the note you'd leave for a locum on their first day. It isn't a guarantee of anything, and there's no promise that any particular tool reads it. It's a proposal, first published in September 2024 at llmstxt.org, rather than an agreed standard. But it costs very little to add, and it means that when a tool does look for it, it finds accurate facts in your own words. On the sites I build, it's generated from the same content as the pages, so it never goes out of date when a price changes. I also add a fuller version alongside it (llms-full.txt) with the complete text of the site. That's a common habit rather than part of the proposal itself.
Let the right visitors in
Your site has a file called robots.txt that tells automated visitors which pages they may read. Some websites block the automated readers that ChatGPT and similar services use, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident after a rebuild.
It's worth asking whoever looks after your site to check it. It helps to know there are two kinds. Some read the web to answer searches, such as OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT's search, and OpenAI says sites that block it won't be shown in ChatGPT's search answers), Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Others, such as GPTBot and ClaudeBot, collect pages for training the underlying models, and some clinics choose to block those, which is a fair choice. If you want to be recommended, you want the search readers allowed in. On the sites I build, the go-live checklist includes an explicit welcome for the main ones, and a check that the "don't index me" setting used while a site is being built has actually been switched off.
Be talked about, honestly
Tools that summarise the web lean on what other people say about you, not just what you say. That means:
- Plenty of genuine, recent Google reviews, and replies to them.
- Being listed correctly on your professional body's register.
- Mentions on local sites: a sports club you support, a local news story, a practice you share patients with.
None of this can be rushed or bought honestly, but it builds, and it helps you everywhere, not just in ChatGPT.
Write a little, regularly
A clinic with helpful, specific articles ("What to expect at your first osteopathy appointment", "Plantar fasciitis: when to see a podiatrist") gives people, and the tools they use, more to understand you by. In my experience, a steady couple of good articles a month, written for the questions your local patients ask, is easier to keep up and more useful than a burst of twenty in one week that then stops.
A quick checklist
- Ask ChatGPT about your clinic and your main treatment in your town, and note the answers.
- Check your key facts are in plain text on your site.
- Add a short question and answer section to your main treatment pages.
- Ask your web designer about schema, llms.txt and your robots.txt file.
- Keep your Google profile and directory listings consistent.
- Keep collecting honest reviews.
If you'd like me to run through this with your site and tell you honestly where you stand, I'm happy to. I work with a few clinics at a time, so there's room for a proper conversation. You can book a 15-minute call here:
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone guarantee my clinic will be recommended by ChatGPT?
No. These tools don't publish how they choose, and they change often. What you can do is make your facts clear, consistent and easy to read, which is what they rely on.
What is llms.txt?
A short text file on your website that summarises your business for tools like ChatGPT: who you are, what you offer, where you are and how to book. It's a proposal rather than an agreed standard, and there's no promise any given tool reads it, but it's cheap to add and keeps your facts accurate.
Do I need a new website to be recommended?
Not always. Clear facts, consistent listings and good reviews help on any site. If your site shows a nearly empty page until scripts run, or blocks the search readers in robots.txt, that's worth fixing properly.
Is this different from ranking on Google?
It overlaps a great deal. Clear pages, consistent details, schema and genuine reviews help with both.
Sources
Checked on 28 September 2026.