Guide
What patients ask AI before choosing a mental health clinic
People no longer search in two or three words. They ask full questions, with their age, town, budget and worries included. Here are the questions we see most, grouped by what the patient needs, and where each answer belongs on your site.
Why the question matters more than the keyword
A search box encouraged short phrases: “psychologist Leeds”. An AI assistant invites a sentence: “I’m 34, I think I might have ADHD, I live in Leeds and I can’t wait two years. Where can I get assessed privately, and what will it cost?”.
That one question contains a service, an age group, a place, a time constraint and a budget concern. An AI tool will look for clinics whose published information answers all of it. A clinic with a vague home page and a contact form gives it little to work with. A clinic with a clear adult ADHD page, a dated waiting time and a full fee breakdown gives it everything.
The questions below are the kinds of patient questions we use in our checks, written the way people ask them. Use them to audit your own website.
Finding the right service
“Is there a private psychologist near me who sees teenagers?”
Where to answer it: A service page per age group, and clinician pages that say who each person sees.
“Who offers adult autism assessments online?”
Where to answer it: Say plainly which services are online, face to face or both, on the service page itself.
“What is the difference between a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a counsellor?”
Where to answer it: A short explainer page, written by your clinicians, that helps people choose and points to the right service.
Cost and waiting
“How much does a private ADHD assessment cost?”
Where to answer it: Your fees page, with the full cost picture including follow ups, not just the headline fee.
“How long is the wait for a private autism assessment?”
Where to answer it: Current waits per service, dated, and the same figures on your directory profiles.
“Can I use my health insurance?”
Where to answer it: Which insurers you work with, for which services, and what the patient needs to do.
Trust and credentials
“Is this clinic legitimate?”
Where to answer it: Registration numbers with links to registers, CQC details where they apply, who runs the clinic and how to complain.
“Are the psychologists at this clinic qualified?”
Where to answer it: Exact titles, qualifications and HCPC registration for each psychologist.
“What do reviews say about this clinic?”
Where to answer it: You cannot write the answer, but you can make it easy for real patients to leave reviews on independent platforms, and reply professionally.
What happens
“What happens at a first therapy appointment?”
Where to answer it: A plain walkthrough of the first session: length, questions, what to bring, what happens next.
“What happens after an ADHD diagnosis?”
Where to answer it: Your post diagnosis pathway, including medication reviews and shared care, described honestly.
“Do I need a GP referral?”
Where to answer it: Whether you accept self referrals, and when a GP letter helps.
How to write answers AI tools can use
The same principles apply to every answer, whether it lives on a service page, a fees page or an FAQ.
- Answer first. Put the direct answer in the opening sentence, then the detail.
- Use the patient’s words. Say ADHD assessment for adults, not neurodevelopmental diagnostic services.
- Be specific. Fees in pounds, waits in weeks, session lengths in minutes, with dates.
- Name who stands behind it. A named clinician who wrote or reviewed the page, with their role.
- Keep it true everywhere. The same facts on your site, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Make it readable. Text on the page, not only in images, PDFs or booking widgets.
Questions you should be careful with
Some questions patients ask AI tools are not ones your marketing should try to answer.
- “Do I have ADHD?” Your site can explain what an assessment involves. It should not imply a diagnosis.
- “Which clinic has the best success rate?” Avoid outcome claims and league tables of results.
- “I’m in crisis, who can see me today?” Make sure every page says how to get urgent help, such as NHS 111, a GP, or 999 in an emergency, and that your clinic is not a crisis service if it is not.
How to check what AI tools say about you
Pick five questions from this page that match your services. Ask each one in ChatGPT and Gemini, with your town. Ask again a few times, since answers vary. Note which clinics are named and what sources are shown. If you are missing, look at what the named clinics publish that you do not.
We do this systematically, with fixed questions and several runs each month, on every plan. Read how in AI search visibility, or follow our step by step guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT.
Where to start
Most clinics get the biggest gain from three pages: a full fees page, dated waiting times per service, and a page for every clinician. If you run an assessment clinic, also read our ADHD clinic and autism assessment clinic pages. If you run a psychology practice, read psychology practice marketing.
Questions clinic owners ask
Do patients really use ChatGPT to choose a mental health clinic?
Many people now use AI assistants for research, including about health services, and Google shows AI Overviews for many searches. How many people do this varies, so it is better to check the answers for your own questions than to rely on broad estimates.
Should we write an FAQ page for AI tools?
Write it for patients. A good FAQ answers the questions people really ask in plain words, and that is exactly what AI tools look for. Avoid stuffing it with keywords or questions nobody asks.
Will adding FAQ structured data get us into AI answers?
Structured data helps machines read your page, but it does not decide what any tool says. It should only mark up questions and answers that are visible on the page.
How do we find out which questions patients ask?
Ask your reception team which questions they answer every day, look at enquiry emails, check the searches in Google Search Console, and test common questions in AI tools for your town and specialty.
Should every clinician answer questions on the site?
Answers are more trustworthy with a named author or reviewer. It helps to have the clinician who leads a service write or review its answers, with the date.
See where your clinic stands
Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Your first report shows what ChatGPT and Gemini say about your clinic today. Cancel any time.