If your agency reports traffic and rankings but can’t tell you whether AI recommends you, it is measuring yesterday’s game. Before you switch, run a 10-minute AI test, secure your accounts, and know what a good agency should report.
Five signs it’s time to switch
- The report is full of impressions and empty of patients. Traffic went up. The phone didn’t ring more.
- Nobody has checked what AI says about you. Ask them today. Watch the pause.
- Content goes live that no doctor reviewed. Sometimes not even you.
- Your profiles disagree with each other. Different timings on Google and Practo, an old clinic still listed.
- You chase them for updates. It should be the other way round.
why generic agencies struggle with AI search for doctors.
Test it yourself in 10 minutes
- Open ChatGPT, Gemini and Google in a private browser window, so results are less personalised.
- Ask as a patient would: “Best [your specialty] in [your area] for [your main procedure]”.
- Ask about yourself by name: “Is Dr. [your name] good for [procedure]?”
- Ask a cost question: “Cost of [procedure] in [your city]”.
- Note three things each time: Are you named? Are your details right? Who is named instead?
- Repeat for your two other main procedures.
If you’re missing, or described wrongly, your current marketing isn’t reaching AI.
What reports used to show, and what they should show now
| Old report | What you should see now |
|---|---|
| Keyword rankings | Whether AI names you for your key procedures |
| Website traffic | Patient enquiries and calls, by source |
| Number of blogs published | Pages patients actually use: cost, procedure, recovery |
| Social media followers | Reviews: how many, how recent, how they were answered |
| Backlink count | Mentions on sites AI trusts: hospitals, journals, news |
Take these with you before you leave
Check that you own each one, not just that you have access. Many doctors find out the agency is the owner only when they try to leave.
- Domain name, registered in your name
- Website hosting and admin login
- Google Business Profile, with you as primary owner
- Google Analytics and Search Console
- Social media accounts, with you as admin
- Ad accounts and their billing
- Practo and other directory logins
- Copies of all content, images and videos you paid for
Switch without losing ground
- Audit first. Know where you stand on Google and in AI answers before anything changes.
- Secure every account. Use the checklist above.
- Keep what works. Pages that already bring patients stay. If a page must move, it gets a proper redirect.
- Fix the footprint. Make every profile tell the same story.
- Build and track. New content, reviews and mentions, checked against AI answers every month.
FAQs
Will switching agencies hurt my rankings?
Not if it’s handled carefully. Keep pages that work, redirect anything that moves, and keep your details consistent.
How soon can a new agency start?
Once accounts are handed over, the audit can begin within days.