The use of voice search in healthcare SEO

17th Mar 2025

How does voice search work?

1. An HCP or patient uses their voice to search for healthcare-related content, for example, What are x eye drops?”. 
2. AI translates spoken language into text that search engines can process.
3. AI then identifies the intent behind these spoken queries, which often use natural language.
4. Depending on the device type that is being used, an answer is either spoken back to the user or is delivered by typical search results and AI Overviews. 

Over time, AI learns user preferences and patterns in queries to deliver more personalised results. In addition, continuous advancements in natural language processing (NLP) mean that AI-powered engines can understand the nuances of medical terminology to provide users with highly relevant information specific to their health-related queries. 

 How is voice search used in the healthcare industry?

Voice AI more generally has been increasingly integrated into the healthcare industry, with 65% of physicians believing it improves workflow efficiency. Importantly, as you can discover from our recent white paper, voice assistants and AI have been used to cut down on tedious tasks such as note-taking and communications so HCPs are able to focus more on patient needs. Interestingly, by 2026, 80% of healthcare interactions are expected to involve some form of voice technology. 

In particular, 72% of healthcare patients reportedly felt comfortable using voice assistants for healthcare tasks, such as searching for medical information. A key thing to note is that patients using voice search are seeking quick, easily accessible information for their healthcare-related queries. Therefore, it is not surprising that 84% of medical searches generate an AI Overview, with many also presenting SERP features. It’s important to optimise for voice search to appear in this space, increasing the visibility of your healthcare website so that users are more likely to click through to your website. 

How to optimise your website for voice search.

There is no one clear and easy way to appear in voice search results; appearance is dependent upon a variety of factors. You need to make sure your whole website is SEO-friendly and accessible to both users and search engines. It is worth noting that if your pharma website is performing well in search results, you are more likely to appear as a source in voice search results. Here are a few key ways you can optimise your healthcare website for voice search. 

1. Mobile optimisation

In our recent white paper, we highlighted that 62% of healthcare-related searches occur on mobile devices, with 27% of users admittedly relying on a mobile device for clinical searches. Coupled with Google’s mobile-first indexing approach, it is crucial to ensure your website is optimised for mobile devices so that your healthcare website is more likely to appear in voice search results.

A mobile site needs to have straightforward and clear navigation. HCPs and patients using voice search on a mobile device are looking for accurate, trusted medical information quickly and easily. Ensuring your healthcare website has a responsive design, with a logical navigation menu, establishes smooth navigation, which helps increase conversions. There is nothing worse than arriving on a website, looking for healthcare advice, information, or products, and not being able to find it easily. You need to champion the mobile version of your site and ensure it has the same content and experience as desktop users. 

Similarly, you need to consider website speed. Sites that load quickly have an advantage in SERP rankings and improve the user journey once landing on a website. To learn more about how you can enhance your healthcare website for mobile, read our blog ‘Mobile Optimised Websites in Healthcare’. 

2. FAQs and structured data 

As previously mentioned, what usually comes hand in hand with mobile searches are AI Overviews and featured snippets, which are particularly prevalent in voice search results. Users are looking for readily accessible information, so appearing in these spaces increases the visibility of your pharma website. Making healthcare information discoverable in AI and relevant tools is beneficial as it means that HCPs and patients no longer need to dig deeper on the internet to find an answer. AI can provide relevant results to their specific healthcare queries, along with their sources, in seconds. 

Adding FAQs on key landing pages and marking these up with schema is one great way to target specific patient and HCP queries and increase the likelihood of appearing in AI Overviews or People Also Ask SERP features. Depending on the nature of your healthcare website, adding a range of schemas such as product, breadcrumb, event, article, and review schema provides more information to search engines and enables your website to appear in different SERP features. 

3. Content 

You need to remember, that this is healthcare content we’re talking about, so it isn’t surprising that the adoption of voice search has not come without caution. As healthcare websites fall under YMYL (Your Money Your Life) content, they must take extra care in SEO, following EEAT (Experience Expert Authoritiveness Trustworthiness) guidelines. 

AI-powered search and GenAI are only as reliable as the data they are trained on. If there is inaccurate or unverified information present in the system’s database, this can subsequently lead to misinformation accessible to patients and HCPs. Misinformation and misinterpretations in the healthcare industry are problematic. Therefore, content needs to be clearly laid out with sources to support what is being stated. Search engines will crawl pharma content and check its credibility, so content must align with YMYL guidelines.

4. Keywords and search intent 

For your healthcare website to appear in voice search results, content should match user search intent. Patient and HCP voice searches are typically informational or commercial and use natural language. Including conversational content in a question-answer format helps align your website with how voice search is used in healthcare. Including relevant long-tail keywords commonly used in this type of search, matching these to intent, and using semantic keywords, will increase the likelihood of appearing in voice search results. You can easily check the intent of a keyword by entering it into a search engine and seeing what kind of websites and SERP features appear in the results. Keyword research is an important element of a voice search optimisation strategy as it allows you to understand what your audience is searching for in the pharma and healthcare space. 

You can also use Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (GA4) to your advantage to get a better understanding of voice search. Look for long-tail keywords and question-based searches, and compare these against the types of devices used. A key indicator for voice searches is that they are typically made from mobile devices, and have a lower Click-Through Rate (CTR).

Can I track website appearance in voice searches?

You can’t directly see whether you are appearing in voice search results, however, there are several things you can track:

1. Appearance in featured snippets – this is a key indicator of appearing in voice search results. 
2. Advanced Web Rankings and other similar search tracking tools will allow you to see what queries your snippets are appearing for, and provide insights into how to optimise your content for snippet placement.
3. Set up custom event tracking in GA4 to see where mobile traffic is going when on your site. You can see which pages are benefitting most from voice search. 

Why should I optimise my healthcare website for voice search?

As we continue to see, AI and voice technology are developing rapidly. It’s important to keep up with these changes to stay ahead of your competitors in search. Importantly, however, optimising your healthcare website’s SEO for voice search will have an overall impact on patient and HCP experience and improve overall user experience and satisfaction with your site, which can increase conversions and brand awareness.

Key takeaways

Ultimately, the healthcare industry is constantly changing. To stay ahead of your competitors and keep up with SEO innovation, make sure your healthcare website is optimised for mobile, abides by EEAT guidelines, and includes relevant long-tail keywords and conversational content that patients and HCPs frequently use in voice search. 

If you want to learn more about how AI and voice search are used in the healthcare industry, contact our expert team.