Most Primary Care Websites Fail the Questions Patients Actually Ask

Why This Matters for Medical Practice / Primary Care

Key Takeaways

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  61% of sites score below 50 — more than half of medical practice websites underperform across all dimensions.
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  Readability is the weakest area at 59/100. Patient-facing content reads at a college level when it should target 8th grade.
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  AEO scores average just 36 — AI engines cannot cite content that lacks direct answers and structured data.
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  44% have no schema markup — nearly half of sites give search engines nothing to work with beyond raw HTML.
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  SEO basics are in place at 88/100, but technical tags alone do not drive visibility in AI search.
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  Engagement averages 46 — most sites use enough headings and formatting, but lack FAQ sections and patient-focused content.

How to Improve Your Medical Practice / Primary Care Website

1. Rewrite your homepage at an 8th grade reading level. Replace medical terms with plain language. "We treat high blood pressure, diabetes, and infections" beats "comprehensive internal medicine services."
2. Add a FAQ section with 8-10 patient questions. Include "Do I need an appointment for urgent care?" and "What insurance do you accept?" Answer each in 2-3 sentences.
3. Add MedicalOrganization schema to every page. Include your practice name, address, phone, accepted insurance, and list of services in JSON-LD format.
4. Create a conditions-we-treat page. List each condition with a short, plain-language description. Link each to a booking page. This gives AI engines clear content to cite.
5. Put insurance, hours, and booking above the fold. The three things patients need most should be visible within 2 seconds of landing on your site.

Score Distribution

All 446 Audited Sites

Domains are partially blurred. Scores range from 0 to 100.