Your Online Presence Is Working Harder Than Ever, Here’s What’s New
Welcome to this month’s Digital Bulletin! Google has made some of its biggest changes in years, and for physical therapy and chiropractic practices, understanding what’s shifting (and what it means for your patient pipeline) has never mattered more.
This month, we’re breaking down what’s actually happening on Google, spotlighting a smarter way to track your front desk’s performance, and showing you how your patient newsletter might be doing more heavy lifting than you realize.
In This Issue:
- What Google’s 2026 Changes Mean for Your Physical Therapy Practice
- Call Intelligence by WhatConverts: Finally, the Full Picture Behind Every Call
- Your Newsletter Is Doing More Than You Think
- Success Tip of the Month: Listen to Yout Front Desk Like A Patient Would
What Google’s 2026 Changes Mean for Your Physical Therapy Practice
If you’ve noticed any changes in how your website is showing up on Google lately, you’re not imagining it. Google has made some of its biggest changes in years, and if you’re a physical therapy clinic trying to attract new patients online, it’s worth understanding what’s happening and why it matters to you.
The good news is you don’t need to become an SEO expert to understand this. Here’s what’s going on in plain English. In 2026 alone, Google has rolled out four major algorithm updates, including two large “core updates” in March and May. Think of core updates as Google re-grading every website on the internet based on new criteria. Some sites go up. Some go down, and the criteria Google cares about most have shifted significantly.
On top of those updates, Google announced the biggest redesign of its search experience in over 25 years. The search results page your patients see today looks and behaves very differently from how it did even 12 months ago.
The Rise of AI Overviews: Google Is Answering Questions Before Patients Click
The most important change for your practice isn’t an algorithm tweak, it’s a fundamental shift in how Google works.
You’ve probably noticed a new feature at the top of Google search results: a box where Google itself summarizes an answer before showing any website links. This is called an AI Overview, and it’s powered by artificial intelligence. A patient might search “what helps with lower back pain” and Google will summarize the answer right there on the page, often without them ever needing to visit a website.
Here’s why that matters so much. Health-related searches trigger these AI summaries more than almost any other topic. Studies show that when AI Overviews appear, the number of people who actually click through to a website drops by around 38%. Some healthcare websites have seen organic traffic fall by 40–70% over the past year.
This doesn’t mean SEO is dead. It means the goal of SEO is shifting. It’s no longer just about ranking #1 on Google. It’s also about making sure your practice is the one Google cites when it builds those AI summaries, and making sure your Google Business Profile is strong enough to drive calls and appointment requests even when patients don’t visit your website at all.
What Google Is Rewarding (and Punishing) Right Now
The March 2026 core update hit healthcare businesses particularly hard, and the pattern is clear: Google is rewarding depth, credibility, and genuine local relevance and penalizing the opposite.
Clinics with thin, generic content (“we treat back pain” with little else) are losing ground. So are practices with location pages that just swap a city name into the same boilerplate text. Google can recognize these and is actively pushing them down in rankings.
What’s performing well? Websites that reflect real clinical expertise, cover conditions and treatments in meaningful depth, and pair strong website content with an active, well-maintained Google Business Profile.
In a world where more patients are making decisions directly on Google without ever clicking to a website, that listing has become one of your most important marketing assets.
The more your online presence looks like it was built by real clinicians for real patients in your community, the better Google treats you.
What This Means for You as a Practice Owner
You don’t need to do anything right now, that’s our job. But it’s helpful to understand the “why” behind some of what we’re doing on your behalf.
When we ask you for photos of your clinic, updated staff bios, or details about the specific conditions your therapists treat, it’s because Google is rewarding exactly that kind of authentic, specific information. When we talk about building out your website content or updating your Google Business Profile, we’re responding directly to these changes.
The clinics that will win in this new landscape aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones with the most credible, trustworthy, and genuinely useful online presence. That’s always been what good SEO is about, and Google is just getting better at enforcing it.
How Practice Promotions Is Staying Ahead
Our SEO team monitors Google’s updates closely and adjusts our strategies as new data comes in. Here’s how we’re approaching 2026 on your behalf:
We’re focused on building topical depth on your websites, which is to say we are making sure your content covers the conditions, treatments, and patient questions that matter most to your community, in a way that reflects real clinical expertise.
This is what helps your practice get referenced in Google’s AI summaries, not just ranked in the traditional results.
We’re treating your Google Business Profile as a primary visibility channel, not an afterthought. In a world where patients are increasingly making decisions without ever clicking to your website, your listing on Google Maps and Search needs to be complete, accurate, and actively maintained.
We’re auditing location and service pages to make sure they reflect genuine, specific value and not just swapped-in city names or recycled boilerplate.
And we’re keeping a close eye on how the May 2026 core update continues to settle, so we can make smart, data-driven adjustments rather than reactive ones.
The Bottom Line
Google wants to connect patients with the most helpful, trustworthy, and relevant information available in their area. Practices that demonstrate genuine expertise, serve their local community well, and maintain a strong presence both on their website and on Google’s own platforms are the ones positioned to grow.
That’s exactly what we’re building toward for every one of our clients. As always, if you have questions about your specific website performance or want to understand how these changes are affecting your rankings, reach out to your Customer Success Manager. They will be happy to walk you through it.
Call Intelligence: Finally, the Full Picture Behind Every One of Your New Patient Calls
Ever wonder if new patient leads are really becoming evaluations on your schedule? What happens when someone calls from Google Ads, your Website, or Google Profile? Do they ultimately become a new patient? Well, we now have the complete AI tracking solution for you!
Studies show that 67% of inbound calls go untracked without the right tools in place, which means most practices have no clear picture of how many potential patients went unbooked last month. Call Intelligence, Practice Promotions’ AI-powered call tracking add-on, is designed to change that. Working quietly in the background, it analyzes every inbound call your front desk receives and delivers a level of marketing transparency most practices have never had before.
Here is what it brings to the table:
- Automatic lead scoring so your team knows which callers are the highest priority
- Real-time call transcription and summaries so nothing falls through the cracks
- Front desk performance grading on tone, responsiveness, and scheduling success
- Marketing source tracking that connects every booked patient back to the campaign that generated the call
At just $25 per location per month, with unlimited call minutes and zero overages, Call Intelligence gives every role on your team smarter, cleaner data to act on. Practice owners see true marketing ROI, and they are raving about the results! Office managers can now coach with real call data instead of guesswork.
Your marketing strategy gets sharper because you finally know exactly which channels are converting callers into booked patients. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager to learn more!
Your Newsletter Is Doing More Than You Think
You’re reading this right now, which means you already know what a digital newsletter looks like in action. But have you thought about what yours is doing for your patients every single month?
Your Digital Patient Newsletter is one of the most consistent touchpoints your practice has with past and current patients. It lands directly in their inbox, it lives on your website for search visibility, and it gives people a reason to think about your clinic even when they’re not in pain.
And for practices that lean into it, the results speak for themselves.
What we’re seeing from practices that invest in their newsletter content
One of our clients saw incredible Q1 results after they started submitting more personalized, custom content for their newsletters. Their open rates climbed to nearly 50%, with click rates improving steadily month over month and 19 leads generated directly from their newsletter in a single quarter. The difference wasn’t a new tool or a redesign. It was better content, tailored to their patient base, delivered consistently.
Another practice upgraded from a basic newsletter plan to the full newsletter system and watched their open rates climb from around 29% all the way to nearly 50% over the course of the year. Click rates followed the same trajectory. The upgrade gave them a more robust, engaging format, and their audience responded.
And at another clinic, a refreshed newsletter template introduced earlier this year led to a meaningful lift in engagement. Open rates jumped from the low-to-mid 20s to over 35% in the first full month, with early click-through improvements as well. A cleaner, more organized layout helped more patients actually open, read, and interact with the content.
Why this matters for your practice
Imagine if more of your past patients came back for needed care. What would that do to your revenue?
Every newsletter that goes out is a touchpoint that keeps your clinic top of mind. Patients who aren’t actively in care still see your name, your expertise, and your personality in their inbox. When they’re ready to come back, or when a friend asks for a recommendation, your practice is the one they remember.
The practices seeing the strongest results share a few things in common: they submit personalized content that reflects their team and community, they trust the process and stay consistent, and they take advantage of the full newsletter system rather than a scaled-down version.
What you can do right now
If you’ve been light on submitting custom content for your newsletters, this is your sign to start. Photos of your team, patient success stories (with permission), seasonal tips, community involvement, staff spotlights. This is the content that transforms a good newsletter into one your patients actually look forward to opening.
And if you’re not on the full newsletter system yet, talk to your team about what an upgrade could look like. The data from our clients who’ve made that move tells a pretty clear story.
Want to learn more about your newsletter strategy or explore what an upgrade could look like? Reach out today and we can explore what strategy is best for you.
Success Tip of the Month
Listen to Your Front Desk Like a New Patient Would
When did you last actually listen to how your front desk answers the phone? Most practice owners assume calls are being handled well, without ever checking; it’s hard to know for sure. Research shows that 67% of inbound calls go untracked, which means missed opportunities often go unnoticed, too.
This week, ask your front desk team to flag or save two or three recorded calls, or simply sit nearby and listen in real time during a busy window. You’re not auditing anyone; you’re gathering information.
As you listen, ask yourself a few simple questions: Does the caller feel welcomed? Is the scheduler confident when asked about insurance or availability? Does the call end with a clear next step, or does it trail off?
What you hear might surprise you. Common patterns to watch for: calls where the patient sounds hesitant but no one follows up with reassurance, scheduling opportunities that get deflected instead of captured, or a tone that feels rushed during busy hours.
Even one listening session can open your eyes to what’s happening at the front desk. Once you know what to look for, having a system that captures and scores every call automatically makes that insight effortless and ongoing.
That’s exactly what Call Intelligence is built for! Ask your Customer Success Manager for a demo.
Quick Links
To login to your Marketing Analytics Dashboard, visit https://practicepromotions.clientseoreport.com/.
This is where you’ll find your Total Leads Summary, Website Performance, and ROI information.
Engage… remind me where that is again? We’ve got you. Login to your dashboard at https://practicepromotions.email/app/user. If you need help, reach out to your Digital team on Basecamp.