Google just handed AI control of your practice listing

Google Scraps AI Health Advice Feature, Signaling Tighter Standards for Health Search

On March 16, Google confirmed it removed its "What People Suggest" feature, which used AI to summarize health advice from Reddit and other forums and display it at the top of health search results. The decision follows months of criticism after The Guardian found the tool presenting potentially dangerous medical guidance, including incorrect blood test interpretations and misleading dietary advice for cancer patients. Google called it a "broader simplification" of search, but the timing speaks for itself: at its "The Check Up" event this week, Google also announced $10 million through Google.org to fund clinician education for AI.

The takeaway for therapists: Google is actively moving away from crowdsourced health content and toward credentialed, expert-authored information. AI-generated health summaries reach approximately 2 billion people per month, and Google is tightening the standards for what appears in those results. Practices with original, clinician-written website content are increasingly favored.

👉 Action: Add or update your therapist bio with full credentials on every service page. Write original content from your clinical experience answering common client questions. Search Google for your target keyword (for example, "anxiety therapist in [your city]") and note the "People Also Ask" questions. Create short pages answering each in your clinical voice, then link them back to your main service page. These supporting pages rank more easily and pass authority to the pages that bring you clients.

Google Is Replacing Business Profile Q&A With AI-Generated Answers

Google is phasing out the traditional Questions & Answers section on Business Profiles and replacing it with AI-powered responses. As reported by Search Engine Roundtable on March 10, Google's AI will now automatically generate answers about your practice using your profile details, website content, and reviews. The public Q&A section where anyone could post and answer questions is going away.

This means Google's AI may confidently present wrong information to potential clients if your profile has outdated insurance details, incorrect hours, or missing service descriptions. Practices with complete, accurate profiles and well-structured FAQ pages on their websites will have the most control over what Google's AI tells people about them.

👉 Action: Audit your Google Business Profile for accuracy: services, specialties, insurance accepted, hours, and contact info. Add a FAQ page to your website covering common client questions (insurance, session length, cancellation policy, telehealth availability) with clear headings so Google's AI can reference the correct answers. Check recent reviews for inaccuracies that could be picked up by AI responses.

States Are Racing to Regulate AI Mental Health Chatbots

A wave of state legislation targeting AI chatbots in mental health is advancing fast. Oregon's Senate Bill 1546 passed the Senate 26-1 in February and is now moving through the House. According to the Transparency Coalition's March 6 update, similar bills are advancing in Michigan, Maine, West Virginia, Virginia, Arizona, and Nebraska. Illinois and Nevada have already completely banned the use of AI for behavioral health. California's SB 243, effective January 1, 2026, includes the nation's first private right of action, meaning individuals can sue chatbot companies directly.

The legislation is accelerating after parents testified on Capitol Hill about losing teenage children following AI chatbot interactions. A Brown University study found that AI chatbots systematically violate ethical standards established by the American Psychological Association, including mishandling crisis situations and reinforcing negative beliefs.

👉 Action: Review AI chatbot laws in every state where you see clients, especially if you practice across state lines via telehealth. Confirm that any AI-powered client-facing tools (website chatbots, intake automation, scheduling) comply with disclosure and safety requirements. Add a clear disclaimer to any AI tool that it is not a licensed therapist. Document your AI tool usage as part of your risk management.

Office of Civil Rights Target Behavioral Health in Back-to-Back HIPAA Settlements

On March 5, OCR settled with Market,Manage, Grow (MMG) Fusion, LLC for a data breach exposing the protected health information of 15 million individuals. The software company had failed to conduct a risk analysis and failed to notify affected providers for years, allowing patient data to be posted on the dark web. This is OCR's 12th enforcement action under its Risk Analysis Initiative. Days earlier, OCR settled with Top of the World Ranch Treatment Center, a behavioral health provider in Illinois, for $103,000 after a phishing attack compromised fewer than 2,000 records because the practice had never completed a Security Risk Analysis.

The message is clear: OCR is actively investigating behavioral health providers, and the first thing they check is whether you have a current, comprehensive Security Risk Analysis. If you do not have one, the penalties far exceed the cost of completing one.

👉 Action: Confirm your practice has a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis completed within the past 12 months. Verify all software vendors who access client data have signed a current Business Associate Agreement. Review your breach notification procedures to ensure you can notify OCR and affected individuals within 60 days. Train all staff on recognizing phishing emails.

AI Overviews Now Appear on Nearly Half of Google Searches, Reducing Clicks by 58%

According to Ahrefs, AI Overviews now reduce click-through rates for top-ranking content by 58%. Semrush data shows AI Overviews grew from 31% of tracked queries in February 2025 to 48% by February 2026. For health-related informational queries, the rates are even higher.

The silver lining: according to WordStream data published March 17, AI Overviews only appear on about 7% of local queries. Searches like "therapist near me" are still driven by traditional local results and Google Business Profile listings. The practices most at risk are those relying on blog traffic from broad queries like "what is CBT," where AI Overviews satisfy user intent without a click. Practices with strong local signals and genuine reviews remain well-positioned.

👉 Action: Prioritize your Google Business Profile over blog-only SEO. Keep your profile complete with current services, photos, and consistent posting. Focus website content on location-specific pages ("anxiety therapy in [your city]" rather than generic articles). Build review volume with genuine client reviews. Consider adding FAQ schema markup so Google's AI can accurately represent your practice.

Quick wins for the week

• Add or update your therapist bio with full credentials on every service page as Google prioritizes expert-authored health content
• Audit your Google Business Profile for accuracy before AI-generated answers go live and start pulling from your listing
• Review AI chatbot compliance across all states where you see clients, adding clear disclosures to any AI-powered tools
• Confirm your practice has a current HIPAA Security Risk Analysis completed within the past 12 months
• Post at least once this week to your Google Business Profile to maintain local search visibility
• Train staff on phishing email identification, the leading attack method in recent behavioral health HIPAA breaches

Final thoughts

This week's stories share a common thread: the way potential clients find you online is shifting, and the rules around compliance and AI are tightening at the same time. Google is pulling back on AI-generated health advice while simultaneously handing AI more control over how your practice appears in search. State legislatures are writing AI chatbot laws faster than most practices can track. And HIPAA enforcement is actively targeting behavioral health providers.

Each of these changes is manageable on its own. Together, they demand attention. This is exactly why Moonraker exists: to monitor, translate, and act on these changes so you do not have to.

While you're providing therapy, we're monitoring policy changes, protecting your Google presence, and optimizing for AI search. You shouldn't need to become an SEO expert, compliance specialist, and tech strategist on top of being a therapist.