Is being in the list underneath the Authority Paragraph™ really that different from being in it?
Yes, and it shows up in your consult numbers. Google’s AI Overview, the answer Google writes above the regular results, usually puts one practice in its opening paragraph. That is what Big Case Marketing calls the Authority Paragraph™: the practice Google puts forward as the one to consider.
Beneath it, Google may show two or three other practices, each with a different take on the patient’s question. The old rule says any publicity is good publicity, and that rule doesn’t hold up here. In most cases Google places a slider over those extra listings with a “more” button that has to be clicked to reveal them. Google does this to make room for other things it wants on a limited screen. A patient has to choose to look.
Most patients don’t. A patient scanning the page reads the answer in the Authority Paragraph™, decides whether they like it, then perhaps glances at the map nearby and the provider card if one is listed. I’ll cover those separately. The point here is simpler. The practice named in the paragraph gets read. The practices behind the button mostly don’t.
That makes the third listing in the list barely better than no listing at all. It takes work for a patient to get to it, and a patient with a clear answer in front of them has no reason to do that work.
You may be a practice that shows up in the list and feel reassured by it. Don’t. Being in the list means your name exists somewhere on that page. It does not mean a patient saw it.
Search your own market and look past the slider to see which spot your practice holds. Then be honest about how many patients would ever click far enough to find you.
Not sure where your practice stands with AI search? That’s what a Market Review Call answers. Before we talk, we look at your market the way a patient sees it today, AI included. Then you get a straight read on whether you can win it, and what it would take.