How to Get Your Med Spa Recommended by ChatGPT (and Google AI)

By Justin Davis · November 3, 2026

Someone wants Botox before a wedding, or a laser treatment they’ve been putting off for a year. More of them now skip the scroll through search results and ask ChatGPT, “What’s the best med spa near me?”

On October 31, 2026, we asked ChatGPT, “What’s the best med spa in Dallas?” It named five med spas and picked one as its overall favorite. Its description of that pick stood out: “Physician-owned and MD-led. Particularly appealing if medical oversight is a priority.” Its second pick was described as a “physician-led practice.”

That tells you a lot about what AI tools look for. This guide shows exactly what ChatGPT and Perplexity read before they answered, and the five steps any med spa can take to get recommended by ChatGPT and Google’s AI.

How ChatGPT and Google’s AI Choose Which Med Spas to Recommend

When a client asks an AI tool for a med spa, the tool runs web searches in the background. It reads the pages that come back, then names the med spas those pages mention most often and most favorably. It also pulls out details it can verify, like who runs the practice. We explain why that favors some businesses over others in Why Does AI Recommend My Competitor?

What ChatGPT read

After ChatGPT gave its Dallas list, we asked a follow-up: “What sources did you use for that answer?” It pointed to:

• Each med spa’s own website, including service and treatment pages
• A Google business listing
• A business directory
• Yelp
• Medical Spa Locator’s Dallas rankings, which rank providers by Google rating and review volume

ChatGPT also noted that one practice’s website “describes its physician-led model and treatment offerings.” The detail it highlighted in its answer came straight from the med spa’s own site.

What Perplexity read

We asked Perplexity the same question. Its top three sources were all med spa ranking lists: ClinicCompass’s “10 Best Med Spas in Dallas (2026)”, Medical Spa Locator’s top-rated list and MedSpa Scout’s Dallas guide. It also cited CityVetted, BestProsInTown, Mindbody’s Dallas med spa listings and several med spa websites.

Notice that Medical Spa Locator appeared in both answers. Two different AI tools leaned on the same list. If your med spa isn’t on the pages these tools read, it isn’t in the answer.

How ChatGPT said it would judge a med spa

ChatGPT went one step further. It said star ratings alone don’t show which med spa has the best results, and listed what it would compare instead:

• Injector credentials and years of experience
• Before-and-after photos of actual patients
• Physician oversight
• Independent reviews, including negative reviews
• Pricing and policies for complications or corrections

Perplexity gave similar advice. It told patients to look for a practice where a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant performs or closely supervises injections. Every item on those lists is something a med spa can put on its own website. For more on where these tools pull information from, see Where Does ChatGPT Get Its Information?

What Five AI Engines Said About Getting Recommended

We also asked the AI tools directly. Using AnswerBuilders, we put the same question to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode: “How can my med spa show up when people ask ChatGPT for recommendations?”

Their advice lined up closely:

• ChatGPT said to let OpenAI’s search crawler read your site and to keep your Bing, Yelp, Apple Maps and Google listings current.
• Claude said ChatGPT recommends a med spa when it can find a clear page for the treatment, matching name, address and phone details, recent reviews and mentions on trusted sites.
• Perplexity said to publish your providers’ names, credentials and roles, and who provides medical oversight.
• Google AI Overviews said to put direct answers first on treatment pages and to feature named, credentialed providers.
• Google AI Mode said to build reviews on Google, Yelp and RealSelf and to get into local “best of” roundups.

What about ChatGPT ads?

ChatGPT put it plainly: you can’t list your med spa inside ChatGPT the way you list on Yelp. ChatGPT does show ads now, though. A Botox ad appeared right under our Dallas answer. It was labeled “Ad” and sat below the answer, not inside it. You can buy an ad, but being named in the answer itself is earned. That lines up with what we found when we studied how brands get cited by AI.

Step 1: Name Your Providers and Your Medical Director

Put your people front and center. Name every injector and provider on your website, with their credentials and their role. Then name the physician who provides medical oversight. Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews both told med spas to do this.

The Dallas answer shows why. ChatGPT’s top two picks were described as physician-owned and physician-led, and physician oversight was on its list of what to compare. If your team has those credentials, say so in plain text on your site, not only in a photo caption or a PDF. Keep every claim accurate and easy to verify.

Step 2: One Page per Treatment, With the Details Clients Ask About

Give every treatment its own page: Botox, filler, Morpheus8 and laser hair removal, for example. Google’s AI Mode warned against lumping Botox, Dysport and Xeomin onto one “injectables” page. A focused page gives the AI a clear answer to quote.

On each page, answer what clients actually ask:

• What the treatment is
• Who performs it
• Who’s a good candidate
• How much downtime to expect
• A price or a realistic price range
• Before-and-after photos of your own patients
• Your policy if a result needs correcting

Those last items come straight from ChatGPT’s list of what it would compare. Open each page with a short, direct answer to the question a client would type, such as “How much is Botox in Dallas?”

Also make sure your site doesn’t block the crawler ChatGPT uses for search. It’s called OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI lists it on its crawler overview page. ChatGPT put that first in its own advice. Your web developer can check your robots.txt file in a few minutes and add MedicalBusiness schema markup, which labels your practice details in a format machines read easily.

Step 3: Match Your Listings Everywhere, Including RealSelf

Claim and complete your general listings: your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Maps and Yelp. Then add the aesthetics platforms. RealSelf came up in both of Google AI Mode’s answers about med spas, and Mindbody showed up in Perplexity’s Dallas sources.

Use the exact same business name, address and phone number on every listing. Google’s AI Overviews warned that a different suite number or an old phone number makes AI trust drop. When every listing matches, the AI can be confident they all describe the same med spa.

Step 4: Get on the Med Spa Lists AI Reads

This is the step most med spas skip, and it’s the one that moves the needle. In Dallas, the AI leaned on Medical Spa Locator, ClinicCompass, MedSpa Scout and CityVetted. Two of those rank med spas by Google rating and review volume, so your reviews feed directly into the lists.

Here’s how to find the lists that matter in your city:

1. Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity for the best med spa in your city.
2. Ask each one for its sources.
3. Write down every list, directory and article they name.
4. Claim your listing on each one, check your details and ask to be reviewed or added.
5. Pitch local lifestyle magazines and city guides on a treatment topic you know well.

Each new mention on a page the AI already trusts makes your med spa more likely to show up next time. Publishing your own “best med spas in our city” article with your business at the top is not the same thing. We looked at that tactic in Is Google Targeting Self-Promo Listicles?

Step 5: Earn Detailed Reviews, and Test Monthly

Google’s AI Overviews said generic reviews like “great experience, love the staff” carry very little weight. Reviews that mention the treatment and the provider give the AI something specific to match. So when you ask happy clients for a review, ask them to say what they had done and who did it.

Collect reviews on Google, Yelp and RealSelf. Never offer incentives or script what clients say. Reply to every review, including the negative ones, since ChatGPT said it looks at independent reviews, negative ones included.

Then test. Once a month, ask the AI tools what your clients ask, such as “best Botox in” your city. Check whether your med spa is named and which sources the AI used. Answers change as the tools update, so keep checking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a med spa pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

No. ChatGPT sells ads, but they’re labeled and shown apart from the answer. The med spas named inside the answer are there because the pages ChatGPT read mention them.

Does physician oversight really matter to AI tools?

In our Dallas test, it clearly did. ChatGPT described its top pick as “physician-owned and MD-led” and its second as “physician-led,” and it listed physician oversight among the things it would compare. AI tools can only weigh that if your website says it clearly.

Which directories matter most for med spas in AI search?

In Dallas, the AI cited Medical Spa Locator, ClinicCompass, MedSpa Scout, CityVetted, Yelp and Mindbody. Google’s AI Mode also named RealSelf. Start with Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp and RealSelf, then add the lists your own city’s AI answers cite.

Should I put prices on my treatment pages?

If you can, yes. ChatGPT listed pricing among the things it would compare, and several of the five engines told med spas to share a price or a realistic range. A range is fine when the final cost depends on the client.

Is this different from med spa SEO?

It overlaps a lot. Clear treatment pages, accurate listings and links from trusted sites help with both. The newer part is focusing on the specific pages AI answers cite. That practice is often called generative engine optimization, or GEO. Our guide What Is GEO? explains it in more detail.

Watch the Full Walkthrough

The video at the top of this page walks through all five steps in about six minutes, with the real ChatGPT and Perplexity answers on screen. If you run a different kind of business, start with our overview, How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT, or see the guide for law firms.

See Which Pages AI Cites for Your Med Spa

Checking dozens of questions across five AI tools by hand gets old fast. AnswerBuilders asks ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google’s AI the questions your clients ask. It shows whether your med spa is named, and it lists every page the AI cited. Those pages become your outreach list.

AI recommends businesses based on the web pages it reads. We show you which pages those are, and then we get you onto them.

If you’d rather have the work done for you, the AnswerBuilders outreach program contacts every one of those sites on your behalf.

Start with a simple test today. Ask ChatGPT for the best med spa in your city. If yours isn’t on the list, you now know exactly where to begin.

Book a 15-minute walkthrough