UK healthcare marketing glossary: SEO, AI search, paid media and regulation

Last updated 1 November 2026. Regulatory definitions were checked against the official source linked in each entry on that date.

This glossary defines 74 terms used in UK healthcare marketing, from SEO and AI search to paid media, analytics and the regulators that govern clinic advertising and patient data. Each definition is short, written in plain English and, where it involves a rule or a platform, links to the organisation that sets it.

It is written for clinic owners, practice managers and consultants who work with an agency or run their own marketing. The definitions are general information, not legal advice: for anything that affects compliance, confirm the specifics with your regulator or adviser. For how these pieces fit together, start with our guide to digital marketing for healthcare, and for figures, see the UK healthcare marketing statistics page.

Healthcare marketing terms from A to Z

A

AI Mode

Google's conversational search mode for longer questions, comparisons and follow-ups, which answers with an AI response and links to sources. Google says the same eligibility applies as for AI Overviews: the page must be indexed and able to show a snippet (Google Search Central: AI features).

AI Overviews

AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some Google results, with links to the pages they draw on. Google states there are no extra requirements, special files or schema needed to appear in them beyond normal SEO good practice (Google Search Central). Our healthcare AI search optimisation page explains what clinics can do.

Anchor text

The visible, clickable words of a link. Descriptive anchor text tells readers and search engines what the linked page is about, which is why "click here" is a weak choice. It matters for both internal links and healthcare link building.

ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)

The UK's independent advertising regulator. It applies the CAP Code and BCAP Code to ads in all media, including clinic websites, social media posts, emails and paid search ads, and can require non-compliant ads to be changed or withdrawn (ASA: about the ASA and CAP). See our healthcare marketing compliance guide.

Attribution

The method used to decide which channel or touchpoint gets credit for a booking, for example the first click, the last click, or a share across several visits. Different models can tell very different stories, as our guide to paid versus organic attribution shows.

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B

Backlink

A link from another website to yours. Relevant links from trusted sites, such as professional bodies, hospitals or local press, help search engines judge a clinic's authority, while bought or manipulative links break Google's spam policies. Read how to judge a backlink for a healthcare website.

BCAP Code

The UK Code of Broadcast Advertising, which covers TV and radio ads. It is written by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice and enforced by the ASA (ASA).

Bounce rate

In Google Analytics 4, the percentage of sessions that were not engaged sessions, so it is the opposite of engagement rate. A high bounce rate on a treatment page can point to slow loading, a mismatch with the search or an unclear next step, which is the territory of CRO consultancy.

Branded search

Searches that include your clinic's or doctor's name. They usually convert well because the searcher already knows you, so they should be reported separately from non-branded searches; see branded versus non-branded search.

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C

Canonical URL

The version of a page you tell search engines is the main one when similar or duplicate URLs exist, usually set with a rel="canonical" link tag. Google treats it as a strong hint rather than a command (Google Search Central: canonicalisation). It is a routine part of technical SEO.

CAP Code

The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing, written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and enforced by the ASA. Section 12 covers medicines, medical devices, health-related products and beauty products, and rule 12.1 requires documentary evidence for objective health claims (CAP Code section 12).

Click-through rate (CTR)

The share of people who click a result or ad after seeing it: clicks divided by impressions. In search it is shaped by position, the title and description, and what else is on the results page.

Consent mode

A Google feature that adjusts how Google tags behave based on a visitor's cookie choices, using the consent types ad_storage, analytics_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization (Google: consent mode). In basic mode tags wait for consent; in advanced mode they load with consent denied and send cookieless signals. See GA4 and consent mode for clinics.

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO)

The practice of increasing the share of website visitors who take a useful action, such as booking, calling or sending an enquiry, by testing changes to pages, forms and booking flows. See healthcare CRO consultancy.

Conversion tracking

Recording valuable actions, such as calls, form submissions and confirmed bookings, so that an ad platform can report results and optimise bids against them. Poorly set up tracking often double counts or records clicks rather than bookings; read why click-to-book tracking overcounts.

Core Web Vitals

Google's three user experience measures: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), Interaction to Next Paint (responsiveness) and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability) (Google Search Central: Core Web Vitals). Our Core Web Vitals checklist for clinic websites covers the fixes.

Cost per click (CPC)

The amount paid each time someone clicks a paid ad. In Google Ads the actual CPC is set by the auction and is often below your maximum bid; rising CPCs are common in competitive treatments, as covered in what to do when competitors bid up.

Cost per lead

Ad or marketing spend divided by the number of enquiries it produced. It is only useful alongside lead quality and the value of a patient; see cost per lead and clinic profit and the healthcare marketing ROI calculator.

CQC (Care Quality Commission)

The independent regulator of health and adult social care in England (CQC: about us). Providers of regulated activities must register, and providers that have been rated must display their rating on their premises and website (CQC: displaying ratings). Read CQC compliance in clinic marketing.

Crawl budget

The set of URLs Google can and wants to crawl on a site. Google says it is mainly a concern for very large or fast-changing sites, roughly 10,000 or more pages changing daily or a million or more changing weekly, so most clinic sites do not need to manage it (Google Search Central: crawl budget).

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D

Data (Use and Access) Act 2025

A UK law that amended the UK GDPR and PECR, including the rules on cookies and similar technologies. The ICO updated its storage and access guidance in 2025 to reflect the changes (ICO guidance); confirm how they apply to your site with your adviser.

DMCC Act (fake reviews ban)

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. From 6 April 2025 it bans submitting or commissioning fake consumer reviews, or reviews that hide that they were incentivised, and businesses that publish reviews must take reasonable, proportionate steps to prevent and remove them; the CMA can fine directly (CMA: fake reviews guidance). See reputation management for clinics.

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E

E-E-A-T

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness: the framework Google's quality raters use to judge content, with trust described as the most important part (Google: creating helpful content). It is not a single ranking factor, but health pages are held to a high standard; read E-E-A-T trust signals for medical websites.

Engaged session

A GA4 session that lasted longer than 10 seconds, included a key event, or had at least two page or screen views. Engagement rate is the share of sessions that were engaged.

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F

Featured snippet

A highlighted extract from one page shown near the top of Google results to answer a question directly. Clear, concise answers under question-style headings make a page easier to quote, which also helps with AI answers.

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G

GA4 (Google Analytics 4)

Google's current analytics platform, which records every interaction as an event rather than as page views and sessions alone. Clinics use it to see which channels lead to enquiries and bookings; see SEO performance reporting.

GDC (General Dental Council)

The UK regulator of dental professionals. Its guidance on advertising expects dental advertising to be honest, legal and not misleading, including clear information about the professional's registration (GDC: guidance on advertising). See dental clinic marketing.

GEO (generative engine optimisation)

Work that makes a business easier for AI assistants and AI search features to find, understand, trust and cite, such as clear entity information, quotable answers and consistent facts across the web. It builds on SEO rather than replacing it; see SEO vs GEO vs AEO and healthcare AI search optimisation.

GMC (General Medical Council)

The UK regulator of doctors. Its Good medical practice standards expect doctors to be honest and not misleading when they publish information about their services (GMC: Good medical practice). See marketing for doctors.

Google Ads

Google's advertising platform for search, YouTube, display and other placements, billed mainly per click. Healthcare ads are subject to Google's healthcare and medicines policies on top of UK law; see Google Ads for healthcare.

Google Business Profile

Google's free business listing that appears in Google Maps and local results, with address, hours, photos, reviews and services. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and says better local ranking cannot be paid for (Google Business Profile Help). Read Google Business Profile optimisation for clinics.

Google Search Console

Google's free tool showing how a site performs in Google Search: queries, clicks, impressions, indexing and technical problems. Our guide to Search Console in 20 minutes a month shows what to check.

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H

HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council)

The UK regulator for 15 health and care professions, including physiotherapists, dietitians, podiatrists and practitioner psychologists (HCPC: the professions). Its standards of conduct apply to how registrants describe their services; see physiotherapy clinic marketing.

HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority)

The UK's independent regulator of fertility treatment and research using human embryos, which licenses fertility clinics (HFEA: about us). Fertility advertising must also meet the CAP Code; see fertility clinic marketing.

HIS (Healthcare Improvement Scotland)

The body that regulates independent healthcare in Scotland, including independent clinics where doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists or dental care professionals provide services outside the NHS. Providing an unregistered independent healthcare service in Scotland is an offence (HIS: independent clinics).

HIW (Healthcare Inspectorate Wales)

The independent inspectorate and regulator of healthcare in Wales. Private dental practices and independent healthcare services, such as private hospitals and clinics, operating from a fixed setting in Wales may need to register with it (HIW: register an independent healthcare service).

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I

ICO (Information Commissioner's Office)

The UK's independent regulator for data protection and information rights. It enforces the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and PECR, which together govern patient data, marketing emails and cookies (ICO guidance). Read our GDPR guide to patient data in marketing.

Impressions

The number of times a result or ad was shown. In Search Console, an impression is counted when your page appears in results a user sees, even if they do not scroll to it.

Indexing

The process by which a search engine stores and organises a page after crawling it, so it can be shown in results. A page that is not indexed cannot rank or appear in AI Overviews (Google: how Search works).

Internal linking

Links between pages on your own website. They help visitors move from a guide to the relevant treatment page and help search engines understand which pages matter most; see on-page SEO for healthcare.

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K

Key event

A GA4 event you mark as important to your business, such as a booking or enquiry, so reports show which channels drive it. Key events can be turned into conversions for Google Ads bidding (Google Analytics Help: key events).

Keyword cannibalisation

When two or more pages on one site compete for the same search, so neither performs as well as one strong page would. A common clinic example is a blog post outranking the treatment page; read keyword cannibalisation for clinics.

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L

Landing page

The page a visitor arrives on from an ad, email or search result. For clinics, a landing page should match the search, explain the treatment honestly and make the next step obvious; see healthcare landing pages.

Link building

Earning links to your site from other relevant websites, for example through useful resources, expert commentary and professional listings. In healthcare it should stay within Google's spam policies; see healthcare SEO link building.

llms.txt

A proposed Markdown file placed at a site's root that summarises key pages for large language models (llmstxt.org). It is not an official standard, and Google says no special AI text files are needed to appear in its AI features, so treat it as a low-cost extra rather than a ranking tool.

Local pack

The block of map results and business listings Google shows for searches with local intent, such as "physiotherapist near me". It is drawn from Google Business Profiles and ranked on relevance, distance and prominence (Google Business Profile Help); see healthcare local SEO.

Local SEO

Work that helps a clinic appear in local and map results: a complete Google Business Profile, location pages, consistent NAP details, reviews and local links. Read our local SEO guide for private clinics.

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M

MedicalWebPage

A schema.org type for web pages that give medical information (schema.org). It is optional vocabulary with no dedicated Google rich result, so clear content, accurate authorship and correct basic markup matter more.

Meta description

A short summary of a page in its HTML that search engines may show under the title in results. It does not directly affect ranking, but a clear one can improve click-through rate (Google: snippets).

MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency)

The UK government agency that regulates medicines and medical devices and enforces the law on medicines advertising. Breaching medicines advertising rules is a criminal offence (GOV.UK: advertise your medicines).

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N

NAP (name, address, phone)

A business's name, address and phone number. Keeping them identical across your website, Google Business Profile and directories helps search engines trust that the listings refer to the same clinic; see local SEO for clinics.

Negative keywords

Words or phrases added to a Google Ads campaign to stop ads showing for irrelevant searches, such as "NHS", "free" or "jobs" for a private clinic. They are one of the simplest ways to reduce wasted spend.

NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council)

The independent regulator of nurses, midwives and nursing associates. Its Code applies to how registrants, including aesthetic nurse prescribers, present their services (NMC: the Code).

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O

Offline conversion import

Sending confirmed outcomes, such as attended consultations, from your booking system back to Google Ads so it can optimise for real patients rather than form fills. Read offline conversions explained.

On-page SEO

Optimising the content and HTML of individual pages, including titles, headings, copy, internal links and images, so they match what people search for. See healthcare on-page SEO.

Organic search

Unpaid results in a search engine, as opposed to paid ads. Organic visibility comes from SEO and builds over time; see healthcare SEO and SEO versus Google Ads.

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P

PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations)

UK rules on cookies and similar technologies, marketing emails, texts and calls. Storing or accessing information on a visitor's device generally needs consent unless an exception applies, such as strictly necessary storage (ICO: storage and access technologies).

Performance Max

A goal-based Google Ads campaign type that can show ads across all Google Ads inventory, including Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps, from one campaign (Google Ads Help). It offers less control than Search campaigns; read Performance Max for clinics.

POM advertising ban

UK law does not allow prescription-only medicines to be advertised to the public, and CAP Code rule 12.12 says the same for prescription-only medicines and treatments (GOV.UK, CAP Code 12.12). This catches clinic ads for products such as botulinum toxin and weight-loss injections; read can doctors advertise in the UK?

PPC (pay per click)

Advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad, most often on Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. See healthcare paid media and PPC.

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Q

Quality Score

A 1 to 10 diagnostic in Google Ads that estimates ad quality for a keyword compared with other advertisers, based on expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google states it is not itself an input in the ad auction (Google Ads Help: Quality Score).

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R

Remarketing restrictions in healthcare

Google's personalised advertising policy treats health as a sensitive interest category, so advertiser-curated audiences, such as lists of your own website visitors, cannot be used to promote in that category (Google Ads personalised advertising policy). Health remarketing on other platforms also raises UK GDPR questions; see healthcare retargeting ads.

Rich results

Search results enhanced with extra features, such as review stars, FAQs or breadcrumbs, often generated from structured data. Valid markup makes a page eligible but does not guarantee the feature will show (Google: structured data).

Robots.txt

A text file at a site's root that tells crawlers which paths they may crawl. It controls crawling, not indexing, so a blocked page can still appear in results if other sites link to it (Google: robots.txt).

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S

Schema markup (structured data)

Code, usually JSON-LD using the schema.org vocabulary, that describes a page's content in a machine-readable way, for example a clinic's address, a doctor's credentials or an FAQ. It helps search engines understand the page and can make it eligible for rich results; see technical SEO for healthcare.

Search intent

What a person is trying to achieve with a search, such as learning about a condition, comparing clinics or booking now. Matching the page type to the intent matters more than repeating keywords; see commercial intent keywords.

SERP (search engine results page)

The page of results shown after a search, which can include ads, AI Overviews, the local pack, organic results and other features. The mix varies by query, so the same ranking position can bring very different traffic.

Special category data

Personal data the UK GDPR treats as more sensitive, including health, genetic and biometric data. Processing it needs both an Article 6 lawful basis and an Article 9 condition (ICO: special category data), which affects enquiry forms, tracking and remarketing.

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T

Technical SEO

Work on the parts of a website that affect crawling, indexing and performance: site speed, mobile use, redirects, canonical tags, sitemaps and structured data. See healthcare technical SEO.

Title tag

The HTML title of a page, which Google often uses as the clickable headline in results. A clear, specific title that names the treatment and location helps both ranking and click-through rate (Google: title links).

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U

UK GDPR

The UK's version of the General Data Protection Regulation, which with the Data Protection Act 2018 governs how organisations collect and use personal data. For clinics it covers enquiry forms, patient testimonials, email lists and analytics (ICO); see our healthcare marketing compliance guide.

UTM parameters

Tags added to the end of a link, such as utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, that tell analytics where a visit came from. They should never contain personal or health information, because URLs are logged and shared.

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Y

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)

A term from Google's search quality rater guidelines for topics that could significantly affect a person's health, financial stability or safety. Health content falls squarely into it, so raters expect strong evidence of trust and expertise; see E-E-A-T for medical websites.

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Z

Zero-click search

A search that ends without a click to any website because the answer appears on the results page, for example in an AI Overview, a featured snippet or a Google Business Profile. Being the cited or chosen source still builds visibility and trust.

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Using these definitions

You are welcome to quote or link to any definition here. Each term has its own link, so you can point to it directly, for example the CAP Code entry. Where a definition cites a regulator or Google, that source has the final word, and rules change, so check it before relying on a detail.