AI assistants recommend aesthetics clinics they can check: who the practitioner is and how they're regulated, whether the clinic is on a recognised register such as Save Face or the JCCP, what treatments cost and what other patients say. The catch is that the most-asked-about treatment, Botox, is a prescription-only medicine you cannot advertise. Clinics that get recommended publish verifiable facts about people, premises and consultations, and let the treatment detail follow the consultation.
Key takeaways
- Patients ask AI about safety first ("is this clinic safe?", "who should do my filler?"), then price and results.
- Botox cannot be advertised to the public: not in ads, on the homepage, in logos, testimonials, hashtags or promotions. Promote a consultation.
- Before-and-after photos of Botox results are not allowed; for other treatments you need signed, dated proof they're genuine.
- England is moving towards restricting high-risk procedures to CQC-registered providers (consultation closes 13 January 2027). Scotland passed its own Act in May 2026.
- Check what AI says about your clinic monthly, with the same questions each time.
What do patients ask AI when they're looking for an aesthetics clinic?
They ask who is safe, who is qualified, what it costs and what results look like. The prompts below are illustrative examples of the kinds of questions patients ask, not measured search volumes.
| Intent | Example prompts (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Urgent | "My filler looks lumpy, who can see me this week in Leeds?", "swelling after lip filler, where do I go?" |
| Comparison | "Doctor or nurse for lip filler?", "Save Face or JCCP, what's the difference?" |
| Local | "Medical aesthetics clinic near Chelmsford", "skin clinic in Clifton that does chemical peels" |
| Price | "How much is lip filler in Manchester?", "price of anti-wrinkle treatment in Glasgow" |
| Trust | "Is [clinic name] safe?", "is [practitioner] a registered nurse?", "reviews of [clinic name]" |
Patients will name prescription brands in their questions. You cannot answer in kind in your marketing, which is why verifiable facts about your practitioners and premises matter so much here.
Where does AI get its answers about aesthetics clinics?
From your website and Google listing, voluntary registers, statutory registers for your practitioners, and safety coverage. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on indexed pages eligible for a snippet (Google Search Central, 2025).
| Source | What it is | Why it matters for aesthetics |
|---|---|---|
| Your website | Practitioners, premises, consultations, non-POM treatments, prices | The page the ASA judges you on, and the one assistants read first. |
| Google Business Profile | Listing in Search and Maps | Reviews and location for "near me" questions. |
| Save Face | PSA-accredited register | Accreditation is "only open to registered healthcare professionals": doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives and prescribing pharmacists. Save Face says it inspects every clinic location listed (Save Face, n.d.). |
| JCCP | PSA-accredited practitioner register | Part A lists statutorily regulated practitioners; Part B lists practitioners such as beauticians who need clinical oversight for some procedures (PSA, 2026). |
| Statutory registers | GMC, NMC, GDC, GPhC | Where a patient checks your prescriber or practitioner is registered. |
| Government and ASA pages | Consultations, enforcement, rulings | ASA rulings name the clinic, so a ruling against you is a public page an assistant can find. |
| US equivalents | State medical boards, FTC | US health claims for products need competent and reliable scientific evidence (FTC, n.d.). Check your state's rules on who may inject. |
Neither register is a guarantee. In 2026 the Professional Standards Authority attached conditions to both registers' accreditation: Save Face must make its public register clearer about practitioners' statutory registration (PSA, 2026), and the JCCP must review registrant websites for breaches, "particularly in relation to advertising Prescription Only Medicine" (PSA, 2026). Expect your register to look at your website.
What is changing in regulation?
The rules are tightening, and government pages explaining them are among the sources assistants can use for safety questions.
- England, under-18s: since 1 October 2021 it has been an offence to give Botox or fillers to under-18s, or to book them, even with parental consent. Registered doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists may still treat under-18s where a doctor has approved the treatment (DHSC, n.d.).
- England, high-risk procedures: a consultation published on 21 October 2026, closing 13 January 2027, proposes restricting procedures such as non-resorbable facial fillers, deep chemical peels, dermal microcoring, intravenous procedures and PRP to doctors, dentists and independent prescribing nurses, midwives and pharmacists, working for CQC-registered providers. Fillers outside the face would count as cosmetic surgery, for doctors only (DHSC, 2026). The Parliamentary process is planned for spring 2027.
- England, licensing: the government says it "remains committed" to a licensing scheme for lower-risk treatments such as Botox and lip filler, but gives no start date (DHSC, 2026).
- Scotland: the Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 12 May 2026. It bans non-surgical procedures for under-18s and outside specified premises (legislation.gov.uk, 2026).
The 8-step plan to get your clinic recommended
Steps 1 to 3 can be done this week.
Audit every mention of Botox and other POMs. ASA guidance says Botox "cannot be advertised to the public". It may be mentioned on your website only as a possible option following a consultation, and not in sponsored ads, on the homepage, in logos, testimonials or hover text. Hashtags and social posts are likely to count as ads, and names like "Beautox" hint at it (ASA, 2025). Rename pages to "consultation for lines and wrinkles".
Name each practitioner with their statutory registration. Give the regulator (GMC, NMC, GDC or GPhC) and number, and state who prescribes. This is the fact a safety-minded patient and an assistant look for.
Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Use your real-world clinic name with no added keywords and choose the most specific category (Google Business Profile Help, n.d.). Keep POM brand names out of the business name, services and posts.
Join a PSA-accredited register that fits your team. Save Face if all practitioners are registered healthcare professionals; the JCCP if your team includes Part B practitioners working under oversight. Link to your listing from your site.
Write consultation-led treatment pages. For non-POM treatments such as dermal fillers or peels, explain who it suits, risks, aftercare, who performs it and the price. Don't exploit insecurities, trivialise procedures, or use countdown clocks or "hurry" offers (ASA, 2024). Never include Botox in any promotion or discount (CAP, n.d.).
Handle before-and-after photos correctly. CAP treats them as visual claims. Don't use them for Botox. For other treatments, hold signed, dated evidence that photos are genuine and unaltered, and evidence for the effect shown (CAP, n.d.).
Keep ads away from under-18s. Since 25 May 2022, ads for non-surgical cosmetic interventions must not target under-18s or appear in media where they make up 25% or more of the audience, including influencer accounts (CAP, n.d.).
Add structured data, collect reviews fairly and let crawlers in. For a medically led clinic, Schema.org's MedicalClinic sits under LocalBusiness and MedicalBusiness (Schema.org, n.d.); include the properties Google documents for local businesses (Google Search Central, n.d.). Ask every patient for a review the same way, without incentives (Google Business Profile Help, n.d.); UK law bans fake and incentivised reviews (CMA, 2025). A review you quote that names Botox is still your ad. Check robots.txt: OpenAI says blocking OAI-SearchBot keeps you out of ChatGPT search answers (OpenAI, n.d.), Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot (Perplexity, n.d.), and Anthropic says blocking Claude-SearchBot may reduce visibility in Claude (Anthropic, n.d.).
Mistakes that keep aesthetics clinics out of AI answers
- "Botox" in the business name, URL or Instagram handle. It breaks the POM rules everywhere it appears.
- "Anti-wrinkle" offers and price lists that sit apart from fillers. CAP has treated this as indirect promotion of a POM.
- Practitioners with no stated profession. "Aesthetic practitioner" alone tells a patient nothing about regulation.
- Flash sales and countdown timers. They breach CAP's social responsibility guidance.
- Unverified before-and-after galleries.
- Claiming accreditation you don't hold, or using a register's logo after leaving it.
How do you check whether AI recommends your clinic?
Ask the assistants what your patients ask, and write down the answers. Repeat monthly.
- Pick 10 prompts from the table above, using your town and two neighbouring areas, including at least two safety prompts.
- Run each in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google (AI Overviews and AI Mode), Gemini, Claude and Copilot, in a private window where possible.
- Note whether you are named, who else is named, which sources are cited, and whether the answer describes your practitioners correctly.
- Trace any wrong fact to its source and fix it.
- In Google Search Console, AI feature traffic is included in the Performance report under "Web" (Google Search Central, 2025).
SearchCrow runs these checks for you. It asks the main AI assistants the questions patients ask about aesthetics clinics in your area, shows whether your clinic is mentioned and which sources they rely on, and suggests what to fix first, without suggesting anything the advertising rules forbid.
FAQ
Can I advertise Botox on my website or social media? No. Botox is a prescription-only medicine and cannot be advertised to the public. ASA guidance says a website may mention it only as a possible treatment option following a consultation, and never in sponsored ads, on the homepage, in logos, testimonials or hover text. Hashtags and social posts mentioning Botox are likely to be treated as ads. Promote a consultation for lines and wrinkles instead.
Can I post before-and-after photos? Not for Botox or other prescription medicines, because CAP treats them as visual claims for a POM. For other treatments, such as dermal fillers, you need signed, dated evidence that the photos are genuine and unaltered, plus evidence that the treatment produces the effect shown. Photos must also follow the wider rules on social responsibility and body image.
Is there a licence for aesthetics clinics in England yet? Not yet. On 21 October 2026 the government opened a consultation, closing 13 January 2027, on restricting the highest-risk procedures to qualified healthcare professionals working for CQC-registered providers, with the Parliamentary process planned for spring 2027. It says it remains committed to a separate licensing scheme for lower-risk treatments such as Botox and lip filler, but has given no start date.
Should my clinic join Save Face or the JCCP? Both run registers accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, and both are places patients, and assistants, can check you. Save Face accepts only registered healthcare professionals and says it inspects every clinic location listed. The JCCP has one part for statutorily regulated practitioners and another for practitioners who need clinical oversight. Choose the one that fits your team.
Can I treat or advertise to under-18s? In England, since 1 October 2021, it has been an offence to give Botox or fillers to under-18s, or to book them, even with parental consent, unless a doctor has approved the treatment and a registered healthcare professional gives it. Since 25 May 2022 ads for non-surgical cosmetic interventions must not be targeted at under-18s, or placed in media where under-18s make up 25% or more of the audience, including influencer accounts.
Sources
- Beauty and Cosmetics: Botulinum toxin products, ASA / CAP
- Botox and non-surgical cosmetic interventions, CAP
- Cosmetic Interventions: Social Responsibility, ASA / CAP
- Cosmetic cowboys crackdown continues with new restrictions, DHSC
- Restrictions on high-risk cosmetic and wellbeing procedures: consultation, DHSC
- Botulinum toxin and cosmetic fillers for under 18s, DHSC
- Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Act 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- Save Face FAQs, Save Face
- Targeted Review: Save Face, Professional Standards Authority
- Accreditation Renewal Report: JCCP, Professional Standards Authority
- MedicalClinic, Schema.org
- Health Products Compliance Guidance, US Federal Trade Commission
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central
- Local business structured data, Google Search Central
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help
- Get reviews on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help
- Fake reviews (CMA208), CMA
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers, OpenAI
- Perplexity crawlers, Perplexity
- Anthropic crawler FAQ, Anthropic