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See all services →We tested 28 independent acupuncture practices across St. Petersburg, Tampa, Clearwater, and the surrounding Tampa Bay area on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini to see who patients are actually being sent to, and which practices AI search ignores entirely.
01. The data
Every query below was run in July 2026 across all three platforms. We only counted citations from practices in our 28-practice sample. Any practices named outside that group aren't included here.
Generic Discovery. Patients searching by location, not condition
| Query | Platform | Practices cited (in sample) | Top recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| best acupuncturist in St. Petersburg Florida | ChatGPT | Holistic Primary Care, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Art of Acupuncture, St. Pete Community Acupuncture, Acupuncture Center of Saint Pete | Holistic Primary Care |
| Google AI Overviews | Art of Acupuncture, Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Holistic Primary Care | Art of Acupuncture | |
| Gemini | Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, Art of Acupuncture, Acupuncture & Herbal Therapies, Elevate Wellness St. Pete | Dr. Holly Durning | |
| best acupuncture clinic in Tampa Bay | ChatGPT | Chinese Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine of Tampa, Clearwater Acupuncture, Holistic Primary Care, Elevate Wellness St. Pete | Chinese Acupuncture (Tampa) |
| Google AI Overviews | Chinese Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine of Tampa, Art of Acupuncture, Acupuncture of West Florida, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Chinese Acupuncture (Tampa) | |
| Gemini | Integrative Medicine Center, Acupuncture & Herbal Therapies | Integrative Medicine Center | |
| top rated acupuncture near Clearwater FL | ChatGPT | Clearwater Acupuncture, Acupuncture of West Florida, Oriental Family Medicine Chartered, Dawn Potter Acupuncture | Clearwater Acupuncture |
| Google AI Overviews | Dawn Potter Acupuncture, Clearwater Acupuncture, Oriental Family Medicine Chartered | Dawn Potter Acupuncture | |
| Gemini | Clearwater Acupuncture, Oriental Family Medicine Chartered, Acupuncture of West Florida, The Wellness Tree | Clearwater Acupuncture |
Condition-Based. Patients searching by symptom or condition
| Query | Platform | Practices cited (in sample) | Top recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| acupuncture for back pain St. Petersburg | ChatGPT | St. Pete Community Acupuncture, Art of Acupuncture, St. Pete Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, Acupuncture & Herbal Therapies, Elevate Wellness St. Pete | St. Pete Community Acupuncture |
| Google AI Overviews | Art of Acupuncture, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Art of Acupuncture | |
| Gemini | Art of Acupuncture, St. Pete Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, St. Pete Community Acupuncture, Elevate Wellness St. Pete | Art of Acupuncture | |
| acupuncture for fertility Tampa Bay | ChatGPT | Art of Acupuncture, Acupuncture of West Florida | Art of Acupuncture |
| Google AI Overviews | Integrative Medicine Center, Art of Acupuncture, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Tampa Top Acupuncture & Herbs | Art of Acupuncture | |
| Gemini | Integrative Medicine Center, Art of Acupuncture, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Acupuncture of West Florida | Integrative Medicine Center | |
| acupuncture for anxiety / depression Tampa Bay | ChatGPT | Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Holistic Primary Care, Art of Acupuncture, Acupuncture of West Florida, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Elevate Wellness St. Pete |
| Google AI Overviews | Chinese Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine of Tampa, Art of Acupuncture, Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, Acupuncture Center of Saint Pete | Chinese Acupuncture (Tampa) | |
| Gemini | Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, Integrative Medicine Center, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Dr. Holly Durning | |
| acupuncture for migraines St. Pete / Clearwater | ChatGPT | Art of Acupuncture, Holistic Primary Care, St. Pete Community Acupuncture, Acupuncture & Herbal Therapies, Clearwater Acupuncture | Art of Acupuncture |
| Google AI Overviews | Art of Acupuncture, Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Clearwater Acupuncture, Acupuncture of West Florida, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Art of Acupuncture | |
| Gemini | Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Elevate Wellness St. Pete | |
| acupuncture for sciatica Tampa Bay | ChatGPT | Holistic Primary Care, Acupuncture Center of Saint Pete, St. Pete Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine | Holistic Primary Care |
| Google AI Overviews | Integrative Medicine Center, Chinese Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine of Tampa, St. Pete Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine | Integrative Medicine Center | |
| Gemini | Integrative Medicine Center, Elevate Wellness St. Pete, Art of Acupuncture, St. Pete Community Acupuncture | Integrative Medicine Center |
Differentiator. Style and specialization signals
| Query | Platform | Practices cited (in sample) | Top recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese acupuncture / community acupuncture / acupuncture physician Tampa Bay | ChatGPT | St. Pete Community Acupuncture, Art of Acupuncture, Acupuncture Center of Saint Pete | St. Pete Community Acupuncture |
| Google AI Overviews | Acupuncture & Herbal Therapies, Points of Wellness: Japanese Acupuncture | Points of Wellness | |
| Gemini | Dr. Holly Durning & Associates, Art of Acupuncture | Dr. Holly Durning |
02. Citation frequency
How often each practice was cited across all 27 tests. Eleven practices in the sample weren't cited on any platform, in any query.
03. What the data shows about why some practices show up
We audited every practice in the sample against seven foundation signals: the basic building blocks that AI engines use to identify, verify, and cite a local business. Here's what the data shows.
| Signal | All 28 practices | Cited (17) | Uncited (11) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Condition-specific pages | 10/28 (36%) | 9/17 (53%) | 1/11 (9%) | +44 pts |
| Recent reviews (3+ in 90 days) | 20/28 (71%) | 15/17 (88%) | 5/11 (45%) | +43 pts |
| Schema markup (LocalBusiness) | 13/28 (46%) | 9/17 (53%) | 4/11 (36%) | +17 pts |
| 50+ Google reviews | 15/28 (54%) | 10/17 (59%) | 5/11 (45%) | +14 pts |
| GBP claimed & complete | 20/28 (71%) | 10/17 (59%) | 10/11 (91%) | −32 pts |
| 3+ third-party citations | 27/28 (96%) | 17/17 (100%) | 10/11 (91%) | +9 pts |
| Practitioner bio + credentials | 26/28 (93%) | 16/17 (94%) | 10/11 (91%) | +3 pts |
| Average foundation score | 4.6 / 7 | 5.1 / 7 | 4.0 / 7 | +1.1 |
The review velocity signal
88% of cited practices had 3 or more Google reviews posted in the last 90 days. Only 45% of uncited practices did. Total review volume had a smaller gap. 59% vs 45%. AI engines appear to weight recency heavily when deciding whether a business is active and trustworthy enough to recommend.
The anomalies
Art of Acupuncture is the most-cited practice in the study (16 of 27 tests) but has a 5/7 foundation. Missing both schema markup and a complete GBP. It's getting cited on the strength of 349 reviews and an exceptional third-party footprint. Review volume at scale appears to compensate for missing technical signals.
Root Healing Wellness has a perfect 7/7 foundation, the strongest signal set in the sample, and received zero citations across all 27 tests. The Wellness Tree (6/7) and Calm Community Acupuncture (6/7) also went uncited. These practices have built the right foundation but haven't yet established the entity authority that would cause AI engines to cite them confidently. That's a solvable problem, and a different one than most uncited practices face.
04. What the data shows
Art of Acupuncture showed up in 16 of 27 tests. The top 6 practices accounted for nearly every citation in the dataset. The other 11 practices weren't cited once: on any platform, across any query type.
When we searched "best acupuncturist in St. Petersburg," we got a different top recommendation on every platform. When we searched for help with back pain, fertility, or migraines, the same practices kept showing up across ChatGPT, Google AI, and Gemini. Practices with pages dedicated to specific conditions did better.
ChatGPT tended to name more practices per query and gave more context about each one. Google AI Overviews leaned heavily on review count and Google Business Profile completeness. Gemini cast a wider geographic net and cited fewer practices overall. No single practice came out on top across all three.
Points of Wellness, which practices Japanese-style acupuncture, had just 19 Google reviews. The fewest of any cited practice in the study. It still showed up on the differentiator query. Being specific about what you do appears to matter more than volume alone.
05. About this study
06. Scoring framework
We're still working through the full scoring for each practice. Here's how we're measuring it. The completed results will be added to this report later in 2026.
| Dimension | Scale | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Citation Rate | 0–9 per platform | How many of the 9 query categories returned this practice on a given platform. |
| Citation Quality | 0–5 | 5 = top recommendation · 4 = named in top 3 · 3 = mentioned in body · 2 = follow-up only · 1 = sources section only · 0 = not cited |
| Information Accuracy | 0–5 | 5 = fully accurate (services, specialties, location) · 3 = mostly accurate, one error · 0 = hallucinated |
| Foundation Score | 0–7 | GBP claimed & complete · Schema markup present · Condition-specific pages · Practitioner bio + credentials visible · 50+ Google reviews · 3+ reviews in last 90 days · 3+ third-party directory citations |
If you're one of the practices in this study, or you just want to know where you stand, we offer a free AI visibility audit for Tampa Bay businesses. See how AI search visibility works specifically for acupuncture practices, or if you're weighing a new site entirely, see how we build acupuncture websites AEO-first, using exactly this data.
