70% of Belfast clinics are invisible to AI.
We ran 287 AI prompts across 4 platforms, testing 20 Belfast aesthetic clinics. This is what the data shows.
6 visible. 14 invisible.
Each dot represents one of the 20 Belfast aesthetic clinics in our audit. Lit dots appeared in at least one AI answer. Dark dots did not appear at all.
AI attention in Belfast is concentrated in one or two clinics.
Of the 6 clinics with any visibility, one clinic captures roughly half of all mentions. The remaining mention share is spread thin — with 14 clinics receiving nothing at all. Clinic identities are anonymised; these are aggregated audit findings.
Visibility rate = percentage of relevant prompt runs in which the clinic was mentioned by an AI platform. Clinic names anonymised. Linksii audit, Belfast, April 2026.
The top-ranked clinic isn't locked in. A 50% mention rate built without deliberate AI visibility strategy is fragile. It reflects accumulated signals — press, directories, reviews — but no active management. A focused programme from any clinic in this market can close the gap within a few months.
Low visibility across every platform — including ChatGPT.
We tested each clinic across all four major AI platforms. Visibility is consistently low regardless of which platform a patient uses — the problem isn't platform-specific.
Average visibility rate — Belfast clinics across 15 prompt types
Average visibility rate — Belfast clinics across 15 prompt types
Average visibility rate — Belfast clinics across 15 prompt types
Average visibility rate — Belfast clinics across 15 prompt types
ChatGPT leads marginally at 6.7%. Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity each return 5.8%. The near-identical rates across platforms tell us the underlying signal problem is the same regardless of which AI a patient uses — there simply isn't enough Belfast clinic content for any platform to form confident answers. The fix is in the signals, not the platform.
Clinics drop out of AI answers as patients get closer to booking.
We categorised prompts by patient journey stage. Belfast clinics perform poorly across all three stages — but the steepest drop is at the decision stage, when patients are actually ready to book.
Why the funnel collapses
Awareness-stage prompts are broad. AI can mention a clinic by name without committing to a recommendation. Decision-stage prompts require AI to give a confident, specific recommendation — and it won't do that without strong treatment-specific content, reviews, and third-party endorsements.
Where clinics need to focus
Closing the awareness-to-decision gap requires treatment-specific content that AI can cite, third-party reviews that demonstrate patient outcomes, and professional directory profiles that confirm clinical credentials. These are the signals AI needs to make a confident booking recommendation.
AI knows Belfast clinics exist. It just won't recommend them unprompted.
We also ran brand-direct prompts — asking AI about specific clinics by name. The contrast with unprompted visibility is striking.
The gap between 89% and 6% is the entire opportunity. AI has the information to describe Belfast clinics accurately — but it lacks the signals to proactively recommend them. When a patient asks for a recommendation without naming a clinic, AI defaults to whoever has the strongest citation footprint. Right now, that's one clinic. That's the gap AI visibility work closes.
Where AI gets its information about Belfast clinics.
Linksii tracks the sources AI models cite when mentioning Belfast clinics. Understanding which sources carry weight tells us exactly where to build signal. 771 total source citations recorded.
Citation counts from 287 prompt runs across 4 platforms. Clinic-specific website domains aggregated into a single category. Linksii audit, Belfast, April 2026.
Own site is the anchor
Clinic websites drive the most citations by volume — but only if they contain treatment-specific content AI can reference. A homepage alone isn't enough.
WhatClinic and Doctify matter
These are the third-party directories AI cites most. A complete, well-reviewed profile on both is among the highest-leverage early actions for any Belfast clinic.
Social signals have weight
Facebook and Instagram combined account for over 180 citations — more than WhatClinic. Social presence isn't just branding; it's an AI signal source.
Belfast's first-mover window is still open.
Our London audit shows average clinic visibility at 3.7% — lower than Belfast's 6%. The London market isn't sewn up either; it's simply more contested, with two leading clinics tied at 31.3% versus Belfast's single leader at 50%. Both cities have the same fundamental problem: most clinics are invisible and no one has built visibility deliberately.
Belfast's advantage is scale. Fewer clinics means a shorter path to market leadership in AI answers. The top position in Belfast was built by accumulation, not strategy — which means any clinic that acts with intent can match or displace it. The cross-border dimension adds a second market (Republic of Ireland) that Belfast competitors aren't optimising for.
First-mover advantage in AI visibility compounds over time. A clinic that accumulates strong signals early becomes the reference point other sources cite. Getting in first is substantially more valuable than catching up later.
Lower bar to lead the market
With minimal competition in the AI layer, a focused programme can put a Belfast clinic at or near the top of what AI surfaces for NI-specific queries.
Compounding early advantage
AI citations build on each other. Early authority signals attract more citations, making the position harder for later entrants to displace.
Cross-border visibility
A well-built Belfast AI profile captures both NI and ROI patient discovery — a dual market most local clinics aren't optimising for.
Decision-stage gap is most valuable
The 2.5% decision-stage rate is the biggest gap — and closing it captures patients with highest intent. That's where bookings come from.
The signals that matter for Belfast clinics specifically
Our citation data tells us exactly where to build. Belfast clinics need to cover both UK and Irish dimensions — and the sources AI trusts most are clear from the audit.
UK regulatory directories
- JCCP (Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners)
- Save Face — the government-approved register
- Doctify — 77 citations in our Belfast audit
- WhatClinic — 96 citations, second-highest third party
These are the UK authority sources AI models treat as trusted signals for clinic legitimacy and safety.
Ireland-specific directories
- IAPAM (Irish Association of Plastic Aesthetic and Medical Practitioners)
- Treatwell for booking-oriented discovery
- RealSelf for treatment-specific research queries
- Irish Health — for broader health authority signals
Covering Irish sources ensures visibility to ROI patients — a significant portion of the Belfast catchment.
Belfast and Northern Ireland press
- Belfast Telegraph — highest-authority local publication
- Belfast Live — strong digital reach for lifestyle topics
- News Letter — Northern Ireland's longest-running paper
- The Irish News — cross-community, high readership
A single well-placed editorial mention in a Belfast publication can meaningfully shift how AI weights a clinic.
Social and on-site signals
- Facebook — 110 citations in our audit, highest third-party single source
- Instagram — 72 citations, strong for visual treatment content
- Treatment pages with clinician-level specificity
- Consistent NAP (name, address, phone) across all sources
Social signals drive significant AI citation volume — more than many directory sources combined.
We're based here. This is home territory.
Orbyt was founded in Belfast. We built Linksii — the platform that generated every data point on this page — because we needed something better than manual queries and commodity monitoring tools. It's not a service we subscribe to. We own it.
That means when we audit your clinic, we're running the same platform against your specific brand — testing all four AI platforms, all 15 prompt types, across the full patient journey. You get real data, not estimates.
We also know Belfast. We know which journalists cover aesthetics at the Belfast Telegraph and Belfast Live, which community platforms carry weight in the NI context, and how the cross-border patient dynamic shapes the queries clinics need to be visible for.
Four platforms, two markets
We test ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity against both NI-specific and Ireland-general queries to give a complete picture.
Full patient journey analysis
Awareness, consideration, and decision-stage prompts — so you know not just if you appear, but when you drop out.
Citation source mapping
We identify which sources are currently driving your AI mentions — and which gaps are costing you visibility.
Prioritised recommendations
A clear ordered list of what to fix first — tied to your specific audit findings, not a generic checklist.
Further reading
What is AI visibility for aesthetic clinics?
The complete guide to AI-driven patient discovery — what it is, why it matters, and how it differs from traditional SEO.
Read moreGet your free AI visibility audit
See exactly how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity represent your clinic today. No pitch, no strings.
Read moreHow Orbyt works
The ongoing retainer service for clinics ready to act on their audit — brand, AI visibility management, and monthly strategy.
Read moreAI visibility for clinics in London
How the London market compares — useful context for understanding where Belfast sits relative to the most competitive UK market.
Read moreCommon questions from Belfast clinics
What does the Orbyt audit show about Belfast clinics?
We ran 287 prompt queries across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity — testing 20 Belfast aesthetic clinics across 15 different patient prompt types. The results: 70% of Belfast clinics are completely invisible across all four platforms. Of the 30% that do appear, visibility is heavily concentrated — one clinic accounts for roughly half of all mentions. The average visibility rate across all clinics is just 6%, meaning even well-established Belfast clinics are being surfaced in fewer than 1 in 16 relevant AI queries.
Why is AI visibility important for Belfast aesthetic clinics?
AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity are increasingly the first stop for patients researching treatments — 88% of health and medical searches now trigger AI Overviews on Google alone. When a prospective patient asks an AI which clinic to visit in Belfast, it names the clinics with the strongest citation signals and authority footprint. Our audit data shows Belfast is still in an early stage: almost all mention share is concentrated in just two or three clinics. Every clinic that isn't one of those is invisible at the point of discovery.
Why do Belfast clinics perform so poorly at the decision stage?
Our audit breaks patient queries into three journey stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Belfast clinics average 8.1% visibility at the awareness stage, 6.5% at consideration, and just 2.5% at the decision stage — when patients are actually ready to book. This funnel collapse is a critical problem. It means clinics aren't being recommended when intent is highest. The reason is typically weak service-specific content and limited third-party reviews: AI has enough signal to mention a clinic generally, but not enough to recommend it with confidence for a specific treatment.
What sources do AI models rely on for Belfast clinic recommendations?
Our audit mapped the citation sources underlying AI answers about Belfast clinics. Clinic websites (combined) were the largest source of citations, followed by Facebook, WhatClinic, Doctify, and Instagram. Medical institution references and other directories made up the remainder. This tells us where to build signal: a strong clinic website with treatment-specific pages, an active and complete Doctify profile, and consistent presence on WhatClinic are the three highest-leverage starting points for most Belfast clinics.
Are Belfast clinics currently visible in AI answers?
At the market level: barely. Our audit of 20 clinics found 14 are completely absent from AI answers across all four platforms. The 6 that do appear are represented unevenly — one clinic dominates with a 50% mention rate while others appear sporadically at 4–35%. This concentration is actually an opportunity: the top position isn't locked down, and a focused programme can displace or match the current leader within two to four months.
Do Belfast clinics need to optimise for both UK and Irish AI traffic?
Yes. Belfast is uniquely positioned — it attracts patients from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Patients from Dublin and other parts of the Republic regularly travel to Belfast for treatments, so AI answers covering searches originating in the Republic matter as well as those from within Northern Ireland. This means clinics should have a footprint in both UK directories and platforms (JCCP, Save Face, Doctify) and Ireland-specific directories and authority sources (IAPAM). A Belfast-only signal strategy misses a meaningful share of the clinic's potential patient base.
How does Orbyt's Linksii platform work for Belfast clinics?
Linksii is a proprietary AI visibility monitoring platform built by Orbyt — not a third-party tool we subscribe to. It runs structured prompt batches across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity to measure how your clinic is represented at each stage of the patient journey: awareness, consideration, and decision. It tracks citation sources, visibility rates, sentiment, and competitive positioning — giving us real data to act on rather than proxies. The Belfast audit on this page was generated entirely through Linksii. Every client gets ongoing Linksii monitoring as part of the Orbyt retainer.
How long before a Belfast clinic sees AI visibility improvements?
Meaningful movement typically appears within two to four months, though it depends on how sparse a clinic's current footprint is. Directory listings and profile completions can begin influencing AI answers within a few weeks of going live. Press coverage and publication-based citations take longer for AI models to process and weight. Belfast clinics currently have a near-zero baseline — which means the early gains tend to be substantial. Going from invisible to consistently appearing in relevant answers is a large jump, even before fine-tuning begins.
Be the first Belfast clinic AI recommends
We run a full AI visibility audit across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity — testing both UK and Irish patient queries with real Linksii data. No pitch, no strings. You keep the report.
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