Does my clinic show up when an overseas patient asks ChatGPT?

It has to be measured per language. Clinics that appear in Korean are often absent in English or Japanese. Across 719 citations in foreign-language answers, the sources were the clinic's own per-language pages (38.5%), paid or affiliate platforms (33.8%), multilingual directories (10.0%) and Google Maps (6.0%), with the mix shifting by language. Boily measures ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity with English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Thai question sets. No visibility or ranking is guaranteed.

If we rank well in Korean, don't we in other languages too?

They are different numbers. Korean and foreign-language questions face different competing clinics and cite different sources. In Korean the evidence is clinic sites and directories; in Japanese, paid and affiliate platforms took nearly all the slots; in English and Thai the presence or absence of a per-language procedure page made the largest difference. Inferring one language from another produces the wrong answer.

Which language should we start with?

It depends on your patient mix, but in terms of where free levers visibly work, the order observed was Thai, English, Simplified Chinese, with Japanese the hardest. Japanese answers are dominated by paid platforms, leaving little room for clinic-authored documents. Thai showed the largest effect from a single language page because so few clinics have one.

Is a machine-translated site enough?

Usually not. The clinic sites that were cited had a separate address per language with a page per procedure; single pages run through a translator were rarely visible. Engines draw on a document written in that language, about that procedure, at its own address.

Aren't there separate rules for attracting international patients in Korea?

Yes. Attracting international patients requires registration as an attraction institution, and advertising for that purpose is subject to its own statute and review process. Boily does not broker patients or run advertising. It measures whether the facts a clinic has already published are cited in foreign-language AI answers and prepares those source documents. This is general information, not legal advice; check individual cases with a lawyer and the competent authority.

Does Boily actually measure in these languages?

Yes. English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Thai question sets are run against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, recording mentions and cited sources per round exactly as in Korean, measured and reported separately from the Korean set. Traditional Chinese is not supported.

INTERNATIONAL PATIENTS · MULTILINGUAL AI SEARCH

AI Search Visibility for International Patients — Ask in Another Language and a Different Clinic Comes Up

2026-09-21 · Boily

Korean-language and foreign-language visibility are different numbers. We classified 719 citations that AI engines attached to English, Japanese, Chinese and Thai questions about Korean clinics: the clinic's own per-language pages led at 38.5%, paid or affiliate platforms took 33.8%, multilingual directories 10.0% and Google Maps 6.0%. The mix shifts by language — Japanese answers are almost entirely paid platforms, while in Thai a single language page shows the largest visible effect. Boily measures each of the four languages with its own question set. No visibility or ranking is guaranteed.

What foreign-language answers cite — 719 citations by type

One Gangnam specialty, five questions per language, four engines, every attached source classified. A single topic in a single round, so treat it as direction rather than a benchmark. Individual domains are withheld.

Source type	Share	Cited mainly by	Can the clinic act on it
Clinic's own website (incl. per-language pages)	38.5%	All four engines; heaviest on Gemini and Claude	Clinic can do this — per-language URLs with procedure pages
Paid or affiliate booking platforms and agencies	33.8%	Perplexity, Gemini	Paid — Boily does not propose it; the clinic's own call
Multilingual district × procedure directories	10.0%	Almost entirely Perplexity	Some accept free factual listings
Google Maps search links	6.0%	Almost entirely ChatGPT	Google Business Profile in the target languages — effectively ChatGPT's only foreign-language route
Keyword-domain microsites run by clinics	4.9%	Claude, Gemini	Buying domains costs money — start with language paths instead
Foreign-language guide articles	1.8%	Perplexity	Clinic can write these
Japanese blog platforms (Japanese only)	1.3%	Perplexity, Gemini	Free
Public tourism portal	0.8%	Perplexity	For clinics registered as attraction institutions
Community and editorial media	2.9%	—	Not controllable

Paid and affiliate platforms are the clinic's own decision; Boily does not propose them. Everything below is what a clinic can do itself, at no cost.

What differs by language

English: Directories and clinic websites dominate. The gap between clinics with and without English procedure pages is the widest of the four languages. Used by patients from North America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East alike.
Japanese: The hardest language for free levers. Paid and affiliate platforms took almost all of the answer slots and directories were cited once. What remains is the clinic's own Japanese pages and Japanese blog platforms.
Chinese (Simplified): Directories are strong and clinic Chinese-language pages are cited. Boily measures Simplified Chinese only; Traditional is not supported.
Thai: Directories carry a large share, and because few clinics have Thai pages at all, the ones that do appear repeatedly across questions. A single language page shows the largest visible effect here.

What a clinic can do itself

Per-language URLs with procedure pages: Not one machine-translated page, but a separate address per language with a page per procedure. The top cited source (38.5%) was the clinic's own site, and within that, sites with per-language domains or paths were the ones cited repeatedly.
Google Business Profile in the target languages: Foreign-language ChatGPT leans on Google Maps links (6.0%, almost all ChatGPT). Whether hours, services and description read in the patient's language decides it.
Multilingual directory listings: Perplexity cites district × procedure directories often (10.0%). Where a free factual listing is available, enter the same facts in the same spelling as the site.
Measure each language separately: Korean and foreign-language visibility are different numbers. A clinic that appears in Korean is often at 0 in English, and the cited sources differ by language, so one language's result cannot be inferred from another's.

Why Korea's search stack differs from other markets is in Korean medical SEO for AI search, and what replaces ranking in generative answers is in AI search ranking for hospitals.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Does my clinic show up when an overseas patient asks ChatGPT?: A. It has to be measured per language. Clinics that appear in Korean are often absent in English or Japanese. Across 719 citations in foreign-language answers, the sources were the clinic's own per-language pages (38.5%), paid or affiliate platforms (33.8%), multilingual directories (10.0%) and Google Maps (6.0%), with the mix shifting by language. Boily measures ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity with English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Thai question sets. No visibility or ranking is guaranteed.
Q. If we rank well in Korean, don't we in other languages too?: A. They are different numbers. Korean and foreign-language questions face different competing clinics and cite different sources. In Korean the evidence is clinic sites and directories; in Japanese, paid and affiliate platforms took nearly all the slots; in English and Thai the presence or absence of a per-language procedure page made the largest difference. Inferring one language from another produces the wrong answer.
Q. Which language should we start with?: A. It depends on your patient mix, but in terms of where free levers visibly work, the order observed was Thai, English, Simplified Chinese, with Japanese the hardest. Japanese answers are dominated by paid platforms, leaving little room for clinic-authored documents. Thai showed the largest effect from a single language page because so few clinics have one.
Q. Is a machine-translated site enough?: A. Usually not. The clinic sites that were cited had a separate address per language with a page per procedure; single pages run through a translator were rarely visible. Engines draw on a document written in that language, about that procedure, at its own address.
Q. Aren't there separate rules for attracting international patients in Korea?: A. Yes. Attracting international patients requires registration as an attraction institution, and advertising for that purpose is subject to its own statute and review process. Boily does not broker patients or run advertising. It measures whether the facts a clinic has already published are cited in foreign-language AI answers and prepares those source documents. This is general information, not legal advice; check individual cases with a lawyer and the competent authority.
Q. Does Boily actually measure in these languages?: A. Yes. English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Thai question sets are run against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, recording mentions and cited sources per round exactly as in Korean, measured and reported separately from the Korean set. Traditional Chinese is not supported.

Korean once, then each language on its own

Boily runs a Korean question set and separate English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Thai sets against four engines every two weeks, reported per language. We do not broker patients or run advertising. No visibility or ranking is guaranteed.

About Boily 한국어로 읽기

Written by Boily. The source-type shares come from a single Boily measurement in September 2026 (one specialty, five questions × four engines per language) and are indicative only; domains and clinic names are withheld. The note on Korea's international-patient registration and advertising rules is general information, not legal advice. Boily does not broker patients or run advertising, and does not guarantee visibility or ranking.