The Grip is a newsletter that compiles essential news and insights for bold healthcare marketers, brought to you by Grippi Media.
From chatbots to social media, users are increasingly leveraging AI to move beyond traditional search engines and find what they need.
The upside? More conversational experiences that ditch rigid keywords in favor of searches rooted in context and niche topics.
This is a game-changer for marketers in specialized industries like healthcare.
88% of marketing teams plan to increase or maintain their SEO budgets for 2025. The key challenge now is figuring out how to adapt to the rise of AI search across a multitude of channels.
In issue 25 of The Grip, we dive into Semrush's latest research on how AI is changing search and its influence on marketing strategies for 2025.
Other stories from this issue include:
👉 Sachin H. Jain, MD, MBA Puts Healthcare Call-Centers Under a Microscope
👉 Warren, Hawley Propose Bi-Partisan Bill to Break up PBMs
👉 Publishers Move on from Third-Party Cookies Regardless of Google's Decision
👉 Google Announces AI Updates to Its Search Engine
👉 How Omnicom's Acquisition of IPG Mediabrands Could Impact Pharma Marketing
👉 The Importance of Building Topical Authority
👉 The Cognitive Cost of Using AI
All this and much more in issue 25 of The Grip!
I Can’t Believe That’s a Keyword
Using Semrush, we hunt down bizarre (and totally real) search queries and try to answer them.
This Week’s Keyword: Are Jumping Spiders Friendly?
Avg. Monthly Search Volume: 2,900
Answer: Friendly or not, you can miss me with spiders.
Top Stories We’re Tracking
Essential marketing and healthcare headlines of the week.
The Evolution of Online Search After ChatGPT
A report by Semrush highlights how ChatGPT and AI search engines are transforming web search behaviors and challenging traditional search models.
Some key findings from the report:
13 million US adults use generative AI as their primary tool for online searches
The introduction of AI search engines have led to traffic decreases to traditional search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
While interest in AI search is growing, trust remains the biggest challenge for usage. According to a 2024 survey by SEMRush, most respondents are more likely to trust AI search if the content was confirmed to be verified by humans. The inclusion of links and cited sources in AI search results has been a major step in the right direction in addressing these concerns.
My Two Cents: User search behaviors are shifting fast. People are leaning toward convenience and conversational experiences, making AI-powered search primed for major growth in 2025.
AI search is being integrated into social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram and even YouTube. That said, AI search needs to be viewed as a practice that expands beyond ChatGPT, Perplexity, and even traditional search engines with AI capabilities, like Google with its maligned AI Overviews. In 2025, marketers need to view SEO as a multichannel discipline and strategize accordingly.
📄 Read Article (Source: Semrush)
The Impact of Call Centers on American Medicine
In the is great piece from Sachin H. Jain, MD, MBA (President & CEO, SCAN), the growing trend of call centers in US healthcare are put under a microscope.
In the past, healthcare relied on close-knit teams who worked alongside doctors to provide seamless, patient-centered care. These team members knew patients personally and could quickly triage concerns, offer reassurance, and address urgent needs on the spot.
Today, these roles are commonly being replaced by centralized call centers for the sake of "efficiency." But efficient for who, exactly? Almost certainly not for patients.
This trend is fragmenting the collaborative dynamic of healthcare teams, leaving patients to navigate an increasingly impersonal system that prioritizes operational efficiency over human connections.
📄 Read Article (Source: Forbes)
Warren, Hawley Propose PBM Act to Break up CVS, UnitedHealth
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley, introduced legislation aiming to break up pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) by requiring them to sell pharmacy assets within three years. This Patients Before Monopolies Act targets PBMs like CVS Caremark, Express Scripts by Evernorth, and OptumRx, accusing them of practices that harm independent pharmacies and inflate drug costs.
Similar attempts to regulate PBMs mostly went nowhere, so I wouldn't expect a different fate this go-around. However, proposals like this one continue to highlight mounting frustrations with PBMs and the ballooning cost of drug prices. For context, Between 2013 and 2023, drug prices increased by approximately 37%, surpassing the general inflation rate.
📄 Read Article (Source: Modern Healthcare)
Publishers Move On from Cookies Despite Google's Decision
Despite Google's decision to retain its support for third-party cookies in Chrome, a Digiday survey found that 80% of publishers plan to continue moving on from them.
While Google vacillated on whether it would phase out third-party cookies for the past few years, 77% of publishers figured out their own cookieless solutions to get ahead. Smart move, especially with Google's ad tech antitrust case threatening to shake things up.
Expect to see more marketers and publishers double down on first-party data in 2025.
📄 Read Article (Source: Digiday)
Google Announces Search Updates Powered By Gemini 2.0
Google announced new Search updates for 2025, powered by its Gemini 2.0 AI model. The updates aim to enhance user experiences with advanced AI Overviews capable of handling complex topics like math, coding, and multimodal queries.
These features will roll out globally in early 2025. Gemini 2.0 Flash, driving these advancements, supports multimodal inputs and outputs while improving speed and performance.
You lost me at AI Overviews. Anyway, here's Wonderwall.
📄 Read Article (Source: Search Engine Journal)
How the Omnicom-IPG Merger Could Reshape Pharma Marketing
The proposed acquisition of IPG Mediabrands by Omnicom will create the world's largest advertising agency by revenue. Naturally, the move is raising a lot of concerns, ranging from layoffs (which appear to be imminent), reduced creativity, and the loss of healthcare expertise.
If/when this goes through, I would expect to see more brands turn to smaller, independent agencies with niche specialties - a growing trend in both the US and the UK.
Generally speaking, working with independent vendors is more cost-effective, personalized, and agile. With the majority of 2025 marketing budgets staying the same or decreasing, these qualities will be more important than ever.
📄 Read Article (Source: MMM Group)
What is Topical Authority? (+ How to Build It)
Topical authority measures a website’s expertise on specific subjects, making it critical for improving search rankings, building trust, and driving conversions.
Building topical authority involves creating focused content, conducting keyword research, earning backlinks, and tracking performance. With SEO being a major focus for marketers in 2025, this guide on topical authority from Semrush will be particularly useful for newer brands looking to stand out in the new year.
📄 Read Article (Source: Semrush)
The Cognitive Cost of AI
Generative AI is revolutionizing the way many people work, study, and create. But its use introduces a slew of new challenges.
The ease with which AI generates ideas can lead to "decision fatigue" and undervaluation of solutions, as the effort behind them feels minimal. This “mind tax” is most pronounced in tasks requiring complex, non-repetitive thinking, like strategy development, where sifting through abundant AI-generated options becomes overwhelming.
In a perfect world, AI makes humans more efficient. But at what cost?
📄 Read Article (Source: Fast Company)
Our Latest Podcasts
Recent episodes of the podcasts that we produce.
Empowering Patient Access with Self-Scheduling
Ever tried to schedule a doctor’s appointment, only to be stuck on hold for what feels like forever?
You’re not alone. A lot of Americans feel the same frustration.
To make matters worse, the average wait time from call to visit is 26 days according to STAT. It’s no wonder people are fed up.
Could there be a better way to take control of scheduling?
In this episode of HealthBiz Briefs, Relatient CEO Jeff Gartland explains why self-scheduling is still a novel concept in medicine and how its implementation can improve patient access while increasing appointment volumes for providers.
Using AI to Give The Gift of Independence to Aging Adults with Nevo Elmalem from Sensi.ai
The aging population is creating unprecedented challenges in senior care.
In this episode of the AWS Health Innovation Podcast, Guy Spigelman, EMEA lead for Healthcare and Life Sciences Startups at AWS, speaks with Nevo Elmalem, Co-Founder & CTO of Sensi.AI.
Sensi.AI is on a mission to unleash growth, productivity, and purpose for home care agencies, empowering every senior to safely age in place through care intelligence.
What We’re Listening To
New music that has been inspiring us.
Vincent's Pick: Make 2nite - A Not So Silent Nite 6
The 6th and biggest edition of my annual holiday mix, A Not So Silent Nite, dropped this week. I packed this one with high-energy remixes of classics from the 90's, Y2K, and more, to give listeners that much-needed end of year pick-me-up, just in time for the holidays. As we wind down the final days of 2024 and gear up for some well-deserved vacation time, let. A Not So Silent Nite 6 be the soundtrack to the season 🎉
Sal's Pick: Shaboozey - Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going
I have to admit, I’m a little embarrassed that I only just discovered Shaboozey, but his album But Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going has quickly become a favorite.
It’s the perfect mix of fun and soulful, great for easy listening or setting the tone for a night out. This third album feels like so much more than a collection of songs.
It’s a self-help journey dressed up in the swagger and emotion of hip-hop and country. Tracks like “A Bar Song” and “Drink Don’t No Mix” capture the thrill of letting loose, while “East of the Massanutten” and “Let It Burn” dive into stories of escape and resilience.
Shaboozey’s music isn’t just entertaining, it’s an invitation to think about how we can push through the hard times and enjoy life while we do it.
Don't forget to check out our 2024 Digital Health Inbound Marketing Report:
Thanks for reading! See you next week! 👋
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