When I work with mental health practices, I rarely get much time with their clinicians. So when I get them on camera or on a call, I make the most of those 20 minutes.
Your clinicians shouldn’t have to become your writing team. Before figuring out how many blog posts or videos you can create, focus on what you need to learn from the clinician. The right questions can reveal how they approach situations that matter to potential patients.
We’ll use mental health practices as our example throughout this guide, but the same approach can work when interviewing experts in other industries.
Prefer to watch? Check out the full conversation on YouTube for more on building authority and improving AI search visibility for mental health practices. Prefer to read? Keep going.
Key Takeaways
Pick one question your audience has before the call.
Spend most of the 20 minutes on how the clinician reasons through that question.
Use clearly labeled hypotheticals, never client stories.
Have the clinician review the draft before it’s published.
Why Expert Interviews Belong in Your AI Search Strategy
Your website should reflect the expertise of the people providing care. Their certifications and professional profiles help establish their credibility, but their perspective should also come through in the content itself. Google’s guidance on helpful, people-first content also emphasizes original insights and firsthand expertise. That’s especially valuable when sharing client outcomes isn’t appropriate for your practice.
For SEO and AI search, I want information gain: insight a reader can’t find on every other page about the topic. Another basic service definition won’t get you there. When a clinician explains how they think through a particular situation, you have material that can help answer more specific questions on your website. Instead of publishing another general page about couples counseling, you can develop content around a particular audience’s concerns and the perspective your clinicians bring to those conversations.
A Suggested 20-Minute Expert Interview Agenda
Let’s work through an interview about counseling for people in their first few years of marriage. That’s a specific audience I’d consider separately from couples counseling in general.
Before the call, choose one question your audience might have. For our example, let’s use: “What should we understand before starting couples counseling early in our marriage?”
Send that question to the clinician a day or two ahead so they have time to think it through. Confirm they’re comfortable being recorded, and decide whether you’re capturing video, audio, or notes.
Here’s how I’d use those 20 minutes.
Minutes 0 to 3: Confirm the Question
Start by confirming that the clinician can answer the question and that it reflects a concern they encounter in their work.
You don’t need to cover every reason someone might seek couples counseling. Focus on one situation you can explore in more detail.
Minutes 3 to 7: Ask What People Commonly Misunderstand
Ask, “What do people commonly misunderstand about counseling at this stage of a relationship?”
Follow with, “How would you explain that to someone who’s considering an appointment?”
Leave room for the clinician to challenge your premise. Don’t arrive with a misconception you’ve already decided they need to correct. You’re there to hear what they’ve observed, including whether your question reflects the concerns people actually bring to them.
Minutes 7 to 14: Get Into the Reasoning
Spend the most time here. For our newly married couple example, ask:
“What would you want to understand before deciding how to approach counseling for a newly married couple?”
Then follow their answer. “Why would that detail matter?” and “What would change your approach?” are useful follow-ups.
When the answer is “it depends,” ask what it depends on. Ask them to explain how those details would affect their approach.
You don’t have to rush to the next prepared question just because you’ve gotten an answer.
Minutes 14 to 18: Work Through a Hypothetical Example and Its Limits
Ask the clinician to apply that thinking to a clearly hypothetical example. For our made-up newly married couple, have them choose a relevant factor and explain how different answers could affect what they’d consider next. Let the clinician supply the details and reasoning.
Minutes 18 to 20: Check the Limits and Next Step
Then ask, “When would that approach be inappropriate?” and “What can’t we tell someone from this example alone?”
Keep the scenario labeled hypothetical when you publish it. Don’t add a successful outcome or present it as a real client’s story. These boundaries help protect client confidentiality and reflect the higher standards of trust and expertise expected of health-related content. Close by asking what a useful next step would be for someone with this question. Give the clinician room to explain what a reader can reasonably do with the information, along with anything they shouldn’t assume.
Better Questions to Bring to the Interview
The same approach works beyond couples counseling. Here are a few ways to turn broad questions into prompts that help clinicians share their perspective.
Broad questionStronger interview questionHow do you help with burnout?What would you want to understand about a working woman’s work and family constraints before suggesting an approach?What happens in therapy?What might lead you to approach the same concern differently for two people?What are the benefits of counseling?What opportunities might counseling offer someone in this situation, and when might it not be the right fit?Why is your practice different?What would you want someone to understand about how you work before deciding whether to contact you?
Sort the Answers Before You Start Writing
After the conversation, separate the background information from the material that needs the expert’s perspective.
Here’s how you might organize the answers from our hypothetical newly married couple example. These are illustrative responses, not real clinician quotes or clinical recommendations.
Answer typeIllustrative answerHow to use itDefinitionCouples counseling focuses on a couple’s relationship and the concerns they bring to therapy.Give readers the background they need, then move on.ObservationOne partner describes recurring arguments. The other brings up expectations about married life.Keep the observation specific to this couple. Don’t turn it into a claim about all newlyweds.ReasoningI’d ask what each partner hopes will change, because different priorities could affect where we start.Show how the expert connects what they learn to what they’d consider next.Useful qualificationThose two concerns aren’t enough for me to recommend an approach or predict an outcome.Keep the limitation alongside the explanation it qualifies.
For your own interviews, use the expert’s actual words. If their reasoning is missing, follow up rather than filling it in yourself. Before publishing, ask the clinician to review the draft and confirm that you’ve represented their perspective accurately.
What One 20-Minute Interview Can Turn Into
One focused conversation can support more than a single blog post. Depending on what the clinician shares, you might use it for:
Updated copy on an existing service page
A new FAQ that answers the question in the clinician’s own words
A blog post built around the reasoning they walked through
Short video clips for YouTube or social media
Google Business Profile posts
Turn Your Experts’ Insights Into Content That Matters
A focused conversation lets clinicians share their expertise while your marketing team turns those insights into useful content. The goal is to make their limited time count and help potential patients better understand the people behind your practice.
If you’re struggling to turn your team’s expertise into content that supports your visibility, contact a V9 digital marketing expert. We can help you identify the right topics, ask better questions, and build a content strategy that supports your SEO and AI search goals.
FAQ: Expert Interviews for SEO and AI Search
Should we improve existing pages before creating new articles?
If you’ve got 10 pages, you should feel good about what is on those 10 pages before worrying about creating a much bigger website. Interview material can help you improve your existing website content. It doesn’t have to become a new blog post.
How can we check whether our specialty shows up in search?
Search for the specific kind of help you’d like people to find you for in Google and the AI tools you’re trying to appear in. Look at whether your practice appears, then check whether your website actually talks about that specialty and audience. Include your off-site content in that review, too, such as your Google Business Profile and social posts. For a quick read on how AI tools see your site, try V9’s free GEO Grader.
Can expert interviews replace technical SEO or directory work?
No. You still need to handle the technical basics and keep your business information consistent across listings. An interview helps you develop content. It won’t correct an inaccurate business listing or fix a technical problem on your website.
