Healthcare SEO Case Study: From 500 Users to 2,000 in 9 Months for a Pediatric Hospital in Columbus
In 2025, a pediatric hospital in Columbus partnered with Goforaeo to rebuild organic acquisition with a stronger technical foundation, better service line content, and clearer local signals for families searching for care. The hospital name is anonymized due to an NDA and healthcare privacy requirements, but the metrics below are taken from GA4 and Google Search Console for the dates listed.
Snapshot of Results
Timeframe: February 12, 2025 to November 12, 2025
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Key outcomes measured at the end of the period versus the start baseline:
- Monthly organic users: 500 to 2,000
- Organic sessions: 820 to 3,420 per month
- Top 3 keyword placements: 8 to 34 tracked terms
- Service page clicks from search: 210 to 980 per month
- Appointment and inquiry actions from organic: 36 to 122 per month (calls, forms, direction clicks)
Month by Month Growth Proof
Below is the month wise organic user growth recorded in GA4 for the 9 month period. Numbers reflect monthly organic users to the primary domain.
Monthly organic users timeline
- Month 1 (Feb 12 to Mar 11, 2025): 500
- Month 2 (Mar 12 to Apr 11, 2025): 610
- Month 3 (Apr 12 to May 11, 2025): 720
- Month 4 (May 12 to Jun 11, 2025): 880
- Month 5 (Jun 12 to Jul 11, 2025): 1,050
- Month 6 (Jul 12 to Aug 11, 2025): 1,240
- Month 7 (Aug 12 to Sep 11, 2025): 1,520
- Month 8 (Sep 12 to Oct 11, 2025): 1,760
- Month 9 (Oct 12 to Nov 12, 2025): 2,000
Starting Point and What Was Limiting Growth
The hospital had strong clinical credibility, but the website structure did not help search engines understand the full range of pediatric services. Several high intent pages were buried deep, some service lines lacked dedicated pages, and older content did not match the language parents use when searching.
What we found in the audit
- Many important pediatric services were grouped under broad pages rather than clearly separated service pages.
- Condition and symptom searches were underserved, even though these terms drive early stage parent intent.
- Internal linking was inconsistent, making it harder for Google to assign authority to key service lines.
- Some pages were slow on mobile due to heavy assets, and Core Web Vitals were unstable.
- Snippets were not optimized, so Search Console impressions did not translate into clicks.
Strategy Overview
We built growth around a hospital appropriate approach that prioritized patient safety messaging, accurate medical information, and a clear path from informational searches to the right service and location pages.
Workstreams executed
- Technical foundation: crawlability, speed, indexation, structured data
- Service line expansion: dedicated pages for core pediatric services and specialties
- Condition and symptom content: parent friendly guides with medical review and FAQs
- Local relevance: Columbus location signals, directions, and local entity consistency
- Authority and trust: E E A T improvements, author and reviewer signals, citations and mentions
Technical SEO and Performance Improvements
We started by ensuring the site could be crawled efficiently and that important pages were indexable and fast on mobile. Pediatric hospital sites often have complex navigation and large media libraries, so reducing technical friction was a major early win.
Technical actions completed
- Cleaned indexation and canonical signals to reduce duplicate URLs
- Improved crawl paths so core service lines were accessible in fewer clicks
- Reduced page weight through image compression and script cleanup
- Fixed broken links, redirect chains, and inconsistent internal anchors
- Added structured data where appropriate including Organization, Hospital, MedicalOrganization, FAQ
Service Line Page Rebuild
We created and expanded high intent service pages that match how parents and referring providers search. These pages were designed to rank, educate, and guide visitors to the right next step.
What changed on service pages
- Clear service descriptions, who it is for, and when to seek care
- What to expect sections, insurance and referral notes, and appointment steps
- Parent friendly FAQs based on Search Console query patterns
- Strong internal links to related services, clinics, and pediatric specialists
- Clear CTAs for scheduling, contact, and urgent guidance
Condition and Symptom Content That Drove Scale
Most pediatric searches start with symptoms and concerns, not department names. We built a library of medically reviewed guides that covered common concerns and safely guided parents to the right care path.
Content built during the engagement
- Symptom pages such as fever guidance, cough, ear pain, rash, stomach pain, and dehydration warning signs
- Condition pages linked to relevant specialty services and scheduling actions
- Seasonal content timed around school and illness peaks
- FAQ expansions aligned to rising queries in Search Console
Local SEO Improvements for Columbus Searches
Even large hospitals benefit from strong local signals, especially for urgent and specialty care searches. We aligned location content with how families search and ensured consistency across the site and listings.
Local actions completed
- Improved Columbus location pages with directions, parking, hours, and landmarks
- Standardized NAP signals and added LocalBusiness style schema where relevant
- Improved Google Business Profile content, photos, and service info for discovery
- Cleaned citations and corrected outdated directory listings
Tools Used and How We Tracked Progress
- GA4: monthly organic users, engagement, conversions, top landing pages
- Google Search Console: query trends, clicks, impressions, indexing and CTR
- Looker Studio: month wise reporting dashboard with annotations
- Screaming Frog: crawl audits, broken links, internal linking analysis
- PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse: speed and Core Web Vitals checks
- Ahrefs or Semrush: competitor research, keyword mapping, link monitoring
- GBP insights: local actions and discovery metrics where applicable
What We Did Each Month and Why Numbers Increased
Below is the monthly execution summary mapped to the growth timeline so the increase from 500 to 2,000 users is clearly explained.
Month 1 February 12 to March 11, 2025
Organic users: 500
Work completed: audit, technical cleanup plan, measurement setup, crawl fixes, quick wins to titles and internal links on top pages.
Month 2 March 12 to April 11, 2025
Organic users: 610
Work completed: speed improvements, schema rollout, navigation changes to surface service lines, first batch of expanded service pages published.
Month 3 April 12 to May 11, 2025
Organic users: 720
Work completed: condition and symptom content started, internal linking framework built, FAQ sections added based on live queries, CTR improvements on top pages.
Month 4 May 12 to June 11, 2025
Organic users: 880
Work completed: expanded additional specialties, strengthened local location pages for Columbus, improved indexation and removed thin duplicates.
Month 5 June 12 to July 11, 2025
Organic users: 1,050
Work completed: published more symptom and condition pages, added medical review signals and author pages, improved internal links from guides to services.
Month 6 July 12 to August 11, 2025
Organic users: 1,240
Work completed: optimized underperforming pages, refreshed older content, improved page templates for mobile engagement and clear CTAs.
Month 7 August 12 to September 11, 2025
Organic users: 1,520
Work completed: school season content updates, scaled high intent service pages, improved snippets, and continued authority building through mentions and citations.
Month 8 September 12 to October 11, 2025
Organic users: 1,760
Work completed: expanded internal links, consolidated overlapping pages to reduce cannibalization, enhanced FAQs and structured data for better SERP features.
Month 9 October 12 to November 12, 2025
Organic users: 2,000
Work completed: doubled down on pages gaining traction, built additional specialty clusters, improved local content and conversion flow on top landing pages.
Before and After Proof Summary
- Monthly organic users: 500 to 2,000
- Service page clicks from search: 210 to 980 per month
- Appointment and inquiry actions from organic: 36 to 122 per month
- Top 3 keyword placements: 8 to 34
Why It Worked
The growth sustained because we expanded the site in a way that matched real parent search behavior and improved trust signals appropriate for pediatric healthcare. Technical fixes made it easier for Google to crawl and rank important pages, while condition content created scale and service pages captured high intent demand.
Key takeaways
- Symptom and condition content creates predictable scale in pediatric search
- Service pages convert when they provide clarity, trust, and next steps
- Internal linking turns content into a system that compounds month over month
- Hospital sites need both performance improvements and strong information architecture