SEO Case Studies
A look at how we diagnose and fix real search performance problems —
told with the same data our clients see in Google Search Console,
including the parts that aren’t a straight line up and to the right.
and screenshots have been anonymized — the metrics and timelines are real.
Fixing Lead Quality & Recovering Search Visibility
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New Site Launch · Digital Marketing
First 90 Days of SEO on a Newly Launched Site
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Fixing Lead Quality & Recovering Search Visibility for a Healthcare Practice
details, screenshots, and figures below refer to the client generically as “the Practice.”
Source: Google Search Console, Performance report, 6-month window.
Overview
The Practice is a local, multi-provider chiropractic clinic that relies heavily on
organic and paid search to generate new patient inquiries. Two distinct problems
surfaced over a six-month engagement: a lead-quality issue traced back to paid
search, and a prolonged period of low click-through performance in organic search
that required a structured, multi-month remediation.
Problem 1: Unqualified Leads Posing as Patients
The Issue
The Practice began receiving a pattern of inbound leads that looked like new patient
inquiries but weren’t. On closer review, these contacts were individuals asking to be
compensated for participating in a “health case study” — not genuine patients seeking
care. This was diluting front-desk time and skewing the clinic’s read on true demand.
Diagnosis
Rather than guessing at the source, every inbound query was cross-referenced against Google Search Console’s query and page-level data alongside the clinic’s lead-source tracking, so channels could be ruled in or out with evidence instead of assumption.
- Organic search queries in GSC showed no meaningful presence of the terms driving these leads — the organic channel was clean.
- Lead-source tracking isolated the pattern to the clinic’s paid search (ads) account.
- Search term review inside the ads account showed the queries triggering these leads consistently included variations of “trial” (e.g., people searching for paid clinical trials, not chiropractic care).
- The “trial” term had never been added as a negative keyword, so the ad group was eligible to serve on searches with no commercial intent for the clinic.
keyword at the campaign level closed the leak at the source. Because the issue was
confirmed to be paid-only, no changes were needed on the organic/content side, and
the clinic’s front desk stopped fielding “case study” compensation requests within
the following reporting cycle.
Problem 2: Low Clicks & CTR in Organic Search
The Issue
Search Console showed the Practice’s site earning a healthy volume of impressions
relative to its clicks — visibility existed, but searchers weren’t choosing the
listing. Over the 6-month window, the site logged 40.3K impressions against only
291 clicks, a 0.7% average CTR, and an average position of 19 — a click-through
problem and a ranking-depth problem working against each other.
Approach
Because ranking position and CTR move slowly for a local healthcare site, the fix was scoped as a gradual, evidence-led rollout rather than a single change, sequenced over three months:
- Query and page-level GSC data was used to identify which core service pages and high-engagement content pages were earning impressions but underperforming on clicks relative to their position.
- Title tags and meta descriptions on those pages were rewritten to better match searcher intent and differentiate the listing from competing results — the core lever for organic CTR.
- On-page calls-to-action on the same pages were revised to reinforce relevance to the searcher and support downstream conversion once the click was earned.
- Changes were rolled out in batches and monitored in GSC before the next batch, rather than changing the whole site at once, so CTR movement could be attributed to specific page groups.
with how search engines re-evaluate listing relevance over time. Meaningful, sustained
CTR gains were visible by month three of the optimization work, tracking alongside the
click and impression trend in Search Console.
What This Demonstrates
- Diagnosing “bad leads” as a data problem first — using GSC alongside lead-source tracking — avoided broad, unnecessary changes to organic content that wouldn’t have fixed a paid-search targeting issue.
- A single missing negative keyword can materially affect lead quality; ads hygiene is part of overall search health, not a separate discipline.
- Organic CTR problems on service-based local sites are rarely solved instantly — meta tag and CTA optimization needs a monitored, phased rollout to show a defensible before/after.
- Prioritizing core service pages and already-high-engagement pages focuses limited optimization effort where it can move the most qualified traffic.
This case study has been anonymized to protect client confidentiality under a signed NDA. Metrics shown are sourced directly from the client’s Google Search Console account.
First 90 Days of SEO on a Newly Launched Site
The site is referred to generically as “the Site” below; the metrics are real,
pulled directly from the client’s Google Search Console account.
Source: Google Search Console, Performance report, first 3 months live.
Starting Position
The Site is newly built with no prior search history. Google Search Console showed
no data for the period before this engagement — meaning the Site began this 3-month
window with effectively zero search visibility, as is typical for a new domain still
being crawled and indexed.
Diagnosis
Before optimization, the Site’s pages had underdeveloped on-page signals: generic
or missing meta tags, weak heading structure, and calls-to-action that weren’t
aligned with target search intent. There were no external links pointing to the
domain, which limits how quickly a new site can build authority in Google’s index.
Actions Taken
- Month 1 — Technical & on-page foundation: rewrote meta titles and descriptions across key service pages, restructured headings (H1/H2) around target keywords, and revised CTAs to match user intent per page.
- Month 2 — Content & structure refinement: continued on-page improvements across secondary and landing pages, aligning page structure with the keywords the Site was beginning to surface for.
- Month 3 — Off-page authority building: began link-building outreach to establish external signals pointing to the domain, supporting the on-page work already in place.
Current Data (via Google Search Console)
The Site is now generating impressions across more than 20 relevant queries — including
healthcare-marketing terms such as “gohighlevel healthcare,” “healthcare tiktok agency,”
“instagram ads for healthcare,” and “tiktok agency for healthcare” — several
of which weren’t returning any visibility for this domain before. Positions for these
queries currently range from roughly 8 to the low 90s, with most concentrated in the
page 2–3 range (positions 20–60).
from 159 impressions (a 7.6% CTR) at an average position of 22.8 — well ahead of the
rest of the Site.
Honest Read
data does show is a new site moving from no search presence to consistent impressions
across a growing set of relevant, non-branded queries within 90 days — the expected
first phase of SEO on a young domain. Click volume and CTR are still low because most
queries are landing on page 2 or 3, where click-through rates are naturally minimal
regardless of on-page quality.
The clearest signal of progress is the homepage: it’s already pulling a 7.6% CTR at
position ~23, meaningfully outperforming the rest of the Site. That suggests the
on-page work is functioning — the next task is extending that same performance to
the other service pages.
Next Steps (Months 4–6)
- Push high-impression, page-2/3 queries toward page 1 through deeper content and continued link building.
- Test and refine meta titles/descriptions on underperforming pages, using the homepage’s stronger CTR as a benchmark.
- Expand content depth on service pages currently ranking in the 40s–90s, where thin content is likely limiting relevance.
- Continue off-page link acquisition to compound the authority gains started in Month 3.
This case study has been anonymized to protect client confidentiality under a signed NDA. Metrics shown are sourced directly from the client’s Google Search Console account.
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