Case Study: SEO and AI Visibility for a Healthcare Technology Company
In five months, a healthcare technology company went from a site that search engines and AI tools could barely see to five non-branded first-page rankings, 78 visits a month from AI assistants and every lead tracked back to its source. Here is where it started, what we did and what moved first.
The client is a healthcare technology and managed IT company that sells to hospitals, physician practices and other provider organizations. They asked to remain anonymous.
What was the starting point?
When we audited the site in May 2026, it was close to invisible in search and blind in analytics:
- About 200 organic visits a month, and only 5 of its 101 pages brought in any search traffic.
- Every keyword that drove traffic was branded. Of 251 tracked keywords, only 16 drove any visits, half ranked on page five or deeper, and none of the non-branded terms reached the first page.
- No way to tell which visits became leads. Analytics recorded zero qualified lead conversions over 90 days, and about 71% of traffic showed up as “Direct,” which usually means tracking is broken rather than that people typed in the address.
- Technical problems blocking crawlers. The sitemaps were unreadable to Google and the site failed Google’s page experience test.
- Pages competing with each other. We found 47 cases where two or more pages targeted the same search, splitting the signal between them.
- Nothing structured for AI. No page had structured data, and about half of the target searches already triggered Google’s AI Overviews.
What did we do?
We worked in the order that lets each step be measured by the one before it:
- Fixed the measurement. Rebuilt conversion tracking so every form submission is recorded and attributed to the page and channel it came from.
- Fixed the technical foundation. Repaired the sitemaps, resolved crawl errors and improved page performance until the site passed Google’s page experience test on real-user data.
- Rewrote what search engines read first. 72 page titles, 22 meta descriptions and 52 image descriptions, each written for the search it should win.
- Made every key page machine-readable. Added structured data so search engines and AI tools know what each page is, who the company serves and what it offers.
- Built answer-ready content. Regular articles structured around the questions healthcare buyers actually ask, written so AI tools can understand and cite them.
- Measured the same way every month. Expanded keyword tracking from a couple of dozen terms to more than 500, and tracked visits from AI assistants alongside search.
What were the results?
| Category | What we measure | What we aim for | Sample engagement: where they started → where they are now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical health | Crawl errors, sitemaps, broken pages | Every critical issue resolved | Sitemaps unreadable to Google → fixed |
| Page experience | Core Web Vitals, Google’s page experience test | Passing on real-user data | Failing → passing |
| Search visibility | Non-branded first-page rankings | Steady month-over-month growth | 0 → 5 keywords |
| AI readiness | Structured data and answer-ready content | Every key page machine-readable | 0% → 100% of pages with structured data |
| Measurement | Leads tracked back to their source | Every lead attributed | 0 tracked → 208 in the last 28 days |
| AI visibility | AI mentions, citations and referral visits | Rising share against named competitors | 0 → 78 visits a month from AI assistants |
Starting point measured May 2026. Current figures measured October 2026.
What moved first, and what is still building?
The technical and measurement fixes moved first, within weeks. Rankings followed, and visits from AI assistants started to arrive as search engines and AI tools re-read the improved pages. The non-branded rankings and AI visibility are the slowest to build and the most valuable, because they reach buyers who do not know the company yet. That is where the work is focused now, measured the same way every month.
One honest note on the lead number: 208 leads in 28 days reflects tracking that now works, not 208 leads created by SEO alone. Before, those leads existed but could not be attributed. Being able to see them is what makes every other improvement measurable.
What does this mean for other healthcare technology companies?
- Fix measurement before you spend more. If analytics cannot connect visits to leads, you cannot tell what is working.
- Technical problems quietly cap everything else. Unreadable sitemaps and failing page experience hold back every page, no matter how good the content is.
- AI visibility is earned on the same foundation as SEO. Structured data and answer-ready content serve Google and AI assistants at the same time.
- Expect the order: technical first, rankings next, AI recommendations last. Plan and report for that sequence.
This is the work we do through Acclaro Digital Visibility and our healthcare SEO and AI visibility service. For background on the AI side, read our guide to generative engine optimization.
Frequently asked questions
How long did it take to see results?
Technical fixes and lead tracking were in place within the first weeks. Non-branded first-page rankings and visits from AI assistants followed over the next four to five months, measured monthly from May to October 2026.
Why does lead tracking matter for SEO?
Without it, you cannot tell which pages and channels produce leads, so you cannot tell whether SEO is working. Fixing attribution first means every later improvement can be measured against real leads, not just traffic.
What drives visits from AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity?
Pages that search engines and AI tools can read easily, structured data that tells them what each page is, and content that answers the specific questions buyers ask. AI visibility builds more slowly than technical fixes, because AI tools have to re-read and re-weigh your content before they recommend you.
Can you do the same for our company?
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