⬆️ Winners in the Search Innovation category
The clinic of German Medicine in Kyiv, specializing in high-quality surgery for complicated cases.
The key directions of treatment
Increase of organic traffic on the site and, subsequently, an increase in conversions on the site in the priority directions defined by the client:
Region: Kyiv and oblast
Start of work: October 20, 2021
Project features: the site worked on Joomla in the beginning, and later migrated to WordPress at the end of 2021.
Language of promotion: Russian
Search Engine: Google
Software developers and copywriters are assigned by the client; physicians are directly involved in writing articles for the site.
When taking over the project, our team conducted a comparative analysis of the main indicators of the client's site compared to its competitors:
| # | Target | Domain Rating | Domains | Ref domains Dofollow | Total Backlinks | Total Keywords | Total Traffic |
| 1 | Client's site | 28 | 246 | 124 | 1 148 | 14 422 | 12 646 |
| 2 | Competitor 1 | 29 | 424 | 259 | 7 569 | 30 058 | 116 324 |
| 3 | Competitor 2 | 30 | 518 | 354 | 5 858 | 35 084 | 53 432 |
| 4 | Competitor 3 | 15 | 108 | 74 | 764 | 14 521 | 42 306 |
| 5 | Competitor 4 | 49 | 1068 | 732 | 3735695 | 84782 | 148 058 |
| 6 | Competitor 5 | 53 | 1523 | 1145 | 99386 | 150037 | 281 833 |
| 7 | Competitor 6 | 32 | 391 | 229 | 5091 | 46959 | 92 247 |
| 8 | Competitor 7 | 40 | 685 | 427 | 10369 | 112663 | 424 569 |
As you can see from the comparative analysis, the client’s site was losing in traffic to all competitors: with a relatively strong site DR - the lowest traffic metrics.
Given equal keyword counts with the competitor №4, the traffic is 3.5x lower, which proved our theory of poorly designed semantics for the landing pages of services.
For example, for the query "treatment of lung cancer" all competitors are ranked in the top 10, and the client's site - at the 74th position.
However, the landing page of the promoted site is filled with information at the same level as that of competitors. The same situation is true for the majority of high-priority pages.
Additionally, the Ukrainian version of the site has not been implemented.
There is no blog for information requests on the site.
The first stage of working on the project - a complete technical audit of the site and its internal optimization, as well as drafting recommendations for the correction of critical errors.
| Program implementation | Inspection result | Priority | Contractor | |
| 1. | IP website analysis | correct | high | software engineer |
| 2. | Checking the website for viruses | ОК | ||
| 3. | Domain history analysis | ОК | ||
| 4. | Checking for the elements that may negatively impact user's interaction with the website | ОК | ||
| 5. | Checking for availability and correctness of forming SEO-Friendly URLs (human-readable URL) | ОК | ||
| 6. | Checking for the gluing of mirrors and complete duplications | ОК | ||
| 7. | Checking for a complete duplication of content | ОК | ||
| 8. | Checking for technical pages, pages with duplicate content, or with no content in the index | correct | high | software engineer |
| 9. | Checking for the correctness of the server's responses to the page request | ОК | ||
| 10. | Checking the page code for HTML and CSS errors | correct | high | software engineer |
| 11. | Checking for availability and errors in SSL certificate | correct | high | software engineer |
| 12. | Checking for hidden or spam links to external resources | ОК | ||
| 13. | Checking for the correctness of the robots.txt file setup | correct | high | software engineer |
| 14. | Connect GWT | ОК | ||
| 15. | Connect GA | ОК | ||
| 16. | Check Sitemap.xml | correct | high | software engineer |
| 17. | Checking for CSS and JS availability | ОК | ||
| 18. | Checking microformats | correct | high | software engineer |
| 19. | Checking social media buttons | ОК | ||
| 20. | Checking website loading speed | correct | high | software engineer |
| 21. | Checking for the availability and optimization of multilingualism | correct | low | software engineer |
| 22. | Checking for the mobile version of the website | ОК | ||
| 23. | Checking the adaptability of the site on different types of devices | ОК | ||
| 24. | Checking for the correct output of the text content | ОК | high | software engineer |
| 25. | Tracking Stat.Aweb content in the SEO-monitor | correct | low | software engineer |
| 26. | Checking for the elements (commercial factors) on the pages required for ranking in this topic | correct | high | software engineer |
| 27. | Checking for the partial content duplication | correct | medium | software engineer |
| 28. | Checking for the content pages in the code, which are not displayed on the site pages | ОК | ||
| 29. | Checking the indexation of reviews on the site | ОК | ||
| 30. | Is the content visible with the JavaScript turned off | ОК | ||
| 31. | Checking the site for compliance with the requirements of the Instructions for Assessors | correct | high | software engineer |
| Content | Inspection result | Priority | Contractor | |
| 32. | Checking for affiliates | correct | high | software engineer |
| 33. | Checking for the correctness of forming meta tags | correct | high | Content manager |
| 34. | Checking for availability of landing pages for semantic core | ОК | ||
| 35. | Checking for availability/uniqueness of the web content | correct | high | Content manager |
| 36. | Checking for the text content optimization | ОК | ||
| 37. | Checking for availability of content formatting | ОК |
| Structure and re-linking | Inspection result | Priority | Contractor | |
| 38. | Checking for the "bread crumbs" menu | ОК | ||
| 39. | Checking for the re-linking on the website | correct | high | software engineer |
| 40. | Checking for the broken links | ОК |
| Usability | Inspection result | Priority | Contractor | |
| 41. | Checking for the broken links | correct | medium | software engineer |
| Image optimization | Inspection result | Priority | Contractor | |
| 42. | Checking for the broken links | ОК |
A distinctive feature of this specification is that it was required to identify critical errors, as well as to prevent their recurrence in the new CMS site.
Later on, following the implementation of the new CMS, our experts conducted an additional check on the specification items to make sure there are no errors on the new site.
Due to the fact that during the incoming analysis, we had some concerns about Google filters being imposed on the domain, our team conducted a thorough analysis and audit of the site and took a number of actions to improve the situation.
Example: section that is perfectly designed for internal optimization
site/kompyuternaya-tomografiya, yet was completely unranked by Google.
In this case, we decided to conduct the test with a change of directory with and without a 301 redirect: we created a new directory page site/kt-diagnostika/, set up a redirect with site/kompyuternaya-tomografiya to the new page.
Changing the directory did not give us the expected results, and 23.02.22 after four months of the project promotion and a lack of positive dynamics, we offered the client two options to remove the site from the filter:
1. Conservative — continue to consistently work with the site (elaboration of semantic core, meta tags, texts, increase link profile) and wait for the next update, which will allow the search engine to fully re-evaluate the site. In case the situation does not change after the update - proceed to point 2.
2. Radical — change the domain without waiting for an update (that is, in the near future). There is a risk that the filter will be passed with 301 redirect, as well as the risk of subsidence of existing positions (however, if you change the domain correctly, they will be minimized).
Starting from February 24, 2022, the project was suspended due to the outbreak of full-scale hostilities, returning to the discussion back in May 2022: the client opted for the second course of action, the radical one.
While discussing a new domain for the site, the search engine held a Core Update in May, following which the percentage of queries output on the worked-out pages increased from 2% to 8%.
October 2022 Core Update raised to another 14% of the output on the first page, following which it became clear that Google saw all our improvements and the issue of changing the domain was solved.
The first stage of working on the Semantic Core
Along with the technical audit of the site, we started working on the collection of semantic core for the priority directions defined by the client. Due to the fact that the clinic specializes in the surgery of complex cases, we selected the following for the first period:
Gynaecology:
Urology:
Proctology:
General Surgery:
Mammology:
Diagnosis:
Oncology:
The second stage of working on the Semantic Core
While working on the semantic core and semantic groups for the priorities, we found "cannibal pages," duplicating the content of the main page, which may negatively affect the growth of the main category positions.
Our optimizers have reviewed all pages of the site on the basic (promoted) requests, preparing the ToR for "gluing similar pages".
An example of "cannibal pages":
site/lechenie-gemorroya
The queries by which the page was ranked:
Second example: site/gemorroi
The queries by which the page was ranked:
The third stage of working on the semantic core
Upon working out and optimizing priority pages - collecting semantic core, updating MT and texts - we have come to the stage of expanding the semantic core and the allocation of narrower areas of services in separate pages.
For example, from the "Gynaecology" group, we highlighted a group of queries for the Women's Consultation, and after optimization it came to the top for many queries.
From the "Hemorrhoid Treatment" group we have highlighted and optimized the following pages:
Thrombectomy, Hemorrhoids (external, acute, internal), Longo surgery, etc.
An example for Thrombectomy:
site/gemorroi/trombektomiya-gemorroidalnyh-uzlov
An example for the Longo surgery page:
site/gemorroi/operacziya-longo
At the early stage of the project, our experts analyzed the existing link profile, rejecting all low-quality and spammy donors, which could affect the growth of positions.
Having analyzed and revised our link profile, we started building up links from quality and trusted domains. The main focus was on the medical sites.
We used the following link procurement methods during the project:
It should be noted that the following E-A-T factors: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness were well-established on the project.
The texts for the service pages were written and/or proofread by the clinic's physicians, as confirmed on the service pages.
The website has patients' testimonials as well as video testimonials.
We have also finalized pages about the clinic's equipment, "About the clinic" page, as well as the information on available service payment options.
The priority highly-competitive directions defined by the client showed an increase from 30% to 150% compared to the original traffic.
In the "Gynaecology" direction the traffic increased by 300% from the start of work until December 31, 2022, with a small slump at the end of 2021 (when the site moved to a new CMS):
200% growth in mammalogy direction:
100% growth in proctology direction:
150% growth in surgery direction:
300% growth in oncology direction:
Despite the assumption that a Google filter was applied to the domain, we continued to improve and optimize the site pages, which had a positive effect on the growth dynamics of the site. All succeeding Google updates significantly improved the project's visibility in the search engine.
Our team achieved such results thanks to:
Project participants:
Project Managers: Oleksandra Nesina
Optimizer: Nataliia Pronina/Lehkobyt Andrii
Linker: Yevhen Fedchenko
