Home / Case studies / Healthcare
Case study · Paid search + SEO/AEO + Salesforce analytics
How a national behavioral health provider cut cost per inquiry 16%, and finally trusted its data
A multi-state treatment provider needed more inquiries from people seeking care, in a category with expensive clicks, strict privacy rules and leads scattered across calls, forms and Salesforce. We rebuilt paid search around their locations, grew organic visibility for the questions people ask, and connected the data from first click to inquiry.
The challenge
More people seeking care, without losing the thread
Expensive, competitive searches
Treatment searches are costly, and well-funded competitors bid broadly across every state where the provider has centers.
Leads lost between systems
Calls, forms and online assessments flowed into Salesforce from different places, and many arrived with no source attached, so marketing couldn't prove what worked.
Privacy comes first
A new cookie consent banner and healthcare privacy rules meant less data in analytics, and no room for shortcuts with sensitive information.
Our approach
THE STRATEGY
Organize paid search around where people actually seek care, and trace every lead from first click to inquiry, so budget flows to what works and cost per inquiry falls.
Paid search
Built around locations
- A full-funnel structure: upper-funnel visibility in priority states, mid-funnel campaigns by level of care, and lower-funnel campaigns for each state.
- State campaigns for high-intent searches like "near me" and "clinic," where most inquiries come from.
- Radius targeting around each center, with bid adjustments for nearby searchers.
- Budget moved from Performance Max to Search when Search drove better leads, with AI Max tested and switched off where it didn't help.
SEO + AI search
Answers for every question
- Location pages rebuilt for local search, with Google clicks up year over year.
- Screening quizzes linked from related content, lifting organic sessions 19% to 39% within 10 days.
- Competitive analyses by condition that shaped new content clusters and blog plans.
- Sub-brand websites consolidated with careful redirects, and AI Overview visibility tracked alongside clicks.
Analytics + Salesforce
One view of every lead
- Clear conversion definitions for leads, inquiries and admissions.
- Source tracking that follows the visitor through the site, not just the landing page.
- Call tracking connected to Salesforce, with gaps found and fixed, such as calls arriving with no source.
- Power BI dashboards showing leads, inquiries and cost by state, program and channel.
Privacy by design. Reporting stays at the level of campaigns, states and programs, and tracking was planned around the client's cookie consent and healthcare privacy requirements. Read our guide to HIPAA and analytics →
The results
Every dollar working harder
From launch through the following September, the state-level campaigns beat the provider's other non-brand search campaigns on every cost measure that mattered.
State campaigns vs. other non-brand search
Salesforce and inquiry costs are likely overstated for both groups, because some calls arrived without source data. True costs are lower.
Healthcare marketing
Growth and privacy aren't a trade-off
We help healthcare organizations reach the people who need them, measure what works and respect patient privacy at every step.
have a tricky healthcare tracking setup? let's talk ↓