This engagement combined technical SEO, content strategy, link building, and GEO optimization for a telehealth startup operating in one of the most competitive YMYL verticals — online health services. The primary target keyword, "online ADHD diagnosis," is a high-intent YMYL query where Google applies its strictest quality standards.
The challenge
The client entered a market dominated by established health platforms with significantly higher domain authority. Ranking for YMYL health queries requires not just technical SEO excellence but genuine E-E-A-T signals — expert authorship, clinical citations, and content reviewed by medical professionals. The site needed to establish topical authority from near-zero in a vertical where Google is actively skeptical of new entrants.
Technical SEO foundation
We implemented comprehensive JSON-LD structured data including MedicalWebPage schema, Speakable schema for AI extraction, and Author schema with verified medical credentials. The site architecture was restructured around condition-specific content clusters, each supporting a primary service page through reverse content silo internal linking. Crawl efficiency was optimized to ensure Google prioritized the highest-value clinical content pages.
Content strategy
I spearheaded the majority of new content for the site, building topical authority through entity-based content architecture. Each content cluster targeted a specific condition with supporting articles answering the questions patients actually search for. Content was reviewed by medical professionals to meet YMYL quality standards — this is not a step you can skip in health SEO.
Link building in YMYL
Link acquisition focused exclusively on health-authoritative sources — medical publications, health news outlets, and clinical resource sites. The link profile grew to DR 51 with 409 referring domains and 2,100+ total backlinks. Every link was from a source Google would consider topically authoritative for health content.
GEO & AI optimization
The Speakable schema and structured content format resulted in 1,100+ Google AI Overview citations, 114 ChatGPT citations, and 29 Perplexity citations. This dual visibility — ranking on page 1 organically AND being cited in AI results — represents the future of search visibility and is a direct result of the entity-based content architecture.
