Results

About Benenden Hospital

Benenden Hospital is a leading private healthcare provider in the South East of England, delivering specialist care in areas including cosmetic surgery, eye treatments, varicose veins, and male and female health.

With a growing focus on self-pay and private insurance patients, the hospital sought to strengthen online visibility, grow engagement with target audiences, and drive high-quality enquiries for key treatments.

The objectives

SEO​​​​​​​

• Maintain a strong technical foundation to support search performance.

• Build citations and recommendations in AI-driven search

• Strengthen domain authority and competitive positioning.

• Grow high-quality backlinks and authority signals.

• Increase engagement with patient-focused informational content.

• Drive increased local visibility and patient enquiries.

PPC

• Increase qualified patient enquiries through paid search.

• Improve media efficiency and reduce acquisition costs.

• Drive growth in high-value treatment enquiries.

• Expand visibility and brand presence among priority audiences.

• Support specialist service lines through increased consultant enquiries.

The brief

Rising competition from other private hospitals in the region made maintaining organic and paid visibility increasingly difficult. Search behaviour was also evolving rapidly, with AI-driven zero-click results and conversational search queries limiting the impact of keyword-based strategies, while driving industry-wide declines in visibility and engagement.

Additionally, privacy changes to cookie consent and tracking complicated attribution and insight into patient behaviour.

The hospital required a strategy that would protect its authority and technical performance, improve patient-focused content, and integrate seamlessly with both SEO and PPC activity to maximise conversion potential.

Our strategy

TDMP implemented a fully integrated SEO and PPC programme tailored to Benenden Hospital’s objectives, combining technical optimisation, content strategy, and targeted paid campaigns to drive visibility and conversions.

SEO

Technical optimisation and AI readiness

We began with a comprehensive audit of the client website’s technical SEO credentials. Already well optimised, we focused on small but meaningful refinements to enhance Core Web Vitals and tested schema markup and other on-page enhancements to support AI surfacing.

Intent-led content and AI visibility

As part of the content programme, treatment pages, FAQs, and health news articles were structured around intent-first, conversational queries rather than traditional keywords. We also organised content into coherent evergreen hubs, supporting inclusion in AI summaries, and enhancing usability for visitors.

Blog outlines and FAQ guidance were developed based on trend and competitor research and scheduled to leverage seasonality and key health awareness moments.

New drafts produced by the internal team were optimised pre-publication to pair the client’s clinical expertise with intent-driven SEO and AI-informed refinements. Published content was regularly reviewed to identify underperforming pages for optimisation.

Authority and local visibility growth

Meanwhile, authority-building initiatives strengthened both local and national presence through monthly backlink audits, quarterly gap analyses, and high-quality, sector-relevant link acquisition. Local-first optimisations and Google Business Profile management ensured strong visibility for Kent-based patients, giving the client a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded regional market.

To better understand performance, dashboards and GA4 reporting were adapted to account for traffic lost due to cookie rejection, providing a more accurate picture of user behaviour and campaign outcomes.

PPC

Hyper-local targeting in a regulated environment

We built the campaign around a hyper-local targeting strategy focused on Kent and East Sussex. This ensured budgets were prioritised towards audiences most likely to convert, while minimising wasted spend outside the hospital’s realistic patient geography.

All ad copy was developed in line with strict healthcare compliance requirements and underwent formal approval processes, balancing regulatory accuracy with compelling, patient-focused messaging.

Full-funnel demand generation

To support both immediate demand capture and longer-term brand growth, we deployed a full-funnel channel mix. High-intent search and Performance Max campaigns captured users actively researching treatments, while Display, YouTube, and Demand Gen activity expanded reach and built awareness among relevant audiences earlier in their decision-making journey.

Measurement and CRM-led optimisation​​​​​​​

As campaign performance scaled, we enhanced measurement and optimisation by implementing structured UTM tracking across all paid activity. This improved attribution accuracy and enabled clearer visibility into how paid campaigns contributed to on-site engagement and enquiries.

In parallel, we began transitioning campaign evaluation from platform-reported metrics to CRM-based outcomes, allowing optimisation based on true business impact and lead quality rather than proxy indicators alone.

Facing similar challenges? Let's talk

These results demonstrate that, despite AI-driven disruption and industry-wide declines in engagement, Benenden Hospital's visibility, AI-driven discovery, and priority keyword rankings remain strong. Our client was able to buck the trend and reinforce their position as a leading private hospital in the South East.

If your search visibility is strong but engagement or conversions are lagging, or if you need to adapt to AI-driven search trends, TDMP can help. Let's talk.