A 12-Month SEO Recovery from the Ground Up
This project came with problems stacked on top of problems. A US-based aesthetic clinic had changed its domain name three times, and by the time SEO work began, the site was technically broken, largely invisible to Google, and carrying content that still referenced an old brand. No redirects. No URL mapping. Over 100 broken internal links. The starting point was rough, and a Google Core Algorithm update mid-campaign made the road longer. This is a breakdown of what was done and how the site recovered.
Project Overview
Detail | Info |
Industry | Health (Aesthetic Clinic) |
Location | USA |
CMS | WordPress |
Scope | Business SEO + Local SEO |
Duration | 12 Months |
Core Challenge | Mass indexing failures following a third domain migration |
The Situation
This client runs an aesthetic clinic in the United States. By the time they came on board, they had already changed their domain name three times due to internal business decisions. Each switch created compounding problems. The last migration was the worst.
The development team handed over a new domain with the old site’s content still intact. Old brand names were scattered throughout the copy. There were duplicate paragraphs. Over 100 broken internal links. And critically, no URL mapping had been done from the previous domain to the new one.
Google had no clean path to understand what had changed or what to trust.
What the Audit Revealed
When I ran the initial audit, the scale of the technical damage was clear.
Indexing
At the start of the engagement, only 34 pages were indexed. Thirty-six pages were sitting in the “Not Indexed” report across multiple exclusion reasons. Five months into the campaign, 40% of pages were still being excluded. That number was stubborn, and it pointed to something deeper than a simple sitemap issue.
Content Quality
The migration had left behind a mess. Pages still carried the old clinic name. Duplicate paragraphs appeared across service pages. The content Google was crawling did not reflect the current brand or website identity. From a quality signal perspective, this was a significant problem in a YMYL niche.
Technical State
More than 100 broken internal links were spread across the site. The site structure had not been cleaned up post-migration. No redirects had been set up to pass link equity or guide crawlers from old URLs to the new ones.
Local SEO
The NAP data across external directories was inconsistent. Google Business Profile and other citation sources still referenced the old brand name and, in some cases, the old domain URL.
External Pressure
The October 2022 Google Core Algorithm update landed mid-campaign. Health and medical sites were directly in scope for that update, which made recovery harder and slower.
Strategy and Implementation
Given how many issues were stacked on top of each other, the recovery had to be sequenced carefully. Trying to fix everything at once without prioritisation would have made the situation harder to track and harder to measure.
1. Technical Cleanup First
The foundation had to be solid before anything else. I cleaned up the site structure, removed redundant pages, and set up correct 301 redirects to ensure crawlers could navigate the new domain properly.
All 100+ broken internal links were identified and resolved. A revised sitemap was submitted to Google Search Console. From there, I monitored GSC closely, watching the Coverage report on a regular basis and manually requesting indexing for priority pages where appropriate.
2. Content Review and Repair
Every page on the site was reviewed. Old brand references were updated to the current clinic name. Duplicate paragraphs were removed or rewritten. Pages that had thin or low-quality content were either consolidated or improved before requesting re-indexing.
This step was non-negotiable in a health niche. Google’s quality evaluation for YMYL content is strict, and the site needed to demonstrate it was current, accurate, and trustworthy.
3. NAP Audit and Citation Cleanup
I ran a full NAP audit across external directories and citation sources. Any listing that referenced the old brand name or old domain URL was updated. Google Business Profile was corrected and optimised to reflect the current clinic identity.
In local SEO, inconsistent NAP data is a quiet ranking killer. Fixing it removed one more source of confusion for Google and helped establish the new domain’s legitimacy.
4. On-Page Optimisation and Content Strategy
Once the technical issues were under control, attention shifted to growth. On-page elements including meta tags, headings, and body content were optimised for target keywords.
Topic clusters were built around the clinic’s core services. Rather than leaving individual pages to compete in isolation, the content was structured so that pages reinforced each other thematically. Supporting articles were developed to build topical depth and demonstrate subject authority over time.
Results After 12 Months
The data below reflects the 12-month GSC performance snapshot captured at the close of the engagement.
Metric | Result |
Total Clicks | 1,140 |
Total Impressions | 64,500 |
Average CTR | 1.8% |
Average Position | 38.7 |
Pages Indexed (End State) | 55 of 61 |
Pages Not Indexed (End State) | 6 (down from 36) |
The indexing recovery tells the clearest story. At the start, 36 pages were excluded, and 34 were indexed. By the end of the engagement, 55 pages were indexed, and only 6 remained outside the index. That shift happened while also navigating a Core Algorithm update in a health niche, which added a layer of difficulty that most standard recoveries do not face.
Impressions climbed steadily through the second half of the campaign as indexed pages gained visibility. Clicks followed as rankings improved and the content strategy started to deliver.
What This Case Study Demonstrates
Domain migrations carry real SEO risk, and that risk multiplies when they are done without proper planning. When a clinic changes domains three times and the final move is handled without URL mapping, redirects, or content cleanup, the resulting technical debt is substantial.
The recovery here was not fast. It took consistent, methodical work across technical SEO, content quality, and local SEO signals. There was no single fix. Each layer of the problem had to be addressed in the right order for the results to stack.
For any business operating in health, medical, or similarly YMYL sectors, getting these fundamentals right is not optional. Google evaluates these sites with a higher standard, and shortcuts taken during a migration will surface as ranking problems later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did 40% of pages remain excluded even five months into the campaign?
Mass indexing exclusions after a poorly executed domain migration are common. Google needs to re-evaluate the new domain from scratch. When the site also has duplicate content, broken links, and outdated branding, the crawl signals are weak. It takes time to fix each issue and then wait for Google to recrawl and reassess. In this case, the October 2022 Core Update added further delay.
How does a failed URL mapping affect SEO after a domain change?
Without URL mapping and proper 301 redirects, Google treats the new domain as an entirely new site. Any authority the old domain had built does not transfer. Crawlers also lack guidance on which new URLs correspond to which old URLs, leading to confusion in the index and increasing the risk of content being excluded or treated as duplicates.
What is a NAP audit, and why does it matter for local SEO?
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. When a business changes its domain or brand name, external citations across directories, review platforms, and business listings often still hold the old information. Inconsistent NAP data sends conflicting signals to Google about the business’s identity. A NAP audit identifies these inconsistencies and corrects them, which helps strengthen local search presence.
How do you recover from a Google Core Algorithm update in the health niche?
Core updates in health, medical, and financial categories tend to focus on content quality and trust signals. Recovery involves improving page-level content quality, demonstrating expertise and authoritativeness, cleaning up technical issues, and building a solid content structure over time. There is no shortcut. Google’s next core update typically provides an opportunity for recovery if the improvements are genuine.
What is a topic cluster, and how does it help a service-based website?
A topic cluster groups related content around a central hub page. The hub covers a core service or topic broadly, while supporting articles cover specific subtopics in depth. Internal links connect them. For a clinic, this might mean a central Botox page supported by articles on treatment frequency, aftercare, and what to expect. This structure signals topical depth to Google and improves the odds of ranking across a wider range of related searches.
Can a website fully recover from this level of SEO damage?
Yes, but recovery requires patience and a structured approach. In this case, the site went from 34 indexed pages and near-zero visibility to 55 indexed pages and over 64,000 impressions within 12 months. The fact that a Core Algorithm update occurred mid-campaign and the site still improved shows that solid fundamentals hold up even under external pressure.
About the Author
Ashan Kusalanka
SEO Consultant with 10+ years of experience helping local and global businesses strengthen their digital presence. I design strategies that improve visibility, build authority, and drive sustainable growth.
