Boston SEO Case Study: From Algorithm Penalty to 45.2% Traffic Growth

How Technical SEO and Advanced Schema Markup Rescued a Boston-based Therapy Brand After a Disastrous Website Redesign

When everything falls apart…

This Boston SEO client faced every business owner’s nightmare. The website and the business you’ve worked so hard on, and you see your traffic plummet.

The culprit? A poorly executed website redesign that wiped out years of SEO equity. Compounded with another, slower bleedout that started after one of the infamous Helpful Content Updates.

Website redesigns nearly always lead to a short-term shakeup in organic rankings. Even when they are done with the utmost care. But when they are done haphazardly, they can be detrimental. In this case, it wasn’t just the redesign. During the SEO audit, I discovered traffic started shifting lower after Google’s infamous Helpful Content Update. The site published a lot of content, and some of it ventured too far from the site’s main topic in Google’s view. The main intent got muddied. This situation was made even more complex as it was also getting an influx of toxic spam links and several DDoS attacks.

The web design SEO issues are what put the nail in the coffin.

This has happened to many sites:

You hired a developer to do some work on your site, and your traffic disappeared. You survived all other Google Algorithm updates, but that last one crushed you.

When they contacted us, they were in really rough shape. It had been 6 months since the redesign launched, and traffic was a pittance of what it had been. Money pages that ranked in the top 3 were now on page 3. Their duplicate metadata was confusing search engines. And worst of all? They had zero author credibility signals despite employing some of the region’s most qualified therapists.

 

What We Discovered: The Technical Debt

Our technical audit revealed critical failures that were sabotaging their visibility:

• Zero E-E-A-T signals: Despite having licensed therapists with decades of experience, Google had no way to recognize their expertise. No Person Schema, no author credentials, nothing.
• Duplicate metadata: Every page had duplicate or, at best, poorly templated titles and descriptions. Search engines couldn’t differentiate pages or understand intent.
• Missing Schema markup: Their service pages and location pages were invisible to search engines’ understanding. No LocalBusiness Schema, no Service Schema, no structured data at all.
• Broken internal linking: Their site architecture created dead ends. High-value pages weren’t receiving link equity from supporting content. 1/3 of the site’s pages had 1 or fewer internal links. With hundreds of articles, there were no topical connections to reinforce the brand.
• Accessibility failures: Images lacked alt text, hurting both accessibility compliance and image search visibility.
• Toxic backlink profile: Spammy links from questionable sources were actively harming their domain authority.

 

Our Strategic Implementation

We implemented a comprehensive technical SEO recovery strategy, executed with surgical precision over 90 days:

1. E-E-A-T Enhancement

Created an advanced Person Schema for each therapist, including credentials, specializations, and professional affiliations. This gave Google clear signals that real, qualified experts were behind the content. For medical and mental health-related content and websites, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), is an extremely important factor. These kinds of sites are held at a higher level of scrutiny when Google chooses who to rank. The more you can do to reinforce who you are, what you do, and what you are trained to do, the better.

2. Metadata Architecture Overhaul

Rewrote every title tag and meta description with unique, keyword-optimized content that clearly communicated the purpose and value of each page. No more duplicate signals confusing search engines.

3. Advanced Schema Implementation

First, I write long entity-rich Schema Markup for the top pages. The Schema brought clarity to the site, what it offers, and where. Then, for each of the practitioners’ pages, I wrote PersonSchema, including all of their certifications, degrees, etc. Making their content machine-readable and eligible for rich snippets.

4. Strategic Internal Linking

Ran a Power Page analysis to identify their highest-authority content, then built an internal linking strategy that funneled authority to conversion-focused pages. Every link had strategic intent.

5. Technical Optimization

Added descriptive alt text to all images, optimized the homepage for their primary service keywords, and improved site-wide crawlability.

6. Link Profile Cleanup

Identified and disavowed toxic backlinks that were triggering spam filters and diluting their domain authority.

 

The Results: Complete Recovery & Growth

Within 90 days, we not only stopped the bleeding, but we also began recovering their lost traffic.

Total Organic Clicks

Before: 56,249

After: 81,651

Growth: +45.2%

 

Search Impressions

Before: 2.4m

After: 4.8m

Growth: +95.3%

 

Average Click-Through Rate

Before: 1.29%

After: 4.32%

Growth: +235%

 

Average Position

Before: 20

After: 16

Growth: 4 positions

 

Engagement Quality Improvements

• Click-through rate increased 235% (from 1.29% to 4.32%), proof that searchers found their listings more compelling
• Average position improved 3.4 spots across all pages, moving from page 2 to page 1 territory

 

Top Performing Information Content Pages

Article 1 – +8,335 more clicks, a 58% improvement

Article 2 – +5,169 more clicks, a 47% improvement

Article 3 – +750 more clicks, a 150% improvement

 

Dramatic Ranking Breakthroughs

Some pages experienced truly remarkable position improvements:

• High Value Informational Content 1: Jumped 18 positions (37.5 → 19.5) with +1,267% click growth
• High Value Informational Content 2: Climbed 16.2 positions (26.3 → 10.1) with +87% click growth
• High Value Informational Content 3: Rose 16.6 positions (39.1 → 22.5) with +117% click growth
• High Value Informational Content 4: Improved 14.2 positions (27.9 → 13.7) with +249% click growth

 

Why This Matters for Your Business

If you’re reading this case study, you probably recognize yourself in this story. Maybe your traffic took a hit. Maybe your rankings never recovered from an algorithm update. Maybe you’re watching as less-qualified competitors outrank you for the keywords that matter.

Here’s what this case proves:

• Recovery is possible: Even after catastrophic traffic loss, the right technical foundation can restore—and exceed—previous performance.
• Technical SEO still wins: While content marketing gets the spotlight, structured data, Schema, and proper site architecture are what actually move the needle in competitive markets.
• E-E-A-T is non-negotiable: Especially in YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) industries like healthcare, therapy, and professional services, demonstrating expertise and authoritativeness is critical.
• Speed matters: We achieved these results in 90 days. With the right expertise, you don’t need to wait years to see meaningful improvement.

 

How We Approach Every SEO Recovery Project

This wasn’t luck. This was the result of a proven SEO methodology we apply to every client engagement:

Phase 1: Diagnostic Audit (Week 1-2)

We don’t start optimizing until we understand exactly what’s broken. Our technical audits identify not just symptoms but root causes, the architectural flaws, the missing signals, the toxic elements holding you back.

Phase 2: Strategic Implementation (Week 3-8)

We prioritize fixes based on impact and effort. High-impact, low-effort wins come first. Complex implementations that require more development happen in parallel. Nothing sits in a queue waiting.

Phase 3: Monitoring & Refinement (Week 9-12)

We track every ranking shift, every traffic change, every engagement metric. When we see what’s working, we double down. When something underperforms, we pivot immediately.

What Makes This Approach Different

Most SEO agencies are order-takers. They’ll gladly spend months creating content that doesn’t rank. They’ll promise ‘white hat tactics’ while doing the bare minimum. They’ll hide behind vague metrics like ‘brand awareness’ when your traffic keeps declining.

We’re different because we’re engineers, not marketers.

• Owner-led service model: You work directly with a senior SEO strategist, not a junior account manager reading from a playbook.
• Technical depth: We implement Schema markup that most agencies have never heard of. We build custom WordPress plugins for technical analysis. We actually understand how search engines work.
• Data-driven decisions: Every recommendation is backed by Search Console data, not hunches or ‘best practices’ from 2018.
• Proven retention: 98.5% client retention rate over 12+ years. Our clients stay because we actually move their business metrics.

 

Is Your Website Suffering from the Same Issues?

If your traffic has declined, your rankings have plateaued, or you’re recovering from an algorithm update or website redesign, we can help.

We offer a complimentary Technical SEO Audit for qualified businesses. This isn’t a sales call disguised as an audit; it’s a legitimate diagnostic that identifies exactly what’s holding your site back.

You’ll receive:

• Technical audit of your site’s E-E-A-T signals, Schema implementation, and site architecture
• A breakdown of exactly how Google sees you, the good and the bad
• Competitor analysis showing exactly where you’re losing ground and why
• Prioritized roadmap of what to fix first for maximum impact
• Honest assessment of whether your traffic loss is recoverable (not every site can be saved, and we’ll tell you if that’s the case)

Click here if you’re ready to stop watching your competitors outrank you.

Gabriel Bertolo is a 3rd generation entrepreneur who founded Radiant Elephant over 13 years ago after working for various advertising and marketing agencies. 

He is also an award-winning Jazz/Funk drummer and composer, as well as a visual artist.

His Web Design, SEO, and Marketing insights have been quoted in Forbes, Business Insider, Hubspot, Entrepreneur, Shopify, MECLABS, and more.

Check out some publications he's been quoted in:

Quoted in HubSpot's AI Search Visibility Article

Quoted in DesignRush Dental Marketing Guide 

Quoted in MECLABS 

Quoted in DataBox Website Optimization Article and DataBox Best SEO Blogs

Quoted in Seoptimer

Quoted in Shopify Blog