4X Traffic Growth for GMKA.org in Less Than a Year with a Comprehensive SEO Strategy

It is no secret that access to quality information is key to success. When it comes to life, health, and the medical field in general, there is no room for compromise. Doctors need up-to-date knowledge for professional growth, and patients need truthful information to make informed decisions. This is why online platforms focusing on the health industry must attract a target audience that is genuinely interested in their resources.

The team behind the GMKA open medical information platform, understanding this, approached Luxeo with an ambitious task: not just to increase website traffic but to attract those who are searching for reliable evidence-based information. Simply put, the goal was to create a powerful resource that would attract the “right” visitors.

We are accustomed to challenges, and we know exactly how to overcome them. So, we got to work. The results pleased both the client and us: traffic growth that exceeded expectations, specifically a 4x increase. In addition, +7 key queries rose to TOP 1, and 18 strategic clusters entered the TOP 10 search results. And this is just the beginning of our success story. We are already eager to share the details and, perhaps, inspire you for new achievements.

Brief About the Client

GMKA (Global Medical Knowledge Alliance) is a non-profit organization that has been providing open access to the most up-to-date medical information based on evidence-based medicine principles for over 10 years. 

The GMKA team consists of over 30 international experts actively practicing in the USA, Ukraine, Poland, and Italy. Their mission is to improve the quality of healthcare by providing reliable information to doctors and patients worldwide.

GMKA adapts its platform to meet the needs of Ukrainian doctors and patients by providing information on trauma care, publishing educational materials on oncology, and offering translations of medical protocols, such as ATLS, into Ukrainian.

Key Project Results

The partnership with GMKA aimed to strengthen their presence in Google search results and ensure steady growth in organic traffic. These objectives became the starting point for our team, and we are proud to have achieved significant successes. 

Here are the key results in just 10 months:

But this is just the visible part of our work. Behind these numbers lie deep changes in the website’s technical architecture, the development of unique content, and the implementation of an effective promotion strategy. We have laid a strong foundation for GMKA’s further growth, securing them a leadership position in their niche. Next, we will explain each detail in more depth.

Client’s Problem

At the time of starting the collaboration with Luxeo, the client faced a number of obstacles that hindered GMKA’s development and prevented the full realization of its mission. Specifically, the website suffered from:

• Limited visibility in search engines. Organic traffic was insufficient, which limited the reach of the target audience and made it difficult for doctors and patients to access valuable resources.
• Weak positions for key queries. The medical topic is highly competitive, and the website did not occupy leading positions in search results. As a result, potential users were lost.
• Outdated website structure. It needed an update, and technical issues complicated navigation and slowed down page loading speeds.
• Unoptimized content. Despite the value of the medical information, the website’s content was not properly optimized for search engines, hindering its discoverability and traffic attraction.

Understanding the scale of the desired changes, a representative of GMKA approached Luxeo and outlined goals, including:

1. Comprehensive search optimization.
2. Technical improvements and enhanced UX.
3. Focus on MQL/SQL.
4. Attracting targeted traffic.
5. Improving rankings for key queries.

All these objectives aimed to take the platform to a new level. And we are always ready to participate in improvement projects, so we started with the basics – creating a strategy.

Our Approach

Recognizing the challenges faced by GMKA, we at Luxeo developed a multifaceted strategy that encompassed optimization in:

1. Technical Optimization. We began with an in-depth technical audit of the GMKA.org website to identify all problem areas and develop a clear action plan to address them.
2. Internal (semantics + content). We worked on the semantic core to precisely determine which key queries were of interest to the target audience. The goal was to create relevant content aligned with user needs and Google requirements.
3. External. We actively built a high-quality backlink profile to increase the website’s authority in the eyes of search engines.

This approach allowed us to lay the foundation for the platform’s future growth, rather than simply “patching up holes.”

Technical Optimization

Before starting, our team conducted an audit of the technical condition of the GMKA.org resource. It’s important to know the problem areas that hinder user interaction with the site and will slow down SEO success. Based on the data obtained, we developed an action plan aimed at eliminating these issues.

Let’s go over some of the points we fixed. 

404 and 503 Error Codes: Redirects to Relevant Pages and Customized UI

At the start of the project, the site lacked 404 and 503 error pages. This not only negatively impacted UX when visitors encountered a non-existent page or when the site was temporarily unavailable, but it also hurt SEO.

Therefore, we developed custom pages for:

• 404: “Sorry, the page was not found” (with a link to the homepage or blog page).
• 503: “Sorry, the site is undergoing technical maintenance. We’ll be back soon.”

These pages use common elements (header, footer) from the site, feature user-friendly text, and include navigation buttons.

Page Duplicates: 301 Redirects as a Solution

Page duplication created chaos for search engines and diluted link equity across different URLs. We identified at least 8 causes for page duplicates, including:

1. Access to the site via IP address.
2. Duplicate versions of the site with or without “www.”
3. Addition of different extensions to the URL: .php, .html, /index.php, etc.
4. Use of double slashes “//“, replacing slashes with the “-” symbol, or absence of a slash at the end of the URL.
5. Duplicates with category and subcategory permutations in the URL.
6. Non-existent language versions (e.g., /pl/) after the domain.
7. URLs with mixed letter case (e.g., /ReGiStRa).
8. Pages with HTTP GET queries (e.g., /?id=7777).

To address the issue, we set up:

• 301 redirects to the main canonical versions of the pages;
• The <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, follow” /> tag for pages with HTTP GET queries.

All of this helped avoid confusion for search engines, improve site indexing, and positively impact its positions in search results.

Unconfigured Indexing: The Robots Meta Tag

Some pages that should not appear in search results (e.g., filter pages, pages with personal data, technical information) were open for indexing. To fix this, we:

• Added the <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> tag in the <head> section (for pages to be excluded from indexing).
• Used the follow value combined with noindex (to prevent indexing of the page itself but allow search engines to crawl links on it).
• Used the X-Robots-Tag response header (to prohibit indexing of non-HTML files).

We also paid attention to a specific feature of Google, namely that the network supports Googlebot user-agent tokens for all text-based results and googlebot-news for news results. This allowed us to fine-tune the indexing of pages and control which pages were included in the index and which were not.

Pagination Issues: Meta Tag Configuration

Considering the large volume of content on the site, particularly blog articles, implementing pagination became essential for convenient navigation and distributing information across separate pages.

First, we needed to ensure that pagination pages did not contain the <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, follow” /> tag and that search bots could index them. Then, we:

• Set up the rel=“canonical” meta tag (for each blog pagination page);
• Created a template for title and description meta tags with the addition of the “- Page N” prefix, where N is the page number. For example:

Title of the second blog page

Blog – Page 2

• Set up a 301 redirect from the first pagination pages to the main page without specifying the page number (for all categories, listings, and the blog).

In this way, we ensured proper indexing of pagination pages and avoided content duplication.

Lack of Content Tagging and Markup: Preparing Templates for All Types of Pages

Our decision to implement microdata markup solved several problems at once. The first – we achieved the correct data structure. The second – from now on, content was displayed properly in the search results as rich snippets.

For the homepage, the template looks like this:

<script type=”application/ld+json”>{ “@context”:”https://schema.org”, “@type”:”OnlineBusiness”, “url”:”url”, “name”:”name”, “description”:”meta description”, “email”:”email”, “telephone”:”telephone”, “keywords”:”keywords” } </script>

And for the “About Us” page, it looks like this:

<script type=”application/ld+json”> {   “@context”: “https://schema.org”,   “@type”: “Organization”,   “name”: “name”,   “alternateName”: “name”,   “url”: “url”,   “email”: “email”,   “logo”: “logo”,   “sameAs”: [     “https://www.facebook.com/name”,     “https://www.linkedin.com/company/name”,     “https://twitter.com/name”,     “https://dribbble.com/name”,     “https://www.behance.net/name”,     “https://clutch.co/profile/name” ],           “location”: {             “@type”:”Place”,             “address”: {               “@type”: “PostalAddress”,               “addressLocality”: “city”,               “streetAddress”: “address”,               “postalCode”: “code”             } } } </script>

We did not stop at these two types of pages. Custom microdata templates were developed for the following pages:

experts page (with breadcrumbs); authors page (hub-based); Individual authors; activities;

projects (in various formats);articles; blog;events;news;

courses; documents;topics;videos;search

As you can see, the work was extensive.

Content Markup Issues: HTML/CSS Validation

An important step in the technical optimization was validating the markup, which involved checking two types of code for errors:

1. HTML

 If the HTML code contains errors, search engines misidentify content (blocks, tables) or fail to find it at all. Missing closing tags, broken markup also lead to indexing issues and incorrect content display. We used the W3C Markup Validation Service to check the code.

2. CSS

Similarly to HTML, the CSS code must be valid. Errors negatively affect page loading speed, as the browser has to spend additional time processing incorrect code. This, in turn, worsens UX and increases bounce rates. We used the W3C CSS Validation Service to check the CSS.

Based on the results from the code validation tools, we provided recommendations for improving the website’s technical state and ensuring proper content display on various devices.

It should be noted that the technical work did not end here. Installing the SSL certificate, analytics systems (Google Analytics and Google Search Console), page load speed analysis, and URL structure analysis, with subsequent recommendations to improve performance, and setting up the generation of an XML sitemap – all this and more was analyzed by our team.

Internal Optimization

Now that all technical issues have been resolved, we moved on to On-Page optimization, focusing on two interconnected aspects: semantics and content. Thorough work on semantics will help us accurately identify which queries are most important for users, while creating informative and engaging content will ensure its high visibility and popularity among the target audience.

Development of Prototypes for Main Pages

To ensure effective interaction with users and search engines, we developed prototypes for the main pages of the website, taking into account their functional features and intended purpose.

Website Element	What we implemented
Homepage	First screen: h1 heading, search form with section selection, TOP 5 popular topics.TOP articles: slider with the most interesting articles.
Courses Section	Subpages with:filtering results by course purpose and direction;display of directions (on the main page) and the courses themselves (on the direction page).First screen: heading, breadcrumbs, brief description, image.Filter blocks: filter with a link to the Parent Courses page (e.g., “Surgery” – “Bariatric Surgery,” etc.).advanced filter with detailed course structure (linked to the Child Courses page).the option to filter by queries: “Retraining Courses,” “Professional Development Courses,” “Distance Learning Courses” (in the medical field).
Parent Courses	Adding links to child categories.First screen: heading, breadcrumbs, description, list of links to nested categories. Highlighting the tab “All Surgery Courses” with color (to show the user active courses from the current section).
Articles Page (All Articles)	Change in the article display principle: divided into categories for medical professionals and patients.
Blog Page (Article)	Page optimization: heading (h1), author’s photo, number of views, reading time, rating, Table of Contents, Blog Page markup, text, author information, links to sections, links to related articles.
Author Page	Page optimization: author’s name (h1), photo, short biography, list of articles/courses, social media links.
Top Menu Structure	Consideration of parent and child pages, emphasis on higher-priority pages.Display of information about the use of cookies.

The development and integration of prototypes for the main pages allowed us to create a more intuitive website structure, significantly improving the UX and contributing to audience engagement.

Semantic Core and Clustering

To ensure effective promotion of the GMKA website, we conducted extensive work on collecting and analyzing the semantic core for key areas of medical topics. This process included:

1. Collecting key queries relevant to the target audience.
2. Clustering queries, meaning all keywords were grouped into thematic clusters. Each cluster was evaluated for priority for GMKA (1 priority – highest, 3 priority – lowest).

Part of the collected semantics

In this way, we laid the foundation for creating content that would meet the needs of users across different areas.

Blog Expansion

As part of the internal optimization, we also focused on expanding the blog, which serves as a tool for attracting organic traffic and providing users with useful information. As a result, 12 new blog pages were developed.

Example of a technical assignment for writing an article

We also formulated a blog development strategy, selecting traffic-generating and lead-generating topics, and divided articles for doctors and patients, ensuring more accurate alignment with the needs of different user groups (as mentioned earlier).

External Optimization

Off-Page SEO is a critically important stage aimed at increasing the site’s authority in the eyes of search engines and attracting targeted traffic. Our strategy was based on competitor analysis, careful selection of platforms for link placement, and gradual building of the backlink profile.

Competitor Analysis

Effective backlink building is impossible without identifying niche leaders based on key queries relevant to GMKA and analyzing the backlink profile of competitors, assessing the authority, traffic, and topical relevance of the donor domains. This is exactly what we focused on. The results of our work can be seen in the table.

Summary table of direct competitors by relevant parameters

We managed to determine the necessary quantity and quality of links required to enhance the authority of the GMKA site. Based on this, we developed a backlink building strategy aimed at achieving maximum efficiency and reaching the TOP positions.

Strategy Implementation through Outreach

The main work on external optimization was focused on outreach, as the project had been in the relocation phase for a long time. Our team approached the process with maximum diligence, ensuring not only an increase in the number of backlinks but also their quality and relevance.

1. Careful Selection of Platforms

We did not simply place links on any resources; we focused on selecting quality platforms that align with the theme of the GMKA site. This process included:

• analyzing backlinks of competitors who occupy top positions and consistently maintain them;
• filtering out irrelevant resources (websites with low traffic or weak performance by various criteria);
• evaluating the traffic of donor sites and collaborating only with platforms that show increasing visits.

2. Strategic Link Placement

Our team carefully checked the performance metrics of each resource to ensure their reliability and potential benefit for the project. All links were placed carefully, considering long-term goals.

To track progress and make timely adjustments, systematic monitoring and analysis of backlink growth were carried out. As a result, we improved both the visibility of the site and its authority in the eyes of search engines.

Results

Having completed all stages of optimization, from technical audit to backlink building, we proudly present the achievements made during our collaboration with GMKA.

From 05.2024 to 01.2025, we:

1. Increased the number of users on the site from 2,992 to 11,869.

Traffic growth dynamics during the promotion period

2. We pushed 7 key queries to TOP 1, and even more queries reached TOP 3, 5, 10, 30, and 100.

Metrics	TOP 1	TOP 3	TOP 5	TOP 10	TOP 30	TOP 100
At the Start of the Project	8	12	16	36	53	80
At the End of the Project	15	59	87	121	138	65

Position growth dynamics during the promotion period

3. We moved priority clusters into the TOP 10 search results.

Example of one of the 17 clusters in the TOP: “Head Injury”

4. We increased the number of pages in the organic search results.

Dynamics of pages during the promotion period

5. We nearly doubled the number of domains linking to the site.

Dynamics of link building during the promotion period

Overall growth in traffic, rankings, and pages in organic search since the start of the promotion

Thanks to a comprehensive approach and dedicated efforts, we not only accomplished the assigned tasks but also exceeded initial expectations, ensuring significant progress in key performance indicators.

Conclusion

The comprehensive work of our team on the GMKA website led to remarkable improvements across all critical areas. Through meticulous technical optimization, semantic analysis, and active outreach, we achieved higher search engine rankings, a substantial increase in organic traffic, and, consequently, growth in MQL/SQL metrics.

The results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy. If you are looking to enhance your website’s visibility, boost organic traffic, and attract new clients – contact a Luxeo manager today!