SEO Promotion of a Medical Product: How Getting into Answer Boxes Helped Us

We were contacted by a drug brand (referred to here as the Alpha brand due to privacy policy) with the primary task of increasing traffic on their website. Using SEO tools, we focused on Featured Snippets (also called Answer Boxes). The results we got blew our minds: the website’s traffic increased 8 times.

We have been working on this website for a year, from April 2021 to April 2022. Initially, it got 7,749 clicks from search engines. We set a goal of 15,000 clicks, but the results far exceeded our expectations, reaching 63,097 clicks by March 2022.

We always break down the website promotion work into several stages to divide the load and highlight specific tasks within the overall plan.

Stage One: SEO Audit

We start by collecting the semantic core. This includes customer surveys, market and competitor analysis, and identification of search engine queries.

Demand gives us a hint of how we can meet the needs of users: using informational content or commercial content.

After that, we formulate theses, descriptions, and content itself — in short, everything that will be reflected in the articles. It must meet medical requirements, so we coordinate everything with the client.

The output is a list of keywords and search queries. That list will be the very base that will lead new users to the website.

Our extra task was to correctly formulate searches concerning the medical field. The main difficulty was the need to avoid intersections between the general terms, diagnoses, and treatments.

Stage Two: Answers to Users’ Questions

Content in medicine is not only information about drugs, but also a story about the team: it is necessary to introduce the user to the company’s specialists, correctly indicate their qualifications, and show what achievements and results the team has. Potential clients always carefully study such information, since the issue concerns their health. It’s vital for people to feel confident that they are entrusting their health to real specialists.

Thus, the content that works to build trust includes diplomas, certificates, awards, and research.

Key criteria for building trust are the availability of information, ensuring all relevant details can be found on the website; real facts, as the company should adhere to the principle of reliability; and a strong reputation, as users often check reviews about the company.

Stage Three: Visitors Read Articles From Answer Boxes 3–10 Times More

During the first three months of SEO work, we filled the whole website with brand-new content. Search engine algorithms scanned these articles and displayed them at certain positions in the search results.

Three months later, we could already see the results: the blog pages we worked on appeared more frequently in featured snippets. The specific indicator varies for each article, but the overall dynamics show that these articles are visited 3–10 times more often.

Bottom line: pages with higher traffic came out on the first page of search results.

Stage Four: Focusing on Featured Snippets

We decided to identify specific queries that lead the website’s pages to answer boxes. This helped us determine how to make other articles about the customer’s company more popular.

The logic is as follows:

In total, we got 57 searches. These included not only specific medical terminology but also questions on which the user could clarify various details about the procedure itself.

The selected queries helped us refine the content that the blog was filled with. We added new articles and rewrote the old ones, taking into account the following criteria for featured snippets:

Stage Five: Tracking Statistics

The year of work was not in vain, as search queries brought new users to the site. The indicator was 4 times bigger than the planned value and 8 times bigger than the initial value at the start of the work.

Together with the client, we clearly saw that the result of working with answer boxes seriously exceeded all our expectations. This means that we have correctly selected the tool from other possible SEO options. We also managed to quickly navigate the current situation with the site.

Additionally, we realized that while enhancing content quality and optimization can be effective on its own, it is the combination with featured snippets that maximizes efficiency.

The increase in the number of sessions is illustrated in the following table:

Promoting reworked articles with Google Answer Boxes allows the website to reach the top three search positions, significantly increasing the number of organic visits. We did not use paid promotion for the new articles, but the company’s own advertising efforts played a role in boosting confidence in the drug and the Alpha brand:

SEO optimization involves a complex series of tasks that are often best handled by specialists over several months. However, there are several small tasks you can complete on your own.

1. Study the Searches. You need exactly the ones that the search engine leads users to quick responses for.

Hint: Featured snippets are formulated when the request implies a short, succinct response. Try to model what users might ask, and what information they need in a condensed form.

Examples: questions like «what to do if I have [symptom]», «how much does [medical procedure] cost». Responses include instructions, recipes, terminology, and ratings.

You can also use the «Similar queries» section to help you understand the user logic.

Additionally, select keywords and analyze competitors through special SEO services, many of which are free of charge.

2. Select Specific Pages. It is important to determine which pages you’ll optimize and focus on them.

The most effective approach is to work with pages that are already in the top search results, such as the first ten. These are the pages that search engines will likely use for featured snippets.

SEO services can help identify the specific queries for which the site is ranked, guiding what to work on first.

3. Work with the Content. Refine existing relevant articles and add the necessary information, and if some articles are missing, create new ones.

Add keywords from your queries, especially those highlighted in bold in quick responses. You don’t have to use these exact words, feel free to experiment with different variations of the same question.

Formulate descriptions of terms. If the user asks «what is…», the search engine will most likely generate an answer box.

Create detailed articles that address several questions within the material. While only one may be included in quick answers, others can still drive traffic.

4. Separate the Content Formats. Search engines will focus on a clear structure in the texts: if the material is potentially understandable to the user and easy to understand, then it is suitable for answer boxes.

Include parts of search queries in block subheadings. It will be easier for both the user and the search engine to understand which section responds to a particular query.

Try to fit the answer within a single paragraph. Note that quick responses are limited to 370 characters with spaces. Information from large paragraphs will still not be shown in full — and the user is primarily interested in clicking on links when they already see an exhaustive response to their searches.

Use numbered lists for sequences of actions and unnumbered lists for equivalent elements.

Add visual components like illustrations and tables to make the information more engaging and prominent in search results.

Our agency can assist with comprehensive material optimization, taking into account the specifics of your company and field. We handle website optimization, user growth, brand awareness, reputation improvement, and customer trust, along with other tasks tailored to your company’s goals.