NorthShore University Health System
“We split search strategy into what to own organically and what to win through paid.”
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It all starts here
Their Story
NorthShore University HealthSystem is an integrated healthcare delivery system with more than 10,000 employees and over 900 physicians across primary and specialty care.
The Challenge
NorthShore needed to market a wide range of services within a highly competitive healthcare landscape—while working with limited resources.
The goal was to:
- Increase visibility across key service lines
- Drive more appointment requests
- Improve efficiency across marketing spend
The Insights
- Highly competitive, short-tail keywords were difficult to win organically
- Long-tail keywords offered stronger opportunities for organic growth
- Not all service lines delivered equal value, requiring prioritization
- Combining paid and organic strategically could maximize total search coverage
The Strategy
Rise developed a unified search strategy that balanced paid and organic efforts—prioritizing where to “own” visibility organically and where to “rent” it through paid media.
The Solution
Own vs. Rent Keyword Strategy
- Used paid search to capture competitive, short-tail keywords
- Focused organic efforts on long-tail keywords with higher ranking potential
- Maximized visibility across both channels without overspending
Data-Driven Optimization
- Leveraged data from Google Ads, Bing Ads, Google Analytics, Invoca, and more
- Identified trends and adjusted bids in near real-time
- Aligned messaging and content with user intent
Account & Content Restructuring
- Reorganized paid search campaigns around high-value service lines
- Improved budget control, ad personalization, and bid strategies
- Refreshed keywords, metadata, and on-page content to boost organic performance
The Results
The integrated approach improved both efficiency and performance across key service lines.
increase in organic traffic YoY on cancer pages
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increase in appointment requests across major service lines with only 6% increase in CPA
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%
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