Eye Care Center Data-Driven Growth in AI Search Visibility

Industry

Wellness

The Challenge

Horizon Eye Specialists and LASIK Center partnered with StringCan in March 2025 to improve organic search performance, increase patient-driven conversions, and prepare their content for visibility in search engine AI engines (AEO) like ChatGPT and Gemini.

Horizon Eye had previously performed well in terms of both branded and non-branded search terms. However, the evolving SEO/AEO/GEO landscape had negatively impacted performance. Horizon had to find a way to reclaim its prominence in organic local search while also layering in elements of AI search visibility to improve its performance in a highly competitive segment. The challenge was clear; StringCan must focus on the following goals to help move the needle:

Strengthen non-branded LASIK and cataract rankings
Improve engagement across procedure pages
Increase location visibility in Phoenix, Goodyear, Scottsdale, and Sun City
Align LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to reduce generic answers, while elevating the likelihood of Horizon being mentioned/cited
Level the playing field to compete more effectively with national and regional eye-care players

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The Solution

StringCan executed a combined SEO + AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) + GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) program which identified, addressed and improved the overall performance of the site through:

1. Content Optimization

Reformatted high-value landing pages (e.g., procedures, locations and physicians) for answer style clarity and location reinforcement.
Rewrote metadata to align with real search intent.
Improved internal linking, schema, and crawl consistency.

2. New Content Creation

Instituted new content standards to fully leverage AI search practices.
Implemented revised content strategies to include SEO and AI-friendly content briefs to assist in AI findability.
Created topics and resulting content better aligned with search intent and industry trends.

3. Technical and Local Optimization

Reinforced relationships between doctors, locations, and services.
Improved overall internal linking, schema and crawl consistency.
Optimized Google Business profile to improve AI performance; monitored ongoing progress with updates where needed.

The Outcome

StringCan’s work produced clear, measurable performance gains across organic, local, and AI-based search channels, delivering improvement in AI visibility, local and non-branded search terms and measurable engagement lift on all optimized pages along with accurate representation of Horizon’s information across all LLMs.

Since then, Horizon has experienced measurable improvements across rankings, impressions, high-intent conversions, entity clarity, and AI-assisted discoverability.

Over a time period of eight months (March-November 2025), Horizon achieved:

32K+ organic clicks to the website (up 72% YOY)
2.38M impressions (+171% YOY)
Average position is 35% YOY
3,250 high-intent organic conversions (+114% YOY), top conversions include:
- click to call = 1,717
- schedule now appointment booking = 664
- request appointment form submissions = 219
- eye-quiz submissions = 283

3,238 ranking improvements (+105 local gains)
Multiple #1 positions for goal keywords
Their top service line, LASIK, received several ranking wins:
- “eye care center near me” – #6 to #1
- “eye glasses downtown phoenix” – now #3
- “lasik scottsdale az” – now #1