20% More Patients, Zero Ad Spend
How we helped Dr Jonathan Negus, a Sydney knee surgeon, dominate the searches that matter most in his specialty — from “knee surgeon Sydney” to the questions patients ask months before they book.
Patients Search Long Before They Book
Nobody wakes up and searches “knee surgeon”. They search “pain behind knee”, “meniscus tear symptoms”, “knee replacement cost Australia” — weeks or months before they’re ready to see a specialist. Those searches are dominated by giant health portals and hospital groups, and most surgeons’ websites never compete for them.
That leaves a specialist practice dependent on GP referrals and word of mouth, with no way to reach the patient who is quietly researching their own knee. The surgeon who answers those questions first is the surgeon that patient asks to see.
Own the Whole Patient Journey
Symptom Content First
We built pages answering the searches patients actually start with: pain behind the knee, clicking and locking, knee pain at night, morning knee pain. These now rank #1 for terms like “ache behind knee” (1,600 searches a month) and “back of knee hurts”.
Condition and Procedure Depth
Every condition Dr Negus treats has a dedicated page — meniscus tears, knee arthritis, patellofemoral pain — feeding into procedure pages for knee replacement, reconstruction and arthroscopy. “Meniscal rupture” ranks #1; “meniscus” ranks #2 against 8,100 monthly searches.
The Cost Conversation
Cost searches signal a patient close to deciding, and most surgeons avoid the topic. We answered it head-on. The practice now holds page one for the entire cluster: “knee replacement surgery cost”, “knee replacement cost Australia”, “knee surgery cost” and more.
Built for AI Answers Too
Search has split in two: Google and AI engines. The same structured, clinically accurate content now appears in 193 Google AI Overviews, so when a patient asks AI about their knee, Dr Negus is the name in the answer.
A patient who read your explanation of their meniscus tear, what surgery involves and what it costs has already chosen you. The consultation just confirms it.
Dominating the Commercial Keywords
These are the searches a knee surgeon’s practice is built on — high intent, close to booking, and fought over by every clinic and hospital group in the market. Current positions, from live ranking data:
| Keyword | Position | Searches / Month |
|---|---|---|
| knee arthroscopy sydney | #1 | 70 |
| knee specialist | #5 | 170 |
| best knee surgeon in sydney | #8 | 50 |
| knee surgeons sydney | #9 | 70 |
| orthopedic surgeon central coast | #9 | 110 |
| knee specialist sydney | #10 | 170 |
| knee replacement surgery cost | #7 | 590 |
| knee replacement cost australia | #8–9 | 520 combined |
Positions from an organic rankings export (Australia), August 2026. Search volumes are monthly averages. Rankings move; these reflect the date of the export.
Behind the commercial terms sits the volume: 1,290 keywords ranking in total, 269 in the top three, and page-one positions on high-volume patient searches like “meniscus” (8,100/month), “meniscal rupture” (2,400/month) and “pain behind knee” (1,600/month).
A Practice That Compounds
- 20% growth in new patients, generated organically — no ad spend, no bought leads, no dependence on referral flow alone.
- 480 page-one keywords, 230 at #1. The practice owns its specialty’s search landscape from first symptom to final decision.
- 193 AI Overview placements. As patients shift from Google to AI answers, the practice is already the cited source, not the one catching up.
- An asset that keeps working. Every ranking earned keeps producing enquiries month after month, while a paid campaign would stop the day the budget did.
Want Patients Finding You First?
We build organic patient pipelines for Australian specialists and healthcare practices. No lock-in contracts. If it’s not working, you can leave whenever you want.
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