We Cut Their Ad Traffic by 15%... And Tripled Their Patient Phone Calls

About the Project

Bridgwater Physiotherapy is a leading local Physiotherapy clinic that was suffering from the "Vanity Metric" trap. Their previous agency was reporting great numbers on paper - lots of clicks and "website traffic" - but the clinic's phone wasn't ringing enough to justify the spend.

They were effectively "paying for eyeballs" rather than patients. Their Google Ads account was bloated with low-quality traffic, and their organic presence was virtually invisible, forcing them to rely 100% on paid ads to survive.

Rankingeek Marketing Agency stepped in to perform a Traffic Efficiency Audit. Our goal was counter-intuitive: we wanted to reduce their paid traffic volume to eliminate waste, while simultaneously engineering their site to capture high-intent patients who actually pick up the phone.

The Challenge

The clinic was bleeding budget on broad, low-intent keywords. In 2024, they drove 3,334 paid visitors to the site, but only generated 192 phone calls. That’s a lot of wasted clicks.

Worse, their tracking was "hallucinating." They were counting generic "Book Button Clicks" as leads (2,500+ of them!), even if the user never actually filled out the form. This gave the clinic a false sense of success while their appointment book remained empty.

• Inefficient Ad Spend: Paying for volume, not intent.
• The "Rental" Trap: Only ~2,800 organic visitors meant they had no long-term digital equity.
• Phantom Tracking: Over-reporting "clicks" as conversions (2,593 "button clicks" vs. only 14 actual confirmed bookings).
• Low Call Volume: The front desk was quiet despite high web traffic.

The Solution

We stopped optimizing for Clicks and started optimizing for Conversations.

• The "bloat" Removal (Paid Ads): We aggressively audited their Google Ads account, scrubbing negative keywords and pausing broad-match terms that were driving "tire kickers." We intentionally reduced paid traffic by 15% - eliminating the junk.
• The "Call-First" Strategy: We shifted the campaign objective to "Inbound Calls." We deployed Mobile-First ads and "Call-Only" campaigns targeting patients in immediate pain (e.g., "Emergency Physio Near Me").
• The Organic Build (SEO): We stopped renting traffic and started building assets. We optimized their local content to rank for specific modalities (e.g., Pelvic Floor, Sports Injury), turning their website into a local authority.
• Truth in Data: We deleted the generic "Button Click" goals and installed Verified Conversion Tracking. We now only count a lead if they land on a "Thank You" page or speak to a human for more than 60 seconds.

The Results

This client is a textbook example of "Addition by Subtraction." By cutting the junk traffic (-15% Paid Users), we allowed the budget to focus on high-intent patients. The result was a massive spike in revenue-generating actions.