Rebuilding a health system blog for AI search, without losing the human touch
Franciscan Health partnered with WG Content to evolve its blog strategy for search intent, AEO and the patient journey — and emerged as an AI search leader.
HQ: Indiana
Industry: Health System
Founded in 1875
19K+ team members
We were already writing for real people, the person up late at night, worried about symptoms. That positioned us incredibly well for AI. WG Content helped us take that foundation and make it work harder.
Robbie Schneider, SMS
Social Media Manager
Opportunity
As AI-powered search reshaped how people find health information, Franciscan Health needed its blog to do more than publish good content. It needed to surface for complex questions and guide patients confidently to next steps in care.
Solution
WG Content partnered with Franciscan Health to reorganize and optimize blog content around search intent and the patient journey, transforming existing posts into strategic, AI-visible content ecosystems.
Results
Franciscan Health achieved sustained organic growth, thousands of AI Overview placements and visibility alongside national healthcare brands without relying on paid traffic. It also strengthened its role as a trusted local health authority.
Opportunity
A strong blog foundation and a changing search landscape
Franciscan Health was not starting from scratch. Its blog had already evolved beyond generic health articles and focused instead on real people and real questions. These included anxious late-night searches, unfamiliar diagnoses and moments when patients need clarity they can trust.
That human-first approach proved valuable when search behavior began to change.
As AI tools, search overviews and conversational interfaces became a first stop for health questions, the bar moved. High-quality content alone was not enough. To stay visible and valuable, Franciscan needed to:
- Show up for longer, more specific questions
- Compete with national brands and unvetted sources like forums and Reddit
- Guide readers clearly through the patient journey, not just answer isolated questions
Early in the year, like many health systems, Franciscan Health saw signs of disruption.
“We saw a dip in the first and second quarters,” says Robbie Schneider, SMS, social media manager at Franciscan. “That’s when we realized we needed to lean in and rethink how to structure and surface our content.”
Needing to scale up resources, Franciscan turned to WG Content to assist with optimization while continuing to publish new content.
Solution
From standalone posts to intent-driven content journeys
Franciscan Health partnered with WG Content to evolve its blog strategy, not by chasing trends but by making existing content work harder.
Rather than publishing disconnected posts, the team shifted toward:
- Organizing content by search intent
- Mapping articles to patient journey stages
- Improving structure, clarity and internal pathways between posts
- Optimizing for SEO, AEO and AI-driven discovery
One standout example was concussion content.
Franciscan already had multiple blog posts on concussions. Individually, they performed well. Together, they lacked cohesion. WG Content helped repackage the content into a clear patient-centered series:
“We did not need to start over,” says Robbie. “We had four good blogs. WG Content helped us repackage them through the journey. Symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and post-treatment. That made all the difference.”
Now, each article answers one core question. Each one points readers to the logical next step.
WG Content supported both strategic planning and execution, writing and refreshing consumer-focused health content and translating complex topics into accessible language.
“WG Content does a phenomenal job making complex health information understandable,” says Robbie. “Their storytelling, accuracy and brand alignment are consistently strong.”
Results
Organic growth and AI visibility without paid traffic
The impact was both immediate and sustained. Despite widespread traffic challenges across healthcare websites due to AI Overviews, Franciscan Health’s blog performance remained strong. Growth was driven entirely by SEO and AEO improvements — not paid media.
Key results include:
- 103 new blog posts developed in 2025 by Franciscan Health and WG Content
- 259 existing blogs updated for search intent and patient journey alignment
- 13.05% increase in blog landing page views YTD (1,669,451 vs. 1,476,786)
- 48.5% increase in blog landing page views in November 2025 vs. November 2024
- More than 6,100 AI Overview results referencing Franciscan blog content as of December 2025
Franciscan Health now appears in AI Overviews at a significantly higher rate than major competitors, and up to 1,000 times more than some academic medical centers in its markets.
“Our analysis indicated that AI Overviews were driving people directly to our blog,” says Robbie. “We are showing up with some of the biggest healthcare brands and doing it as a regional health system.”
These visibility gains, as reported by Conductor, place Franciscan Health among top AI search market leaders, alongside nationally recognized healthcare brands like Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic, while remaining a trusted local source.
By focusing on usefulness, structure and patient-centered storytelling, Franciscan created a blog that answers the questions people actually ask, explains complex topics without jargon and helps readers decide what to do next.
“No matter the size of your team, there are small strategic shifts you can make,” says Robbie. “Reworking what you already have is where the impact is.”
Want similar results?
WG Content will help you turn your blog into a search-intent and AI visibility engine.
Get more insights from the experts at WG Content
AI visibility in healthcare: What 45 tests reveal
What 45 AI visibility tests reveal about how healthcare organizations…
Do press releases still matter in healthcare?
Press releases should serve as credible, time-bound sources of truth…
12 healthcare website redesign lessons
Gearing up for a website overhaul? Be wary of these…