Case study · in progress · Day 0 of 90
Wild Yonder Wellness: a local SEO case study, in real time
A five-star Prairie Village massage studio that AI assistants already recommend, and Google Maps barely shows. Here is the starting point, the plan, and every re-measure as it happens.
(no fudging the numbers. promise.)The starting point
People who already know Wild Yonder love it. People searching for a massage often can’t find it.
What AI assistants say
#1
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Mode all named Wild Yonder the top pick for “best massage therapist in Prairie Village.” Clients rate the studio 5.0 across 38 Google reviews.
What Google Maps shows
0 of 49
On a 49-point map grid around the studio, Wild Yonder never made the top 3 for “massage prairie village.” Another studio in the same building averages #1.1. Wild Yonder averages #9.1.
Same building, same city, very different results. That rules out location. The difference is in the listing, the website and the reviews, which is good news: those can all be fixed.
Baseline locked · Sep 27, 2026
The Day 0 scoreboard
The “before” numbers. Each one gets re-measured the same way at Day 30, 60 and 90, and this table fills in as it happens.
| Measure | Day 0 | Day 30 | Day 60 | Day 90 | Better if |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average map rank, “massage prairie village” | #9.1 | ~Oct 27 | ~Nov 26 | ~Dec 26 | Lower |
| Map grid points in the top 3 | 0 of 49 | Higher | |||
| Tracked searches in Google’s local pack | 0 of 14 | Higher | |||
| AI answers that name Wild Yonder | 8 of 25 | Higher | |||
| Google reviews | 38 · 5.0 | Higher | |||
| New Google reviews per month | 1.3 | Higher | |||
| Listings with mismatched name, address or phone | 23 | Lower | |||
| Pages Google can index | 4 | Higher | |||
| Mobile page speed, homepage | 84 / 100 | Higher |
Sources: BrightLocal 7×7 map grid and rank tracker, Google Business Profile, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and 25 logged-out AI prompts with dated screenshots. Booking numbers come from the studio’s own scheduling system and stay private unless the owner chooses to share them.
What the audit found
43 findings in total. These are the ones that explain the gap, sorted into the same four pillars every audit uses.
Findable
The listing said “spa,” not “massage”
The main Google category was Health spa, the strongest signal Google uses to decide which searches a business shows up for. Hours also differed across Google, Apple Maps and the website, and the website’s map pin sat about six miles away.
Readable
One page doing every job
The site had four indexable pages and no page for any single service, so 87% of search visitors landed on the homepage. In every service search, the businesses that won had a page for that service.
Credible
Great reviews, slow pace
A perfect 5.0 rating, with new reviews arriving at 1.3 a month, about half the pace of the nearest competitor. Practitioner bios were missing credentials, and one licensing year was listed wrong.
Citable
AI loved it, then repeated old mistakes
Assistants named Wild Yonder for “best massage therapist” but skipped it for deep tissue, prenatal and craniosacral questions. They also repeated outdated details from the site, including a service the studio doesn’t offer.
The most useful pattern
ChatGPT answered from the Google listing. Perplexity answered from the website. Fixing the listing moves one; fixing the website moves the other. That’s why the plan below does both.
The plan, in order
Ranked by likely impact on new client bookings, then by effort. Nothing changes until the owner approves it.
- Approved Sep 27
Change the main Google category to Massage therapist
Keep Health spa as a secondary category. Under an hour.
- Walkthrough, week of Oct 5
One name and one set of hours, everywhere
Google, Apple Maps and the website’s business data, all matching. One to two hours.
- Scope decision
A page for each service, starting with deep tissue
Who performs it, how long, the price, and a booking button. A multi-day build.
- Walkthrough, week of Oct 5
Ask for reviews that name the therapist
A direct link to the review form, plus a personal ask at checkout. Under an hour to set up.
- Walkthrough, week of Oct 5
Make bookings from Google measurable
Tracking on the website and booking links, so Day 90 can connect visibility to appointments. About an hour.
The next 90 days
Baseline locked
Sep 27 · done
Every “before” number captured and frozen.
Walkthrough and quick wins
Oct 5 to 19
Approvals, then the category, hours, reviews and tracking fixes.
Build
Weeks 3 to 8
Service pages, practitioner bios and listing cleanup.
Day 30, 60, 90
~Oct 27 · Nov 26 · Dec 26
Same measurements, published here each time.
method · so the before and after are fair
How it’s measured
- Same map grid every time. A 7×7 grid centered on the studio, the same keywords, the same tool.
- Same AI questions every time. 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, run logged out, word for word, with dated screenshots.
- Honest caveats. Google Analytics undercounts visitors who decline cookies, so the banner stays the same through Day 90. Holiday months get compared with care, since bookings dip then.
- Published as measured. If a number goes the wrong way, it goes on this page too.
In his words
“Grand Schema caught tons of discrepancies across my business listings and platforms, many of them small details that would have been very easy to miss but can make a real difference in whether your business shows up in search. I’m very pleased with the audit and the work we did together, and I’m excited to see the results.”
Disclosure
Michael Short, Wild Yonder’s owner, is my brother-in-law, and I offer sound healing sessions at the studio through my practice, Carried Sound. You should know that before you read any result here. Published with Michael’s permission, including the baseline numbers.
Your turn
Want a baseline like this for your practice?
Every site audit starts the same way: dated numbers, real screenshots, and a plan in plain language. Then you decide what happens next.
Not ready? Take the free scorecard first. It takes about three minutes.