Dashboard 5 — Patient Search Journey by Speciality
Hub Report · Fellocraft Research · FY25–26
Orthopaedics BOFU volume
663K/mo
Practo ranks #1 for both top queries
Hospital absent — oncology BOFU
0 of 24
No hospital brand in top 500 for any oncology BOFU query
TOFU AIO interception
82–86%
Awareness queries answered by AI — patients do not click through
Only city BOFU win
Fortis Delhi
Best neurologist in delhi — position 1
The decision point lives on aggregator SERPs.
Across 189 procedure and specialist keywords spanning cardiology, orthopaedics, oncology, and neurology, hospital chains rank in the top 3 for fewer than 10% of high-volume queries. At BOFU — where a patient is actively searching for where to go — Practo and Lybrate rank first for the highest-volume queries in every speciality. The patient journey decision point does not happen on a hospital website. It happens on an aggregator listing page.
Panel 1

Funnel volume distribution by speciality

National search demand across TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU stages. Orthopaedics is the outlier: unlike the other three specialities, the majority of its search demand sits in BOFU — where aggregator platforms dominate the conversion path.

TOFU — high AI Overview risk
MOFU — hospital opportunity when present
BOFU — aggregator dominance zone
TOFU bars = high AI Overview risk (82–86% AIO rate). BOFU bars = aggregator dominance zone. Hospital brands are strongest at MOFU when present — but they are rarely present.
Panel 2

SERP ownership heatmap

How visible hospital chains are at each stage of the patient journey. Deep coral signals a discovery gap; teal mid indicates partial presence; full teal indicates meaningful hospital wins on key queries.

TOFU
MOFU
BOFU
Cardiology
Partial
Apollo p4 only on major symptom queries. Most awareness terms have no hospital brand.
Absent
Only branded institutional searches show hospital presence. Generic MOFU is empty.
Minimal
Apollo p2 on one query. Most “best cardiologist” and cost queries are aggregator territory.
Orthopaedics
Partial
Max and Narayana have isolated wins, but most symptom searches remain hospital-free.
Absent
The research layer is extremely thin. Patients jump from symptoms to near-me intent.
Weak
Practo #1 on the two biggest BOFU queries. Hospital brands begin around positions 4–5.
Oncology
Absent
Highest TOFU volume in the set, yet no hospital chain meaningfully owns symptom discovery.
Absent
MOFU is captured by Tata Memorial branded demand, not by private hospital chains.
Absent
Complete discovery gap. No hospital brand appears in the top 500 for oncology BOFU.
Neurology
Moderate
Max and Manipal show repeated TOFU presence on symptoms and condition keywords.
Absent
MOFU is dominated by NIMHANS and non-brand informational demand, not our hospital set.
Moderate
Fortis and Apollo win a few city-led BOFU terms, but Lybrate/Practo own the highest-volume query.

Cross-speciality pattern

Cardiology: weak TOFU, absent MOFU, minimal BOFU — one partial Apollo appearance does not change the broader aggregator-led discovery pattern.

Orthopaedics: the most dangerous speciality for hospital marketers because 77% of search volume sits in BOFU, precisely where Practo wins.

Oncology: the most complete gap in the dataset. Hospital chains are largely invisible from symptom discovery to treatment-intent search.

Neurology: the only speciality with recurring hospital BOFU wins, but those wins are city-specific and far smaller than the “neurologist near me” discovery query.

Panel 3

Top BOFU queries and winner table

The ten highest-value decision-stage searches across the four specialities. This is the clearest view of where patient intent converts into aggregator traffic rather than hospital traffic.

Query Speciality Volume #1 ranker Hospital position
Physiotherapy near me Orthopaedics 301,000 Practo None in top 500
Orthopedic doctor near me Orthopaedics 246,000 Practo Apollo p4
Neurologist near me Neurology 110,000 Lybrate Apollo p4
Ortho near me Orthopaedics 90,500 Practo Max p4
Cardiologist near me Cardiology 60,500 Mixed Apollo p2 ✓
Heart specialist near me Cardiology 27,100 Aggregator None in top 500
Best neurologist in delhi Neurology 9,900 Fortis Fortis p1 ✓
Best neurologist in hyderabad Neurology 9,900 Mixed KIMS p7
Oncologist near me Oncology 6,600 Aggregator None in top 500
Best neurologist in chennai Neurology 5,400 Apollo Apollo p1 ✓
Source: Fellocraft cross-reference of Semrush bulk keyword data (189 keywords, April 2026) against Semrush top-500 organic keyword exports per brand (March 2026). Rankings reflect top-500 sample — brands may rank outside top 500 for some queries. Directional analysis for competitive benchmarking.
Sources: Semrush bulk keyword analysis, India database, April 2026 (189 keywords across 4 specialities). Fellocraft cross-reference analysis against Semrush top-500 organic keyword exports for 11 hospital and aggregator brands, March 2026. AIO and local pack presence from Semrush SERP Features data. All rankings are directional estimates from top-500 keyword samples — actual SERP positions vary by location, device, and personalisation.