SEO case studies · data as of October 2026

Six sites, measured from the month we started

Real numbers from Semrush, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools. Clients stay anonymous. Drag the slider under each main chart to watch the change happen.

Gardening reference · Bing15.2KBing clicks in 24 monthsFrom almost no Bing traffic to more than 15,000 Bing clicks
Chiropractor · Southeast4 → 16keywords in Google's top 3Top 3 on Google for “best chiropractor” in its city
Water treatment · Southeast2 → 32tracked keywords in the top 202 → 32 tracked keywords on Google's first two pages in four months
Roofing contractor · Southeast13 → 41keywords on Google's first two pagesRanking in the new cities it set out to win
Music instructor · Southeast#8for its main “lessons near me” searchOne landing page put its main search on page 1, and it has held for 13 months
Water treatment · U.S.68 → 188ranking keywordsA rebuilt site nearly tripled its ranking keywords in one quarter

Case 1 · Our own site · Gardening reference · Bing

From almost no Bing traffic to more than 15,000 Bing clicks

Plant Guide Online, our own planting-zone reference · readable town URLs, an open XML sitemap, structured data, internal links

15.2KBing clicks in 24 months

318.4KBing impressions
5–10 → 40–70Bing clicks a day, Jan → Sep 2026
1,279Bing search terms

Bing Webmaster Tools chart for the last 24 months showing 15.2K clicks and 318.4K impressions. Clicks stay in the low single digits a day until February 2026, then climb steadily to roughly 40 to 70 a day by September and October 2026. — Bing Webmaster Tools, last 24 monthsBing Webmaster Tools · daily · purple = clicks, blue = impressions

Bing clicks started climbing about eight weeks after we opened the sitemap to all crawlers (December 2025) and have kept rising for eight months.

See the keywords

Example Bing searches it ranks for
Search	Recent impressions	Avg. position
what planting zone is conroe tx	137	#4.6
what to plant now by zip code	11	#5.0
planting zone for college station texas	7	#3.4
what growing zone is benbow ca in	8	#1.5

Case 2 · Chiropractor · Southeast

Top 3 on Google for “best chiropractor” in its city

One-location clinic · service, pricing, and condition pages plus link building since December 2025

4 → 16keywords in Google's top 3

11 → 32keywords on page 1
#37 → #3“best chiropractor + [city]”
16 → 50reputable sites linking to it

Keywords in Google's top 3Semrush Domain Analytics (US) · monthly · Oct 2024 – Sep 2026

16Sep '26+12 since Nov '25

Keywords in Google's top 3, Case 2
Period	Top-3 keywords
Oct '24	0
Nov '24	0
Dec '24	2
Jan '25	1
Feb '25	2
Mar '25	4
Apr '25	1
May '25	3
Jun '25	2
Jul '25	4
Aug '25	4
Sep '25	4
Oct '25	4
Nov '25	4
Dec '25	6
Jan '26	6
Feb '26	7
Mar '26	7
Apr '26	6
May '26	13
Jun '26	12
Jul '26	6
Aug '26	7
Sep '26	16

Reputable websites linking to the siteSemrush · referring domains with Authority Score 10+, running total · Oct 2024 – Sep 2026

Reputable websites linking to the site, Case 2
Period	Referring domains, Authority Score 10+
Oct '24	2
Nov '24	2
Dec '24	2
Jan '25	2
Feb '25	4
Mar '25	5
Apr '25	5
May '25	5
Jun '25	6
Jul '25	6
Aug '25	6
Sep '25	6
Oct '25	9
Nov '25	16
Dec '25	18
Jan '26	19
Feb '26	27
Mar '26	32
Apr '26	38
May '26	39
Jun '26	44
Jul '26	44
Aug '26	48
Sep '26	50

Pages written for what patients search (prices, walk-ins, sciatica) moved the clinic onto page 1 for its city’s main searches; clicks have held steady so far.

See the keywords

Searches without the clinic’s name, a year apart (Search Console)
Search	2025	2026
best chiropractor + [city] + [state]	#37.0	#3.2
best chiropractor in + [city] + [state]	#19.3	#3.7
chiropractor in + [city] + [state]	#36.7	#9.8
chiropractor + [city] + [state]	#13.2	#8.6

Case 3 · Water treatment · Southeast

2 → 32 tracked keywords on Google's first two pages in four months

Water softeners and filtration for a metro area · site improvements and link building since June 2026

2 → 32tracked keywords in the top 20

81 vs. 4keywords improved vs. declined
6 → 15Semrush Authority Score
54 → 131total ranking keywords

Tracked keywords in the top 20Semrush Position Tracking · 194 keywords · weekly · Jun 24 – Oct 14, 2026

32Oct 14+30 since Jun 24

Top 20
Top 10

Tracked keywords in the top 20, Case 3
Period	Top 20	Top 10
Jun 24	2	2
Jul 1	3	2
Jul 8	3	2
Jul 15	3	2
Jul 22	2	2
Jul 29	3	2
Aug 5	2	2
Aug 12	3	2
Aug 19	14	3
Aug 26	19	3
Sep 2	54	8
Sep 9	53	10
Sep 16	42	6
Sep 23	43	7
Sep 30	39	9
Oct 7	31	8
Oct 14	32	7

Semrush Authority ScoreSemrush · 0–100 scale, weighted by link quality · Nov 2024 – Oct 2026

Semrush Authority Score, Case 3
Period	Authority Score
Nov '24	2
Dec '24	2
Jan '25	2
Feb '25	2
Mar '25	2
Apr '25	2
May '25	2
Jun '25	6
Jul '25	6
Aug '25	6
Sep '25	6
Oct '25	6
Nov '25	6
Dec '25	6
Jan '26	6
Feb '26	6
Mar '26	6
Apr '26	6
May '26	6
Jun '26	6
Jul '26	14
Aug '26	14
Sep '26	15
Oct '26	15

The jump came about two months in, as new links took hold; traffic is still small, so the next goal is turning page-two rankings into page-one rankings.

See the keywords

Tracked keywords, June vs. October 2026
Search	Jun 24	Oct 14
water softener + [neighborhood]	#95	#11
water filtration system + [metro]	#78	#17
water softeners + [metro]	#39	#14
water softener + [metro] + [state]	#26	#13

Case 4 · Roofing contractor · Southeast

Ranking in the new cities it set out to win

A home market plus several expansion cities · link building since December 2025, city pages added August 2026

13 → 41keywords on Google's first two pages

0 → 8tracked keywords in the top 3
0 → 12tracked keywords on page 1
16 → 45reputable sites linking to it

Keywords on Google's first two pagesSemrush Domain Analytics (US) · monthly · Oct 2024 – Sep 2026

41Sep '26+28 since Nov '25

Keywords on Google's first two pages, Case 4
Period	Keywords in positions 1–20
Oct '24	3
Nov '24	4
Dec '24	4
Jan '25	7
Feb '25	7
Mar '25	7
Apr '25	10
May '25	14
Jun '25	27
Jul '25	19
Aug '25	15
Sep '25	12
Oct '25	12
Nov '25	13
Dec '25	16
Jan '26	22
Feb '26	22
Mar '26	32
Apr '26	33
May '26	12
Jun '26	13
Jul '26	20
Aug '26	32
Sep '26	41

Reputable websites linking to the siteSemrush · referring domains with Authority Score 10+, running total · Oct 2024 – Sep 2026

Reputable websites linking to the site, Case 4
Period	Referring domains, Authority Score 10+
Oct '24	1
Nov '24	1
Dec '24	1
Jan '25	1
Feb '25	2
Mar '25	2
Apr '25	2
May '25	3
Jun '25	4
Jul '25	4
Aug '25	7
Sep '25	13
Oct '25	14
Nov '25	16
Dec '25	18
Jan '26	20
Feb '26	23
Mar '26	33
Apr '26	35
May '26	40
Jun '26	41
Jul '26	42
Aug '26	42
Sep '26	45

Of 99 tracked keywords, 41 improved and none got worse, mostly in the expansion cities; rankings dipped in May and June 2026 and came back higher. Organic search only.

See the keywords

Tracked keywords, from the first check (March 2026) to October 2026
Search	Mar 2026	Oct 2026
roofing company + [expansion city]	Not ranked	#2
roof repair + [ZIP code]	Not ranked	#2
roof repair + [expansion city]	Not ranked	#3
residential roofer + [home city]	#84	#11

Case 5 · Music instructor · Southeast

One landing page put its main search on page 1, and it has held for 13 months

One-person business · a keyword landing page plus structured data, June 2025

#8for its main “lessons near me” search

~55 → 12.7average Google position
4.2×daily search impressions
13 monthsholding those rankings

Google Search Console chart for June 2025 to October 2026. Average position (orange) jumps from the 50s to around 9 in late August 2025 and stays there; impressions (purple) rise and stay higher. — Google Search Console, last 16 monthsGoogle Search Console · daily · orange = average position (axis inverted, higher is better) · purple = impressions

Google moved the site up from page 6 about ten weeks after the page went live; a small niche, but the rankings have lasted more than a year.

See the keywords

Search Console, last 76 days
Search	Impressions	Avg. position
[instrument] lessons near me	149	#7.9
[instrument] lessons + [city] + [state]	85	#9.6
[city] + [musician type]	31	#8.0

Case 6 · Water treatment · U.S.

A rebuilt site nearly tripled its ranking keywords in one quarter

Website rebuild in June 2026 · link building since July 2026

68 → 188ranking keywords

8 → 20keywords in positions 11–20
4 → 8reputable sites linking to it

Keywords ranking on GoogleSemrush Domain Analytics (US) · monthly · Oct 2024 – Sep 2026

188Sep '26+120 since Jun '26

Keywords ranking on Google, Case 6
Period	Ranking keywords
Oct '24	2
Nov '24	17
Dec '24	42
Jan '25	32
Feb '25	30
Mar '25	39
Apr '25	32
May '25	32
Jun '25	30
Jul '25	29
Aug '25	26
Sep '25	29
Oct '25	29
Nov '25	27
Dec '25	28
Jan '26	50
Feb '26	43
Mar '26	55
Apr '26	67
May '26	57
Jun '26	68
Jul '26	101
Aug '26	135
Sep '26	188

Reputable websites linking to the siteSemrush · referring domains with Authority Score 10+, running total · Oct 2024 – Sep 2026

Reputable websites linking to the site, Case 6
Period	Referring domains, Authority Score 10+
Oct '24	0
Nov '24	0
Dec '24	0
Jan '25	0
Feb '25	0
Mar '25	0
Apr '25	0
May '25	0
Jun '25	0
Jul '25	0
Aug '25	1
Sep '25	1
Oct '25	1
Nov '25	2
Dec '25	2
Jan '26	2
Feb '26	3
Mar '26	3
Apr '26	3
May '26	3
Jun '26	4
Jul '26	4
Aug '26	5
Sep '26	8

After ranking for about 30 keywords for more than a year, the site added 120 in the three months after the rebuild and new links.

How we measured

Start dates come from each client's first invoice. Case 1 is our own site, so it shows Bing's full 24-month history instead.
Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools numbers are Google's and Bing's own clicks, impressions, and positions.
Semrush keyword counts and Authority Score are Semrush estimates from its U.S. index; tracked keywords use a Position Tracking campaign set to the client's city.
Backlink charts count only linking sites with Authority Score 10+, by the month Semrush first found each one, and only links still live in October 2026. Automated near-zero-authority links, which most sites collect without anyone building them, are left out.
Rankings move day to day and vary by device and location; these are the October 2026 readings.

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