SEO case studies: client results you can check yourself
Portland Peak SEO serves more than 20 clients, and these SEO case studies name and link nine of them. A tenth site, GreenTree Services, belongs to our founder, and every mention here says so. Our clients report sales at 3x to 10x their levels before we started. We compare sales before and after each engagement, using our tracking or the client's own figures. Nothing here asks for faith. So open a client site, search the service and city that business sells in, and judge the work yourself. Every price is also public, from $450 a month.
Written and maintained by Andreas Benavente, Founder, Portland Peak SEO · Updated September 28, 2026
CLIENT LEDGER · NAMED DOMAINS, ALL LIVEWhat is an SEO case study?
An SEO case study records one search campaign from start to finish. It names the client, the starting point, the work done and the measured result. Each figure also carries a tool and a date, so readers can check it. Likewise, Google's own case study hub for Search follows the same pattern: a named company and a measured result.
What makes these SEO case studies different?
These case studies name every client and link every site, and each site is live, so nothing rests on trust. You can open each one, search its target terms and compare what you find with the ledger below. Most agency case studies, however, show percentages without a name or a link, which leaves nothing to check.
Ten SEO case studies: what we run and what shipped
Most agencies keep their client list anonymous. This page does the opposite, with the program we run, what actually shipped and a link you can open now. Nine rows are clients, and the tenth, GreenTree Services, belongs to our founder.
| Client | Live site | What we run | What shipped |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Title Records | ustitlerecords.com | National SEO program | 152-page Wave 1 deployment, 537-keyword rank tiering, published research methodology hub |
| U.S. Asset Records | usassetrecords.com | National SEO program | State pillar architecture including Florida and New York, national records directory |
| GreenTree Services | green-tree-services.com | Local SEO and recovery (owned by our founder) | 147-page content remediation after a 2026 algorithm update, Google Business Profile revamp, conversion tracking wired end to end |
| Blue Heron Services | blueheronservice.com | Local SEO | A 43-page WordPress silo giving each cleaning service and metro suburb its own page |
| Westview Services | westviewpressure.com | Local SEO | Ongoing local program: page updates, profile optimization and monthly reporting |
| OutWoof Bound | outwoofbound.com | Platform SEO | 19 Squarespace pages, with Search Console wired in before launch |
| The Manhattan Group International | themanhattangroupinternational.org | Web engineering and SEO | Homepage rebuilt through eight versioned iterations, CSS-only dossier system, 1.57 MB payload reduction |
| PDX Elevator Safety | pdxelevatorsafety.com | Launch SEO build | 27 pages in three waves, separating Oregon and Washington inspection rules |
| Jacob Levin Law | jacoblevinlaw.com | Website rebuild and AI SEO | Moved off MyCase Websites onto WordPress, so the firm owns its site outright; phase one scoped at 18 pages |
| Understory Nutrition | understorynutrition.com | Ecommerce SEO | Monthly program on a Shopify store since September 2026, AI Overview visibility first |
How the ledger stays honest
Every domain is live
If a link on this page does not resolve, the row does not belong here. Tell us, and then it comes out.
The engagements are current
These SEO case studies reflect work through 2026, not screenshots from better years.
We describe the work by what shipped
Page counts, architectures and systems you can inspect, rather than adjectives.
Google’s own guidance on hiring an SEO tells buyers to demand exactly this kind of specificity. So this ledger exists to survive that demand. Audits measure against the standards Google publishes, including the Core Web Vitals thresholds on web.dev and the requirements in Google Search Essentials.
Which of these SEO case studies have measured results?
Two show dated figures here so far: U.S. Title Records, from Search Console, and Blue Heron Services, from Wincher. Each row below therefore carries its source and its date. Client sales, meanwhile, run 3x to 10x their starting level, by our tracking or figures they report. More rows will join as soon as clients approve them.
| Client | What we measured | Result | Tool and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Title Records | Average position of the rebuilt pages | 9.2 moved to 8.4 | Search Console, after the September 15, 2026 rebuild |
| U.S. Title Records | “title search cost”, 90 days | average rank 4.9 · 1,323 impressions | Search Console, to September 2026 |
| U.S. Title Records | Traffic on deploy day | 277 clicks from 17,244 impressions | Search Console, September 2026 |
| Blue Heron Services | “Lake Oswego roof cleaning” | position 3 | Wincher, September 2026 |
| Blue Heron Services | A West Linn service term | position 3, a climb of 22 places | Wincher, March 27, 2026 |
| Blue Heron Services | Three demolition terms | +28, +27 and +25 positions | Wincher, March 27, 2026 |
A position is a snapshot, so each row keeps its date. So compare the dates before you compare the positions. Both clients also get a full case study further down. In addition, the full U.S. Title Records breakdown lives on the monthly SEO services page. Blue Heron’s local detail also sits on the SEO company near me page.
Where do the clients in these SEO case studies compete?
Four of the nine named clients compete for Oregon searches, and so does GreenTree, our founder's business. Their results therefore depend on local rivals. That work shows local SEO town by town. The two records companies, U.S. Title Records and U.S. Asset Records, compete nationwide instead. Jacob Levin Law also competes locally, in Redding, California, and Understory Nutrition sells online nationwide. Finally, The Manhattan Group International competes for international contracts.
| Client | Where it competes | What its customers search for |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Heron Services | Lake Oswego and West Linn, from a base in Tualatin | Roof cleaning, power washing and demolition |
| Westview Services | Lake Oswego, expanding into the Willamette Valley | Pressure washing and exterior cleaning |
| OutWoof Bound | SE Portland | Dog daycare, boarding and training |
| PDX Elevator Safety | Portland, Oregon | Elevator safety testing and modernization |
| GreenTree Services | Corvallis, Albany and Eugene (owned by our founder) | Pressure washing, gutter cleaning and holiday lights |
| Jacob Levin Law | Redding and Shasta County, California | Criminal defense, restraining orders and child custody lawyers |
Local work therefore looks different in each town, because the rivals change from one to the next.
SEO case study: a national records site rebuilt in waves and measured in Search Console
The situation
U.S. Title Records runs a national property records site, so it competes with national brands rather than neighbors. Its buyers search for prices and processes, such as the cost of a title search. Each of those searches therefore needs a page that answers it directly.
What shipped
Initially, wave one shipped 152 pages. Then 537 keywords went into rank tiers, so each month's work follows the terms closest to page one. A published research methodology hub also explains how the records work gets done. Later, on September 15, 2026, 17 rebuilt pages went live.
The result, dated
Afterward, average position on the rebuilt pages moved from 9.2 to 8.4 in Search Console. Over 90 days, “title search cost” also averaged position 4.9 on 1,323 impressions. Deploy day, meanwhile, brought 277 clicks from 17,244 impressions, the period high.
SEO case study: a Tualatin cleaning company climbing in Lake Oswego and West Linn
The situation
Blue Heron Services handles roof cleaning, power washing and demolition from a base in Tualatin. Its buyers search town by town, so Lake Oswego and West Linn behave as separate markets. One general services page, however, would speak to neither town directly.
What shipped
A 43-page WordPress silo gave each cleaning service and metro suburb its own page. As a result, no two pages chase the same search. Wincher then tracked every agreed term from week one, in a login the client keeps.
The result, dated
By March 27, 2026, a West Linn service term had climbed 22 places to position 3. On that date, three demolition terms had also gained 28, 27 and 25 places. Then, in September 2026, “Lake Oswego roof cleaning” sat at position 3.
SEO case study: recovering from an algorithm update without leaving the cause in place
The situation
Disclosure first: our founder, Andreas Benavente, owns GreenTree Services. A 2026 spam update hit green-tree-services.com hard, and the diagnosis found more than the update. Years of accumulated content debt sat underneath it, including claims from earlier campaigns that could not be substantiated. After all, a recovery that leaves unverifiable content in place is a recovery waiting to fail again.
What shipped
A remediation across 147 pages that removed or rewrote every claim nobody could substantiate. Then priority city pages moved to a modern theme. Finally, a Google Business Profile revamp covering 31 services and 12 products, with a twelve-week posting calendar. Conversion tracking wired end to end, so ad spend reports against real leads rather than clicks.
What to check
Open any page on the site and hunt for a claim nobody can verify. If you find one, tell us, and it gets corrected within 48 hours. In short, that standard is the entire recovery strategy.
SEO case study: engineering around a hosting stack that strips JavaScript
The situation
MGI is an international construction and environmental services firm, so its homepage needed detailed capability dossiers. The hosting stack’s script optimizer was stripping custom JavaScript from the live front end, so every interactive component worked in staging and broke silently in production.
What shipped
We rebuilt the homepage through eight versioned iterations, ending in a dossier system built in CSS alone. Asset deduplication on the carousel cut 1.57 MB from the page payload, which matters most on the international connections MGI’s audience actually uses.
What to check
Open themanhattangroupinternational.org, disable JavaScript in your browser, and use the dossier system anyway. Components that still work with scripts off prove the approach.
SEO case study: launch SEO built on regulatory ground competitors ignore
The situation
PDX Elevator Safety is a licensed commercial elevator testing and repair contractor. Its site left GoDaddy's builder for a category where rivals publish generic service pages.
What shipped
A 27-page architecture went out in three waves, built around the differences between Oregon and Washington elevator rules. After all, a building manager on both sides of the river faces two rulebooks, and almost nobody writes for that. The site publishes licensing details on-page so compliance-minded buyers can verify credentials before calling.
What to check
Read the Oregon and Washington pages side by side on pdxelevatorsafety.com and note that the regulatory specifics genuinely differ. A generic template, therefore, cannot fake that.
How can you check these SEO case studies?
Run four checks, and none of them runs through us. Visit each client domain and search the trade and town it serves. Ask for live Search Console and Wincher access, and compare every price with the pricing page. Tell us if any check fails, because then this page needs fixing.
| The claim | How to check it yourself |
|---|---|
| The clients are real | Open any domain in the ledger above. Each is a live business a buyer can phone, not a screenshot. If one does not resolve, then this page is wrong and we want to know. |
| The work is visible | Search the service and city that business sells in, from that location. Then compare what the site contains against the “what shipped” column. |
| The reporting is real | Ask for live access to Search Console and Wincher during discovery, then read the client’s own numbers yourself. |
| The prices match | Compare the prices here with the pricing page: $450, $950 or $2,500 a month, and $2,200 to $8,500 for a build. Any honest quote should therefore match both. |
Still, this page promises no position. Google’s results sit outside any provider’s control, so a promised ranking rests on exclusions a buyer has not read. Instead, we commit to the work, the measurement and the reporting.
How do you tell whether SEO case studies are real?
Check four things: a named client, a site you can open, dated numbers and an honest note on other changes. If any one is missing, the result may still be real. However, you then have no way to verify it yourself.
Look for a name you can search
A claim like “a local plumber saw 300% more traffic” is impossible to check. A named business can, because you can find it, call it and look it up on Google. So anonymous results deserve a polite question before they earn your trust.
Open the site yourself
A screenshot shows one moment, while a live site shows today. Open each client site on your own phone, then search for the services it sells. That also takes only a few minutes, and it tells you more than any slide deck.
Check every number for a tool and a date
Rankings move daily, so a position without a date says little. Then look for the tool behind each figure, such as Search Console, plus the day of the reading. A percentage also needs its starting point, or nobody can compare it.
Ask what else changed at the same time
Traffic can rise because of ads, a new location or a seasonal rush. An honest case study names those factors instead of crediting SEO for everything. For example, the GreenTree study above names a 2026 spam update and the content debt beneath it.
The table below therefore sets the four checks side by side.
| What you can check | A verifiable case study | A typical agency case study |
|---|---|---|
| The client | Named, with a live website | Often “a local business” |
| The numbers | A tool and a date on each figure | Often percentages without a starting point |
| The evidence | A site you can open today | Often a single screenshot |
| Other factors | Named, such as ads or an update | Rarely mentioned |
What would these SEO case studies cost your business?
The same three prices every client sees: $450, $950 or $2,500 a month, month to month. The tier depends on footprint, so one location sits at the bottom and a national program at the top. Website builds, however, are separate and one time.
Every deliverable for each tier also appears on the pricing page.
Who runs these accounts
FOUNDER
Andreas Benavente
He ran every engagement in these SEO case studies himself, from the first audit to each monthly report. Andreas Benavente on LinkedIn
MARKETING MANAGER
Thomas Johnston
Handles marketing for the agency, a role you can check on his own LinkedIn profile. Thomas Johnston on LinkedIn
In short, both people behind this ledger are public and checkable. No credentials appear here, because we list only what a stranger can verify. More on the practice is on the about page.
Common questions about these SEO case studies
Why the ledger is public
Why publish client domains when most agencies do not?
Because a named client a stranger can phone is stronger evidence than an anonymized case study, and because comparison is where this practice does well. After all, nobody can check a hidden client list, which is usually the point of hiding it.
Are these clients or businesses you own?
Clients, with one exception: GreenTree Services, which our founder, Andreas Benavente, owns. It appears because its recovery shows the method end to end. Every other name is a client whose site we built, maintain or run search for. So each one is a separate company you can contact directly.
Who does the work on these accounts?
Andreas Benavente, from Lake Oswego, Oregon, does all of it. We also subcontract nothing and hand nothing to a junior team after the sale. Instead, the person who scopes the work does it and writes the monthly report. That has held since the practice began in 2015.
Results and industries
How long did these results take?
It depends on the site, the market and the competition. So each figure here carries its date, not a promised timeline. U.S. Title Records’ rebuilt pages moved from 9.2 to 8.4 in the same month as their September 15, 2026 rebuild. Rankings for competitive terms can take months, which is why each campaign gets a 90- to 180-day window.
Do you have case studies in my industry?
Probably something close. The ledger covers exterior cleaning, dog care, elevator safety and a law firm. It also includes national records companies, an online store and an international construction firm. Our contractor SEO, lawyer SEO and ecommerce SEO pages go deeper by industry. The free audit then measures the competition in your own market.
Working together
Can I see the ranking data behind these engagements?
First, ask for live Wincher dashboard access during discovery. Tracking sits in an account the client owns, and Search Console also reports into the client’s own property. So before you sign with anyone, ask for this same access; a refusal tells you enough.
Is there a contract?
No. Every tier runs month to month on 30 days’ notice, and leaving also costs nothing. So a client stays only while the work earns it. Onboarding carries no setup fee either, and you can switch tiers from one month to the next.
How do I become a client?
Start with a free audit. First, a person reviews the site rather than a script. Then the findings arrive in writing, with no obligation attached. The audit also names the tier that fits your footprint, so the price is clear before any call.
Related pages
Want this record built for your business?
Start with the free 48-hour audit. The audit then arrives in writing within 48 hours, and it costs nothing.