Two public case studies, two different proofs. The first is throughput on a friendly local-retail domain. The second is ceiling in a niche the rest of the SEO industry quietly will not touch. We disclose what is in-house and what is arms-length on every page. The numbers are verifiable. That is the whole point.
Quick Answer: Formative Digital publishes two verifiable case studies. Mattress Miracle grew from approximately 1,000 to 91,700 monthly organic visits in 18 months (SEMrush, April 2026). Thalira Wisdom Temple built approximately 2,935 cited articles in the spiritual and esoteric niche over 24 months. Thalira disclosure: founder Matt Griffin co-founded it with Talia Grose.
Mattress Miracle: The Throughput Proof
Mattress Miracle, Brantford, Ontario. A 40-year-old independent mattress retailer with strong local reputation and almost no organic search footprint when the engagement began.
- Monthly organic visits: approximately 1,000 → 91,700 (+82x)
- Ranked keywords: approximately 35,900 → 59,900 (+24,000)
- Velocity proof: 25,000 newly ranked keywords in a single 30-day window, roughly 250x typical agency velocity
- Articles produced: 1,000+ FD-authored, fully cited, Google-compliant pieces inside an 18-month engagement
- Owner testimonial: "In 40 years of advertising I've never seen anything like this. It's a completely new business." Brad, owner
Verifiable via SEMrush organic research, April 2026 snapshot. Read the full Mattress Miracle case study →
Foundation Repair, Alberta (anonymized). A brand-new foundation repair company in a major Alberta metro on a fresh domain: no search history, no reviews, no lead flow, the least forgiving starting position in the portfolio.
- Leads: zero to 30 inside the first three months (internal lead tracking, 2026)
- Starting point: new domain, new business, no prior digital presence of any kind
- Methodology focus: Vector 2 (Anchor), Vector 5 (Cite), Vector 10 (Localize)
- The distinctive angle: locally specific, engineering-cited YMYL content built on Edmonton soil and climate conditions, plus neighbourhood-level guides linked hub-and-spoke
Lead counts are engagement-specific and vary by trade, market, and season. Read the full cold-start case study →
Shipping Container Dealer, Ontario (anonymized). A high-ticket, search-driven trade where the dealer who owns the results owns the pipeline. Sixteen months of Search Console, shared with permission.
- Window totals: 4,810 clicks and 627,000 impressions over 16 months (Google Search Console)
- Before: single-digit daily clicks for the first year (a representative spring 2025 day: 6 clicks on 1,682 impressions)
- After: seventy-click days with six to nine thousand daily impressions by early summer 2026
- Methodology focus: Vector 8 (Refresh), Vector 9 (Cluster), Vector 4 (Embed)
The name, domain, and live dashboards are shown on the audit call. Read the full 16-month curve →
Thalira Wisdom Temple: The Hard-Niche Proof
Thalira Wisdom Temple, thalira.com. Spiritual and esoteric content brand. The niche the SEO industry will not touch because Helpful Content classifiers and E-E-A-T standards are most punishing here.
- Cited articles published: approximately 2,935 over 24 months
- Subcategory clusters: 80+ topical clusters covering anthroposophy, meditation, hermetics, sacred geometry, biblical psychology, and more
- Methodology focus: Vector 5 (Cite), Vector 9 (Cluster), Vector 11 (Measure)
- Co-founder testimonial: "The spiritual niche has been a challenging one but Formative Digital got us connected with people in the industry we could have never imagined." Talia Grose
Disclosure: Thalira is co-founded by Formative Digital's founder Matt Griffin with Talia Grose, which makes it in-house proof rather than arms-length client work. We disclose this openly because radical transparency is the brand position. Read the full Thalira case study →
Four Case Studies, Two Named: The Disclosure Policy
Two reasons. First, the bar for what we will publicly call a case study is high. The numbers must be auditable: a public tool where one exists (SEMrush, Ahrefs), or the engagement's own logged lead records stated plainly as such. The brand must be named, not anonymized. The methodology connection must be clear. Most engagements have not yet hit the timeline where those conditions are met.
Second, the disclosure policy works in tiers, and we publish the policy because withholding it would be the opposite of how we operate. Flagship cases are named where the client has consented and the numbers are checkable in public tools: Mattress Miracle, and Thalira with its co-founder disclosure. Newer cases publish the vertical, the region, and the verified figures, and withhold the name from the open web, because our clients' competitors read this page too. For any anonymized case, the client name, domain, and live dashboards are shared on the audit call, where a serious prospect can verify everything without the client's playbook being broadcast to their market.
Second, several active client engagements have produced strong results that we have not yet published because the clients have not given consent for full disclosure. We will not publish a case study without the client signing off on the numbers, the framing, and the named attribution. As clients consent, additional case studies will appear here.
If you are reading this and your previous agency has been quoting you anonymized "67% traffic increase" stats from "a Brantford retailer," that is the pattern we are positioned against. The real numbers, on a named domain, with a verifiable tool any subscriber can query, is the only kind of case study we will put our name on.
The Results Guarantee Covers Every Engagement
Both case studies above ran under the same Results Guarantee that covers every Formative Digital engagement: if your existing domain shows no measurable organic search results after 12 months of work with us, we work for free until you see them. The guarantee is a continuation-of-work commitment, not a refund offer. It exists because the SEO industry's track record of charging for invisible work is the trauma the brand is positioned against, and it is what gives both clients and in-house properties like Thalira the runway to compound.
The eligibility note: the guarantee applies to existing domains, not brand-new ones, because new-domain timelines are inherently longer. For a new-build engagement we structure the timeline differently up front and explain the difference in writing.
Want Your Own Verifiable Read?
Formative Digital, Brantford, Ontario
The audit is the starting line. We pull a SEMrush-grade snapshot of your domain, identify the topical-authority gaps, and tell you honestly whether the engineering work behind these case studies will port to your category. No fake urgency, no "limited spots." If we are the wrong fit we will say so.