Client Profile
Established Chicago personal injury law firm, 15 years in business. Previously generating 25-30 leads monthly from organic search before a significant traffic drop.
Initial Crisis (January 2024)
- Traffic dropped from 8,000 to 2,400 monthly visitors
- Leads down from 28 to 8 monthly
- Revenue impact: -$80,000/month
- Keywords dropped from top 3 to below page 5
Investment & Timeline
- Budget: $5,000/month
- Timeline: 6 months
- Focus: Technical recovery & content authority
Recovery Journey
Phase 1: Stabilization (Feb-April 2024)
- Traffic stabilized at 2,000 visitors
- Leads: 6-8 per month
- Actions: Technical audit, content cleanup, backlink audit
- Result: Stopped further decline
Phase 2: Initial Recovery (May-June 2024)
- Traffic increased to 3,500 visitors
- Leads: 12-15 per month
- Result: Keywords returning to page 2-3
Phase 3: Strong Recovery (July-December 2024)
- Traffic peaked at 12,000 monthly visitors
- Stabilized at 9,000 monthly visitors
- Current leads: 32 per month
- Result: Stronger position than pre-penalty
Business Impact
- ✓ Lead quality score improved 40%
- ✓ Cost per acquisition reduced 35%
- ✓ Case acceptance rate increased to 35%
- ✓ ROI positive from month 5
Key Rankings Recovery
- Top 3 positions: 15 keywords (from 0)
- Top 4-10 positions: 45 keywords
- Total ranking keywords: 11,740