Tag

Case Study

Detailed write-ups of real Press Forge client builds, recoveries and audits, with the figures, decisions and outcomes intact.

7 articles

Most agency case studies are sales sheets dressed up as evidence. The numbers are vague, the client is anonymous, and the story stops short of the part that would actually help the next reader make a decision. Our case studies do the opposite. We name the client (with permission), publish the dated figures, document the decisions we made and the ones we refused, and admit the parts where things did not go to plan.

The articles in this cluster cover the kinds of work we actually run: builds that hit page-one quickly, recoveries from indexability collapses, schema audits that found bugs, performance retrofits that turned a slow WordPress site green. If you are weighing up a build, a recovery or an audit and want to see what good and bad actually look like in practice, these are the posts to read.

Web Design 22 Jul 2026

What a Local Business Website Needs in 2026: The Anatomy of a Build We Launched Yesterday

Yesterday we put a 23-page site live for a Lincolnshire chauffeur firm trading since 2006: a split-flap departures board, nine individually written town pages, mobile PageSpeed 99 with every Core Web Vital green, and AI Discovery Files from day one. Here is the full anatomy of a 2026 local business website, every figure real and dated, and why we banked 99 rather than chase a vanity 100.

12 min read Read What a Local Business Website Needs in 2026: The Anatomy of a Build We Launched Yesterday
Web Design 22 Jul 2026

Your Brand Colours Probably Fail Accessibility. This Client's Did.

At kickoff, a new client's brief specified navy #0F2744, silver #8A9199 and accent orange #F58220. We contrast-tested the palette before designing anything: the orange measured 2.59:1 on white and failed WCAG 2.2 AA twice over. Here is the full audit with every number intact, what measuring his five reference sites revealed, and how to test your own brand colours before they cost you a redesign.

13 min read Read Your Brand Colours Probably Fail Accessibility. This Client's Did.
AI Visibility 21 Jun 2026

E-E-A-T in Action: A One-Man Locksmith's Two-Month Google and AI Results

Two months after launch on a brand-new domain, a one-man locksmith ranks page one of Google and gets recommended unprompted by ChatGPT, in one of the most competitive local niches there is. Here is the dated data across Google organic, the map pack, Google's AI Overview and ChatGPT, and the exact E-E-A-T and non-commodity content decisions that earned it.

10 min read Read E-E-A-T in Action: A One-Man Locksmith's Two-Month Google and AI Results
AI Visibility 16 Jun 2026

How We Built a Removals Site ChatGPT Rates 99/100 (And the Three Things That Won Weren't SEO)

In April a Brewood removals firm had 220 of its 272 pages refused by Google. We rebuilt it from scratch, then asked ChatGPT to score the result against the best removals sites in the UK. It put the village firm on 99/100, ahead of Pickfords. Here are the three build decisions that earned the marks, and why none of them were the things SEO blogs obsess over.

11 min read Read How We Built a Removals Site ChatGPT Rates 99/100 (And the Three Things That Won Weren't SEO)
SEO 1 Jun 2026

Google's May 2026 Core Update Just Hit Saturday's Second Volatility Spike. AI Content Is Bleeding.

Saturday 30 May produced the second weekend of severe ranking volatility in Google's May 2026 core update. SEOs are reporting 50 to 100 percent traffic drops, with AI-built commodity pages absorbing the bulk of the damage. Here is what client GSC reports are actually showing this morning, and the recovery playbook drawn from a real UK case.

7 min read Read Google's May 2026 Core Update Just Hit Saturday's Second Volatility Spike. AI Content Is Bleeding.
SEO 28 Apr 2026

How a 10-Day-Old Locksmith Site Hit #1 on ChatGPT and Gemini for "Brewood Locksmith"

On 8 April 2026 we launched a new custom-built site for a Brewood locksmith. Nineteen days later it was the #1 result on ChatGPT and Gemini for "brewood locksmith", with mobile PageSpeed 100/100/100/100, no backlinks, no reviews and no domain authority. Here is exactly what we built and why it worked.

12 min read Read How a 10-Day-Old Locksmith Site Hit #1 on ChatGPT and Gemini for "Brewood Locksmith"