From total reliance on AdWords to organic rankings that now drive nearly all of its inquiries, with no ad spend. A nine-year partnership, 2017 to today.
Monarch came to Marilyn in 2017 as a new recovery company buying every lead through AdWords and wanting off that treadmill. Recovery is one of the hardest categories in search: expensive clicks, strict ad policies, and families making a high-stakes choice. Monarch needed to be found organically across Sacramento and San Francisco, for treatment and for sober living, and to stay found as it grew into multiple locations.
Pivotal Point Marketing rebuilt measurement, optimized and redesigned priority pages, scaled local SEO across five search programs (national plus location-level), strengthened authority signals, and prepared the brand for answer-engine discovery.
A long-term partnership that moved Monarch from reliance on paid ads to leading organic rankings without ongoing ad spend.
Three times over nine years Monarch has been with another provider or on its own, and three times it asked to come back. The last time, the ask came eight days after wrap.
Organic search supplies nearly all of Monarch’s tracked inquiries: 90 of 91 in one summer week, 56 of 61 in a recent week, with zero paid search running.
Five search programs, national and location-level, with seven keywords holding #1 in the latest report.
Monarch runs no paid search. Organic delivers 92 to 99 percent of tracked actions week to week: form submissions, call clicks, and email clicks. At peak, one week produced 133 tracked actions across all channels: 86 call clicks, 32 email clicks, and 15 forms.
Monarch first engaged Marilyn in 2017 as a new company relying entirely on paid ads. James wrote: “we have been solely investing in Adwords and want to get away from that reoccurring expense.” Twice she outgrew the account and handed it to a trusted provider; both times Monarch asked to come back. Within two years of the second handoff, James was writing: “We have experienced mixed results with SEOs and website designers… much of our success and Google ranking is thanks to you.” Pivotal Point took the account back under a focused custom engagement. When that project wrapped a year later, the next ask came eight days after: “I think we may have pulled the plug a bit too soon.” Today Monarch runs no paid search; its visibility and inquiries come from organic.
“We wouldn’t be Monarch the way we are if we hadn’t met you. You built our brand and image and had our site sit on the top of the search page for years to come. And in doing so you helped hundreds upon hundreds of people find us and recover.” James Baker, Co-Owner and COO
“Things were in a pretty bleak place this time last year and you guys came in and really helped get us back to where we once were, if not better nationally!” Joseph Britton, Co-Owner and Program Director
Asked for treatment and sober-living recommendations in Sacramento and San Francisco with no brand named in the prompt, Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT each surfaced Monarch. Captures taken in signed-out sessions.
Multiple Monarch placements across treatment and sober-living recommendations for both Sacramento and San Francisco.
Gemini ranked Monarch as the #1 recommendation for a combined IOP and sober-living option in Sacramento.
Perplexity listed Monarch first among San Francisco sober-living and SLE options.
See how Monarch moved from reliance on AdWords to leading organic rankings without ongoing ad spend. Download the full case study for the client history and performance evidence.