Judging an agency
How to verify a marketing agency case study in 15 minutes
Agency case studies claim doubled and tripled leads. Here is how to check whether the work exists, using free tools and a live URL, before you sign anything.
Updated 2026-08-09
Verify a marketing agency case study by asking for the client's live URL, then checking three things yourself: whether the pages described actually exist, whether they carry structured data and real depth, and whether the timeline in the case study matches what the site shows. It takes about fifteen minutes and needs no paid tools.
Almost every agency claims doubled or tripled leads somewhere. Very few of those claims are checkable as written, and the difference between the two is the most useful signal available before you sign.
Why case studies are so hard to check
Three things make them slippery, and none require dishonesty.
No URL. "A managed services provider in the Midwest" cannot be verified by anyone. The confidentiality reason is sometimes real, but it also happens to make the claim unfalsifiable.
No baseline. "Increased organic traffic by 300%" from what. Ten visits to forty is a 300% increase and means nothing.
No timeframe or attribution. A result over four years, or one that coincided with the client acquiring a competitor, is not the same as a result the agency produced in twelve months.
The fix for all three is the same: ask for the URL.
The fifteen-minute check
1. Does the work exist? (5 minutes)
Open the client's site. The case study describes something specific, so look for it.
If it claims a content programme, is there a blog, is it still running, and are the posts substantial or three hundred words each? If it claims location pages, open two of them side by side. If the only difference is the town name, that is templated output, not a location strategy.
You are not judging quality as an expert. You are checking that the artifacts described actually exist on the internet.
2. Is the technical work real? (3 minutes)
View the page source on the home page and one service page, then search for application/ld+json.
Nothing returned means no structured data. For a case study claiming technical SEO work, that is a meaningful gap, and it is binary rather than a matter of opinion.
While you are in the source, check the </code> length and whether there is exactly one <code><h1></code>. These are the cheapest fixes in marketing, so their absence on a showcase client says something.</p>
<h3 id="3-does-the-timeline-hold-4-minutes">3. Does the timeline hold? (4 minutes)</h3>
<p>Find publish dates on the blog. A case study claiming an eighteen-month content programme, on a site whose last post is from 2023, describes something that stopped.</p>
<p>Then check the Wayback Machine for the client's domain. Compare a snapshot from before the engagement started against one from after. You will see immediately whether the site was rebuilt, whether pages were added, or whether almost nothing changed. This is the single most revealing step and almost nobody does it.</p>
<h3 id="4-is-the-claimed-result-plausible-3-minutes">4. Is the claimed result plausible? (3 minutes)</h3>
<p>Search two or three terms the case study implies they now rank for. Include the city if it is a local business.</p>
<p>If the claim is "page one for their main terms" and they are nowhere on page one, ask about it. The answer may be entirely reasonable, since rankings move and case studies age. How readily it is given is the information.</p>
<h2 id="what-good-answers-look-like">What good answers look like</h2>
<p>A confident agency responds to this process well, because it has nothing to hide and most prospects never ask.</p>
<p>Good signs: they offer the URL before you ask, the case study names a timeframe and a starting point, they will connect you with the client, and they can explain what they did not achieve.</p>
<p>Warning signs: no client can be named for any case study, the metrics are all percentages with no absolute numbers, or the request itself is treated as unusual or adversarial.</p>
<p><strong>That last one matters more than it sounds.</strong> You are about to spend $36,000 to $120,000 a year. Wanting to verify a claim is not an unreasonable act, and an agency that treats it as one is telling you how the relationship will go when you question something later.</p>
<h2 id="the-metrics-that-get-misused">The metrics that get misused</h2>
<p><strong>"Increased traffic by X%."</strong> From what base, and what kind of traffic? Traffic from people who will never buy is a cost, not an achievement. This is a real pattern in the MSP space, where agencies rank for marketing-industry terms that draw marketers rather than MSP buyers.</p>
<p><strong>"Generated N leads."</strong> Form fills, or conversations? Referrals who happened to fill in a form? The gap between leads and clients is where every marketing argument eventually lands.</p>
<p><strong>"Ranked #1."</strong> For which term, in which location, on which device, and does anybody search it? Ranking first for a phrase with no volume is common and meaningless.</p>
<p><strong>"ROI of Nx."</strong> Requires knowing client lifetime value and true acquisition cost. Ask which numbers went into it. Frequently nobody can say.</p>
<h2 id="ask-for-the-failure">Ask for the failure</h2>
<p>The question almost nobody asks: <strong>which engagement did not work, and what did you learn?</strong></p>
<p>Every agency has had one. A firm that claims otherwise is either new or not being straight. A good answer is specific and slightly uncomfortable, and it tells you more about how they will handle a difficult quarter with you than any success story will.</p>
<h2 id="after-you-sign-keep-checking">After you sign, keep checking</h2>
<p>Verification is not a pre-sale activity that ends at signature. The same checks work monthly: which pages changed, is the structured data there, did the described work reach the website.</p>
<p>That ongoing version is covered in <a href="/blog/msp-marketing-agency-red-flags/">12 MSP marketing agency red flags</a>, and the wider selection process is in <a href="/blog/msp-marketing-agency/">how to choose an MSP marketing agency</a>.</p>
<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions">Frequently asked questions</h2>
<p><strong>How do I verify a marketing agency case study?</strong> Ask for the client's live URL, then check that the described pages exist, that the site carries structured data, and that the timeline matches what the blog and the Wayback Machine show. Fifteen minutes, no paid tools.</p>
<p><strong>What if the agency will not name the client?</strong> Sometimes legitimate. Ask instead for a client who will take a ten-minute call, or for any one case study with a public URL. An agency that can produce neither is asking you to take the whole track record on trust.</p>
<p><strong>What does a fake case study look like?</strong> Usually not fabricated, just unfalsifiable: percentages with no absolute numbers, no baseline, no timeframe, no named client, and metrics that cannot be checked from outside.</p>
<p><strong>Should I check rankings myself?</strong> Yes, and it takes two minutes. Search the terms the case study implies, including the city for a local business. Rankings move, so a gap is a question rather than an accusation.</p>
<p><strong>What is the most revealing single check?</strong> The Wayback Machine. Comparing the client's site before and after the engagement shows immediately whether pages were added, the site was rebuilt, or almost nothing changed.</p>
<p><strong>What should I ask beyond the case studies?</strong> Which engagement did not work and what they learned. Every agency has one, and how specifically they answer predicts how they will handle a bad quarter with you.</p><aside class="endcta"><p><strong>Want this checked on your own site?</strong> The free audit returns the same findings for your pages, in about a minute.</p><a class="cta" href="/free-audit/">Run the free audit</a></aside></article>
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