This case study covers the local seo for contractors work we did for a plumbing and heating company operating in a mid-size US city. The business had been trading for 6 years, had a small number of long-term customers from word of mouth, and was almost completely invisible in local search. Call volume from Google was roughly 8 to 12 calls per month. All figures are real. The business name is withheld at the client’s request.
Where the business started
The contractor had a basic website with a homepage, an about page, and a single services page listing 11 services in a short list. There was a Google Business Profile that had been set up but never properly completed — no services listed, two photos from 4 years ago, and 9 reviews with the most recent being 14 months old.
The business was a textbook example of where local seo for contractors makes the biggest difference. He was spending $800 per month on an Angi listing and relying on this for most new customer enquiries. The owner had tried Google Ads for two months the previous year, found it expensive, and stopped. He came to us because a competitor he knew had clearly started ranking well and was getting a lot of calls he was not.
What the local seo case study audit found
Google Business Profile nearly empty
No services listed, incorrect category (listed as ‘Plumber’ but not ‘Heating Contractor’), two photos, 9 reviews with no responses from the business.
Website had one services page
All 11 services listed with one sentence each. No individual service pages, no location-specific content, no mention of the neighborhoods and towns the business covered.
Business information inconsistent across directories
We found 18 directory listings. Six had the old phone number from before the business moved. Three had the wrong address. Two had different business name spellings.
No review generation process
The 9 reviews had accumulated organically over 6 years. There was no process for asking customers for reviews. The business had probably completed thousands of jobs that could have produced reviews.
Website not mobile-optimised
The site took 5.8 seconds to load on mobile. Most local searches are on phones. The homepage had a large uncompressed hero image causing the bulk of the delay.
What we did
Rebuilt the Google Business Profile
We completely rebuilt the company’s Google Business Profile by adding all 11 services with accurate descriptions, updating the primary categories to include both Plumber and Heating Contractor, and uploading 24 high-quality photos showcasing the team, company vehicles, and completed projects.
We also implemented a monthly posting schedule and introduced an automated review request system that sent customers a text message two hours after each completed job with a direct link to the Google review page. Within seven months, the business increased from 9 to 71 Google reviews while improving its average rating to 4.9 stars.
Created 11 Individual Service Pages
We developed 11 dedicated service pages, covering emergency plumbing, boiler installation, boiler repair, central heating, bathroom installation, blocked drains, leak detection, and four additional services. Each page contained between 400 and 600 words of unique, search-optimised content.
Every page included natural references to the primary city and surrounding towns, along with a clear call-to-action and a prominently displayed phone number above the fold to encourage visitors to contact the business immediately.
Cleaned Up 18 Directory Listings
We audited and updated all 18 existing directory listings, correcting outdated phone numbers, addresses, and business details while standardising the business name across every platform to ensure complete consistency.
In addition, we created listings on 12 industry-relevant directories that the business was missing from, including plumbing and heating directories. These citation improvements helped strengthen local SEO signals, with noticeable improvements in Google Maps rankings within six weeks.
Fixed Website Speed and Mobile Usability
We optimised website performance by compressing all images, resolving mobile navigation issues, and improving the site’s overall responsiveness. These changes significantly enhanced the browsing experience for visitors using smartphones.
Mobile page load time was reduced from 5.8 seconds to 2.1 seconds, improving the website’s Google PageSpeed score and making it faster and easier for customers arriving from Google Search to find the business phone number and make contact.
The results after 7 months
3x more inbound calls
Monthly calls tracked through Google Business Profile grew from 8-12 per month to 34-40 per month. Contractor seo results measured over 7 months: call volume tripled.
71 reviews, 4.9 rating
Up from 9 reviews with no recent ones. The business entered the local pack top 3 for its main keywords in month 4.
Angi spend eliminated
The business cancelled its Angi listing at month 5 when organic call volume was sufficient to keep the team fully booked. Local business seo roi measured at 4.1x in year one.
Ranking across 6 surrounding towns
Service area pages produced google maps ranking results in 6 nearby towns where the business had previously been invisible in search.
What this means for your business
The results above came from fixing problems that exist in the majority of local service businesses that have never had a proper SEO audit. An incomplete Google Business Profile, a single services page, inconsistent directory listings, no review process, and a slow website are the default state for most contractors and small businesses. They are all fixable.
Every local seo for contractors program starts from a different point and every market has different competition levels. But the process is the same: find what is missing, fix it in order of impact, measure what changes. This case study reflects what that process produces when followed correctly.