A family-owned plumbing company was barely showing up in the local pack. After 6 months of focused local SEO, they now dominate their service area.
+15 positions
Ranking improvement — from position 18 to position 3 average
3X more calls
Lead increase — from ~30 to ~90 calls per month
47 → 156
Review count — +109 reviews in 6 months
85%
Service area coverage — green zones on heatmap
Reliable Plumbing & Heating (name changed for privacy) had been serving Chicago's Northwest Side for over 15 years. Despite their excellent reputation and loyal customer base, they weren't appearing in the Google Maps pack for most searches in their service area.
When we ran an initial heatmap using VitalMap, the picture was clear: they ranked well only within a 2-mile radius of their physical location. Beyond that, they dropped to positions 15-20+.
GBP using generic category "Plumber" instead of more specific categories
23 citation inconsistencies (old phone number, different address formats)
Only 47 Google reviews (competitors had 150+)
No service area pages on website
No active Google Posts
We developed a 6-month local SEO strategy focused on the highest-impact factors:
Month 1
Month 2
Month 3
Months 4-6
After 6 months, the transformation was dramatic.
Rankings: average position improved from 18 to 3 across their service area. Heatmap went from mostly red to mostly green.
Leads: monthly calls increased from approximately 30 to approximately 90 — a 3X improvement.
Reviews: review count grew from 47 to 156, with an improved 4.8 star average.
Coverage: now ranking in the top 3 across 85% of their target service area.
They were "invisible" to most potential customers, and traditional rank tools wouldn't have shown this.
23 inconsistencies were hurting their trust signals. Fixing them improved rankings within weeks.
Implementing a system generated 109 reviews in 6 months. This momentum continues.
Simple changes to categories and description had immediate impact.
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