It’s a familiar story for many successful service businesses expanding across multiple locations: growth brings complexity. We started working with a reputable home services company – think plumbing, HVAC, electrical – operating across several distinct neighborhoods and suburbs within a major metropolitan area. While their service quality was excellent and word-of-mouth strong, their digital footprint was inconsistent. Some locations performed reasonably well in local searches, while others were practically invisible online. Potential customers searching for “emergency plumber near me” or “AC repair [Specific Suburb]” often wouldn’t find them, leading to lost opportunities and reliance on increasingly expensive advertising just to stay competitive. The core issue wasn’t a lack of effort, but a lack of a unified, hyperlocal strategy; their online listings (NAP – Name, Address, Phone) were inconsistent, Google Business Profiles were under-optimized, and the website didn’t effectively signal relevance for each specific service area.
Our initial deep dive confirmed these suspicions and revealed further complexities, including some duplicate listings causing confusion for both users and search engines. We realized a blanket approach wouldn’t work; we needed what we internally termed a Unified Local Presence Framework. This involved meticulous, location-by-location optimization executed under a centralized strategy. The process began with a thorough audit and cleanup of NAP citations across dozens of online directories, ensuring absolute consistency – a foundational step often overlooked. We then embarked on optimizing each Google Business Profile individually, maximizing every field, utilizing Q&A strategically, consistently posting localized updates, and ensuring accurate service area definitions. Critically, we collaborated with their team to develop unique, high-quality service pages on their main website specifically targeting each key neighborhood and suburb, incorporating relevant local landmarks and terminology. Alongside this, we implemented a streamlined, SMS-based system to encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews, boosting social proof and signaling trust to Google.
The results began to materialize steadily over the following months. Within about six months, we saw a significant shift:
- Across all targeted locations, the business achieved an average placement within the top 3 (“Map Pack”) results for their core high-intent service keywords over 75% of the time, a dramatic increase from less than 20% initially.
- Analysis of Google Business Profile Insights showed a remarkable average increase of 80% in direct calls and website clicks originating from local search across their locations. Some previously underperforming branches saw increases exceeding 150%.
- The review generation strategy proved effective, lifting the average star rating across all locations by 0.4 points and significantly increasing the velocity of new, positive reviews.
This wasn’t just about rankings; it translated directly into measurable business growth through a substantial increase in qualified service calls and booked appointments originating purely from organic local search. By treating each location as unique while managing the strategy centrally, we helped them not just compete, but truly dominate their local digital landscape, establishing a sustainable competitive advantage built on visibility and trust.
