How a focused, aggressive local SEO campaign for a Boston-area HVAC company resulted in total domination of the Google "3-Pack," a massive increase in inbound service calls, and a fully booked schedule.
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Google Map Pack Ranking for 10+ Keywords
Direct Phone Calls from Google
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Google Review Rating (from 4.2)
THE CHALLENGE
Our client, a highly-skilled and reputable family-owned HVAC company serving several towns north of Boston, was facing a frustrating problem. Despite their excellent work and fair pricing, their phone wasn’t ringing consistently.
They were virtually invisible in the all-important Google Map Pack results for urgent, high-value searches like “AC repair near me.”
Their website, while decent, was buried on the second or third page of Google, generating almost zero organic traffic.
Their Google Business Profile was incomplete, unoptimized, and had only a handful of old reviews.
They were forced to rely on expensive, low-ROI pay-per-lead services, and they knew they were losing jobs every single day to the three or four competitors who consistently appeared at the top of local search results.
Their Goal: To stop losing business to their competitors and establish their company as the #1 most visible and trusted HVAC provider in their core service area.
We knew that for a home service business, success is won in the Google Map Pack. Our strategy was a relentless, three-pronged attack focused on the factors that matter most for local rankings.
1. Meticulous Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimization: We treated their GBP listing as their most important digital asset. We completely rewrote the description, uploaded dozens of geotagged photos of their team and work, built out a full list of every specific service they offer (e.g., “ductless mini-split installation,” “furnace maintenance”), and implemented a consistent Q&A and Google Posts strategy.
2. A Powerful Review Generation System: Trust is everything for a homeowner. We implemented our simple, effective system to automatically request reviews from satisfied customers upon job completion. This quickly took their profile from a handful of old reviews to over 50 recent, 5-star reviews, creating powerful social proof.
3. Hyper-Local Content & On-Page SEO: To prove their relevance to their service area, we built out new pages on their website for each town they served (e.g., Medford, Arlington, Somerville). We also created helpful blog content answering common homeowner questions (e.g., “How often should I service my AC unit?”). This signaled to Google that they were the true local experts.
Our focused local SEO campaign produced tangible, business-changing results within six months.
Achieved the #1 position in the Google Map Pack for over 10 of their most profitable, high-intent keywords (including “HVAC repair [Town]”).
A 180% increase in direct, inbound phone calls originating from their Google Business Profile, tracked via call-tracking numbers.
Increased their average Google rating from 4.2 to 4.9 stars with over 50 new, positive reviews, building immense trust.
A 3x increase in “Get Directions” requests, indicating more customers navigating directly to their location.
They were able to completely turn off their expensive pay-per-lead service, funding their entire SEO campaign with the savings while generating higher quality leads.
This case study proves that for home service businesses, a focused investment in dominating local search is the single most effective marketing strategy available. By building trust and maximizing visibility at the exact moment a customer has a problem, we can create a powerful and predictable engine for new business.