Local SEO Case Study
From Page 3 to Fully Booked: What Happens When a Plumbing Business Finally Fixes Its SEO
Ironwell Plumbing had 14 years in business, a loyal customer base, and four trucks on the road, but almost none of that mattered when someone searched for a plumber online.
Client
Ironwell Plumbing & Drain
Owner
Dave Reyes
Years in Business
14 Years
Timeline
7 Months
THE SITUATION
Fourteen Years in Business. Nowhere to Be Found Online.
For fourteen years, Ironwell Plumbing built a strong local reputation the traditional way: word of mouth, repeat customers, and reliable service. But two newer competitors had climbed past them on Google, and Dave Reyes was watching jobs go to companies doing noticeably worse work. Their website hadn't been touched in years, and there was no real activity behind it.
Their website hadn't been touched in years. There was no activity on their Google Business Profile, barely any local listings beyond the basics, and a site that wasn't built with mobile users in mind. Which is a real problem in this line of work, because when someone's standing in a flooded basement at 11pm, a phone is almost always how that search happens. If the site is slow, or the phone number is buried three clicks deep, that homeowner is calling the next result down, not scrolling to find you.
Dave Reyes, Owner
OWNER, IRONWELL PLUMBING & DRAIN
“When someone's standing in a flooded basement at 11pm, they're not sitting down at a desktop. They're on their phone, panicking, and they'll tap whichever result loads fastest and gets them a phone number without three extra clicks. Ironwell wasn't that result, so they weren't getting the call.”
WHAT WE FOUND
A Business That Google Couldn't See
Fourteen years of real work, none of it visible where it mattered most.
A Website Untouched for Years
Not built with mobile users in mind, in a business where an emergency search almost always happens on a phone, not a desktop.
No Activity on Google Business Profile
Barely any local listings beyond the basics, leaving Ironwell invisible in the map pack results where most local searches land.
Slow, Buried Phone Number
If the site is slow, or the phone number is buried three clicks deep, that homeowner is calling the next result down, not scrolling to find you.
WHAT WE DID
Fixing the Foundation First
Five focused fixes, starting with the profile that mattered most and working outward.
- Rebuilt the Google Business Profile from scratch — categories, accurate service areas, photos from actual jobs, and a simple system for collecting reviews after every completed call
- Created separate service pages for drain cleaning, water heater work, and emergency calls, instead of one crowded page trying to cover everything at once
- Fixed the technical issues that were slowing the site down on mobile, including image sizes and a bloated plugin list nobody was using anymore
- Built out local citations across the directories that actually matter for home services
- Started a monthly content cadence built around the questions customers were already typing into Google, like how to tell if a water heater needs replacing versus repairing
THE RESULTS
Month 1 to Month 7
Organic search traffic, month 1 to month 7
Inbound calls tracked from Google and organic search sources
Position for “plumber Columbus Ohio,” up from page 3, moved into the local map pack
“Honestly, the first thing that stood out wasn't the numbers. It was the phone. It used to sit quiet during the day, and now it just doesn't stop ringing. Some weeks Ironwell is turning down jobs simply because they're booked out, which after years of the opposite problem, is nobody complaining about.”
IN DAVE REYES' WORDS
In Their Own Words
We'd tried a couple of "SEO packages" before that basically amounted to nothing except our invoice. This was different from the start, they actually asked about our business, our slow seasons, which jobs we wanted more of. Seven months in, we're not just getting more calls, we're getting the right calls. Bigger jobs, better customers, less price-shopping. I wish we'd done this five years ago.
A NOTE ON RESULTS
Every business is different. Ironwell's results came from a specific mix of location, competition, and just as important, how fast their team answered the phone and followed up on leads. SEO builds the visibility; what happens after the call still comes down to the business. We don't promise every client will see the same numbers, but this is what focused, consistent work looks like when it's given time to compound.
READY TO RANK?
Want Results Like This?
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