Anonymized · Protected by NDA
Central Florida General Contractor
How a Polk County GC closed a 19 vs 247 review gap against an entrenched competitor and reached top 3 map pack in 6 months. NDA-protected case.
Maps rank
[Top 3]
target city
Review count
[19 to 68]
in 6 months
Remodel leads
[+420%]
vs baseline
Avg ticket
[$48k]
remodel job
Context
A Polk County full-service general contractor with over 15 years of experience across new residential builds, kitchen and bath remodels, and whole-home renovations. Known in the industry for quality work but outranked in every digital channel by a single entrenched competitor who had been investing in marketing since 2016.
The Challenge
Where they were
when we started.
[PLACEHOLDER] The client was consistently losing high-ticket remodel leads to one specific competitor that dominated page 1 of Google Maps for every target keyword. The competitor had 247 reviews to our client's 19. Their Google Ads budget was an estimated 5x larger. Their website was faster, had more content, and looked more expensive.
[PLACEHOLDER] Internally, the client had no lead tracking, no CRM integration, and no idea which marketing channels (if any) were producing leads. Phone calls were manually logged in a notebook. Quote follow-ups happened when someone remembered. The existing website was a 2017 WordPress template with 4 pages and no schema.
[PLACEHOLDER] The owner's goal was simple: become competitive enough on Google to stop losing the $40k+ remodel jobs. He was not trying to dominate. He just wanted to get into the conversation.
Our Approach
What we built,
and in what order.
[PLACEHOLDER] The first priority was closing the review gap. We installed automated review request SMS triggered by job completion and added a QR code to every final invoice. Within the first 12 weeks the review count grew from 19 to 41. By month 6 it was 68. The gap with the competitor was still there, but it was no longer disqualifying.
[PLACEHOLDER] Second was the local SEO rebuild. We added geo-targeted service pages for every Polk County metro the client served: Lakeland, Winter Haven, Auburndale, Bartow, Haines City. Each page had unique content (not templates), FAQ schema, and linked to 3 to 5 other relevant pages. We cleaned NAP inconsistencies across 28 directories.
[PLACEHOLDER] Third was paid: a Google Ads campaign structure targeting only high-intent remodel keywords (kitchen remodel, whole house renovation, bathroom remodel) with tight geo-targeting to avoid neighboring counties outside the service area. Call tracking installed on every campaign so we could finally prove which channels were working.
[PLACEHOLDER] Fourth was the website rebuild: a project portfolio with structured data on every completed build, a dedicated remodel landing page as the primary Google Ads destination, and page speed optimization that took mobile load time from 5.1 seconds down to under 1 second.
Timeline
How it unfolded.
Week 1
Review automation installed, baseline audit complete
Week 2-4
NAP cleanup + schema markup on existing pages
Week 5-8
5 city service pages published
Week 9-12
Google Ads live with call tracking
Month 4
Google Maps rank broke top 4
Month 5-6
Website rebuild launched, top 3 maps rank
Month 7-12
Sustained top 3 ranking, first new hire planned
The Result
What actually
happened next.
[PLACEHOLDER] At month 4, the client reached position 4 in Google Maps for the primary city keyword. At month 6, they broke into the top 3 and stayed there. The entrenched competitor was still ranking ahead in some searches, but the gap had closed enough for the client to start winning head-to-head deals.
[PLACEHOLDER] Review count reached 68 by month 6. Google Ads generated 23 qualified remodel leads in the first month of full deployment. The remodel channel became consistent enough that the owner started planning his first hire in over two years.
[PLACEHOLDER] Year 1 saw a 420% lift in remodel leads versus baseline and a measurable reduction in the frequency of losing head-to-head bids to the entrenched competitor. The client's owner said the most important outcome was not the leads, it was the ability to confidently turn down low-ticket jobs he used to take out of desperation.
Key Insight
“The gap between 19 reviews and 247 reviews feels impossible to close, but it is not. 12 weeks of automated review requests closes 70% of the gap in visibility, even if the raw number is still behind. Review velocity matters as much as review count.”
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