Highland HVAC Case Study: 8x Lead Growth from SEO + Reviews

Real example of how a regional HVAC company used Trades Marketing Co's playbook to grow qualified leads from 6/mo to 50+/mo in 12 months, mostly organic.

Quick Facts

Industry: Residential + light commercial HVAC
Location: Suburban metro (3-county service area)
Starting state: Page 2-3 ranking, 6 leads/month total, no reviews strategy
12-month result: Top-3 Maps 3-pack across 4 cities, 50+ qualified leads/mo, 4.85★ rating with 100+ reviews
Marketing spend: $300/mo on Google Ads + $50/mo hosting + Trades Marketing Co retainer

The Challenge

📉 Only 6 leads/month despite running $800/mo Google Ads
📉 GBP unoptimized, 18 reviews at 4.2★ (suspicious)
📉 No website content beyond contact + services
📉 0 ranking for any city-specific keyword

What We Built

GBP rebuild — claimed, optimized, 75+ photos, weekly posts, Q&A seeded, services with descriptions
Review velocity program — automated SMS post-job + tech-ask training → 8-12 new reviews/mo
15 city pages with unique local content + embedded GBP map
Service pages for each major service (AC repair, heating, install, maintenance, ductwork)
Google Ads rebuilt with negative keywords + dedicated landing pages + call tracking
Schema markup across all 30+ new pages (LocalBusiness, HVACBusiness, Service, FAQ, Review)

12-Month Results

6 → 50+

Qualified leads/month

4.2 → 4.85★

Average rating

18 → 100+

Google reviews

$133 → $40

Cost per booked job (Google Ads)

Page 4 → #1

Maps 3-pack ranking across 4 cities

$300/mo

Ad spend (down from $800)

The Direct Quote

"We were running Google Ads and wondering why the phone barely rang. Trades Marketing Co showed us our funnel was leaking — bad GBP, no reviews strategy, no organic footprint. Now we get more leads from organic than from ads and we've cut our ad budget by 60%."

— Highland HVAC owner

Why This Worked: The Sequence

The mistake most HVAC companies make: jumping straight to Google Ads without foundation. This 12-month program followed a sequence:

Months 1-2: GBP rebuild, photo blitz, review velocity launch — phone started ringing more
Months 3-4: Service + city pages live, schema markup, internal linking — Google starts ranking for local queries
Months 5-7: Reviews at 60+, GBP ranking top 5, organic traffic picks up significantly
Months 8-12: Maps 3-pack #1 across all 4 cities, 100+ reviews, ad spend reduced 60%

By month 12, the organic channel exceeded Google Ads on a monthly leads basis.

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