Local SEO case study · Plumber
Buford Plumbing Company Local SEO Case Study: 35% Better Map Rank
A residential plumber in Buford, Georgia, tracked from June to September 2026 with geo-grid scans, Google Business Profile reports and Search Console. Every one of the five target searches ranks better on the map now. Average grid rank moved from 9.30 to 6.03.
Results at a glance
Five Searches, Five Improvements
Map rows compare the first scan with the latest. Profile rows are totals for the four months. Search rows come from Search Console and its daily export.
| Measure | Figure | Basis | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean grid rank for “water heater installation Buford” | 5.26 → 3.00 | First vs latest scan | 2.26 spots higher |
| Mean grid rank for “water heater repair Buford” | 6.86 → 2.79 | First vs latest scan | 4.07 spots higher |
| Mean grid rank for “plumbing company near me” | 10.62 → 7.36 | First vs latest scan | 3.26 spots higher |
| Mean grid rank for “plumbers near me” | 13.51 → 8.69 | First vs latest scan | 4.81 spots higher |
| Mean grid rank for “water heater repair near me” | 10.23 → 8.31 | First vs latest scan | 1.93 spots higher |
| Mean rank over all five searches | 9.30 → 6.03 | First vs latest scan | 3.27 spots higher, 35% (calculated) |
| Share of pins in the top 3, five-search mean | 24% → 43% | First vs latest scan | +19 percentage points (calculated) |
| Business Profile views | 1,967 | Jun to Sep 2026 | Four-month total |
| Calls and site clicks from the listing | 38 and 102 | Jun to Sep 2026 | Website clicks about 17 to 30 a month |
| Organic clicks a month | 15 → 28 | June vs September | +87% (calculated) |
| Organic impressions a month | 4,103 → 6,151 | June vs September | +50% (calculated) |
| Mean organic position | 18.7 → 11.2 | July vs September | 7.5 spots higher (calculated) |
| Impressions in AI-powered results | 475 | Jun 1 to Sep 30, 2026 | Beta data, impressions only |
Season, weather and the owner’s own marketing all play a part next to the SEO work, so treat these as observed changes, not proof of a single cause. The business name, web address and brand-name searches are left out on purpose.
Baseline
The First Scan, Search By Search
Every scan used one business address and one 95-pin grid, spaced 1.6 km apart across a 5 mile radius. Here is how each search looked on day one.
water heater installation Buford
Started at 5.26 on average, with 43% of pins in the top three and 46% between 4th and 10th. Another 11% sat at 11th or lower.
water heater repair Buford
Started at 6.86 on average, with 26% of pins in the top three and 54% between 4th and 10th. Another 20% sat at 11th or lower.
plumbing company near me
Started at 10.62 on average, with 18% of pins in the top three and 38% between 4th and 10th. Another 44% sat at 11th or lower.
plumbers near me
Started at 13.51 on average, with 13% of pins in the top three and 31% between 4th and 10th. Another 57% sat at 11th or lower.
water heater repair near me
Started at 10.23 on average, with 19% of pins in the top three and 38% between 4th and 10th. Another 43% sat at 11th or lower.
What Stands Out
The two Buford searches opened on page one almost everywhere. All three “near me” searches opened with 43% to 57% of pins at 11th or lower.
Key: High is positions 1 to 3, Mid is 4 to 10, Low is 11 to 20, Out is not found in the top 20.
Geo-grid detail
Pin By Pin On Five Grids
One average hides the detail, so each grid below is summarized by its mix of pin colors.
| Search | First scan | Latest scan | Improvement | Pin mix, first to latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| water heater installation Buford | 5.26 | 3.00 | 2.26 | Top 3: 43% to 62%. Mid: 46% to 38%. Low: 11% to none |
| water heater repair Buford | 6.86 | 2.79 | 4.07 | Top 3: 26% to 66%. Mid: 54% to 34%. Low: 20% to none |
| plumbing company near me | 10.62 | 7.36 | 3.26 | Top 3: 18% to 32%. Mid: 38% to 47%. Low: 26% to 15%. Out: 18% to 6% |
| plumbers near me | 13.51 | 8.69 | 4.81 | Top 3: 13% to 22%. Mid: 31% to 47%. Low: 13% to 22%. Out: 44% to 8% |
| water heater repair near me | 10.23 | 8.31 | 1.93 | Top 3: 19% to 33%. Mid: 38% to 35%. Low: 34% to 21%. Out: 9% to 12% |
Improvement values are copied from Local Dominator. Pin shares are rounded in the source, so some rows total 99% or 101%.
Grid 1 of 5
Page One On Every Pin
62% of pins now show in the top three, up from 43%. The 11% of pins that sat at 11th or lower have disappeared. The eastern edge sits mid-page, a clear next target.
Grid 2 of 5
The Widest Top-Three Jump
Top-three pins went from 26% to 66%, a 40-point gain, and the 20% of pins stuck on page two are cleared. The west and center of the grid now rank first or second.
Grid 3 of 5
A Crowded Search, Slowly Won
Average rank moved up 3.26 spots. Nearly one pin in three is now top three (18% to 32%), and pins missing from the top 20 shrank from 18% to 6%.
Grid 4 of 5
From Invisible To Competitive
This search had the furthest to climb and gained the most, 4.81 spots. Pins missing from the top 20 dropped from 44% to 8%, and mid-page pins grew from 31% to 47%.
Grid 5 of 5
The Search With The Most Runway
Top-three pins rose from 19% to 33% and page-two pins eased from 34% to 21%.
Google Business Profile
From Profile Views To Calls And Clicks
From June to September 2026 the listing drew 1,967 views and 416 actions, among them 38 phone calls and 102 website clicks.
| Profile measure | Four-month total | Trend read from the chart |
|---|---|---|
| Profile interactions | 416 | Strong start in June, then steady at 85 to 95 a month |
| Profile views | 1,967 | 56% via Google Search, 44% via Google Maps (calculated) |
| Searches that surfaced the listing | 289 | Four of the five leading terms were generic |
| Phone calls from the listing | 38 | Level at roughly 8 to 10 a month |
| Website clicks from the listing | 102 | Grew from about 17 in June to about 30 in September |
Website Clicks Keep Climbing
Clicks to the website grew from about 17 to about 30 a month, while calls held a steady 8 to 10 a month.
How Searchers Reached The Listing
The listing logged 1,967 views from 289 searches. Google Search supplied 56% of the views (34% from phones) and Google Maps 44%, worked out from the rounded figures in the report.
What People Typed
Four of the five leading terms were generic: “plumber” (90), “water heater repair” (40), “drain cleaning near me” (28) and “plumber near me” (25). The fifth, a brand-name term with 106 searches, is blurred.
Desktop Maps Punches Above Its Weight
Google Maps on a desktop supplied 569 views (29%), more than Google Search on desktop (432, 22%) and Maps on mobile (298, 15%).
Google Search Console
Organic Reach Built Up Each Month
This property only began recording on May 18, 2026, so the period before June has just 14 days in it. June to September produced 98 clicks and 20.9K impressions. Comparing month with month is the honest read.
| Window | Clicks | Impressions | CTR | Avg position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18 to 31 (only 14 days recorded) | 9 | 939 | 1.0% | 16.7 |
| June | 15 | 4,103 | 0.4% | 10.1 |
| July | 21 | 4,492 | 0.5% | 18.7 |
| August | 34 | 6,110 | 0.6% | 14.8 |
| September | 28 | 6,151 | 0.5% | 11.2 |
| Oct 1 to 10 (partial) | 13 | 3,000 | 0.4% | 8.9 |
| Jun 1 to Sep 30 (as in the screenshot) | 98 | 20,856 | 0.5% | 13.6 |
Monthly rows are summed from the daily Search Console export, with position weighted by impressions. The last row uses the position Search Console itself reports.
Weekly clicks
Weekly impressions
Charts cover 17 full weeks, June 1 to September 27. The final three days of September appear only in the table.
Wider Reach
Impressions a month climbed from 4,103 to 6,151 (+50%) between June and September. Clicks a month went from 15 to 28.
Position Keeps Improving
Average position moved from 18.7 in July to 11.2 in September, and reached 8.9 in the first ten days of October.
What people searched
Ranking For Hundreds Of Local Searches
Query figures span May 18 to October 10, 2026, all the days on record. Google exposes 1,000 queries covering 18.8K of 24.8K impressions. The main plumbing themes are bucketed by keyword pattern below, and brand-name queries are left out.
| Search theme | Queries | Impressions | Avg position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water heater searches | 165 | 0 | 4,639 | 5.1 |
| Buford plumber searches | 101 | 8 | 3,338 | 2.5 |
| “Near me” plumbing searches | 131 | 7 | 2,367 | 3.7 |
Themes are built from the Search Console query export, one theme per query. Position is weighted by impressions.
Grid Keywords In Organic Search
How the five map-grid searches show up in the Search Console query list.
| Query | Impressions | Avg position |
|---|---|---|
| water heater installation buford | 181 | 5.1 |
| water heater repair buford | 125 | 3.5 |
| water heater repair near me | 171 | 6.0 |
| plumbers near me | 91 | 7.4 |
| plumbing company near me | 21 | 5.8 |
Biggest Generic Queries
Non-brand searches ranked by impressions, same export.
| Query | Impressions | Avg position |
|---|---|---|
| water heater replacement buford | 925 | 1.4 |
| buford plumber | 748 | 1.1 |
| buford plumbing | 697 | 1.1 |
| drain cleaning | 593 | 1.9 |
| plumber near me | 527 | 2.6 |
| plumbing services | 184 | 4.0 |
| faucet repair services | 179 | 2.9 |
| plumbing | 175 | 2.5 |
| plumber | 161 | 4.3 |
Strong Local Positions
Water heater, Buford and “near me” searches together cover 397 queries and 10,344 impressions at average positions between 2.5 and 5.1.
Buford Searches Rank Highest
Buford plumber queries average position 2.5 across 101 queries, and several of the biggest sit at position 1.1.
Landing pages and visitors
Which Pages Got Visited, And From Where
Same May 18 to October 10, 2026 window as the query figures, 120 clicks in all.
| Page | Clicks | Impressions | CTR | Avg position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home page, profile website link | 79 | 14,585 | 0.54% | 3.07 |
| Home page | 23 | 830 | 2.77% | 3.55 |
| Water heater replacement cost guide | 6 | 791 | 0.76% | 5.92 |
| Water heater repair, Buford | 2 | 1,990 | 0.1% | 9.31 |
| Water heater inspection | 2 | 415 | 0.48% | 10.13 |
| Faucet repair, Buford | 1 | 601 | 0.17% | 19.36 |
| Plumber Flowery Branch | 1 | 585 | 0.17% | 16.64 |
Row one is the home page reached through a link carrying a profile campaign tag. Both home page rows together take 102 of 120 clicks (85%, calculated), and the profile link ranks at position 3.07.
Desktop And Mobile
85 clicks (71%) came from desktop and 34 (28%) from mobile.
Mostly US Traffic
The United States delivered 84 of 120 clicks (70%) and roughly 96% of impressions.
Local Intent
The profile website link averages position 3.07 and the home page 3.55, so local searchers see the site near the top.
AI-powered results
Showing Up In Google’s AI Answers
The beta Generative AI features report counts 475 impressions for June 1 to September 30, 2026, versus 1 in the 14 days earlier. Impressions only: it does not prove a citation, visit or call.
What next
A Strong Base To Build On
The momentum points to three growth targets.
1. Scale The “Near Me” Searches
“Plumbers near me” already gained 4.81 spots, and the next phase aims to turn its mid-page pins into top-three pins.
2. Convert Search Reach
Water heater queries now log 4,639 impressions at position 5.1, a strong base for more visits.
3. Connect Clicks To Jobs
Profile website clicks grew from about 17 to about 30 a month. Call and form tracking will tie that growth to booked work.
Quick answers
Making Sense Of The Data
What do the colors on the grid mean?
Why are the profile figures only totals?
Why is there no Search Console growth percentage?
What does the 13.6 average position include?
Does a profile call mean a new customer?
More proof
See Another Case Study
Roseville Plumbing Company Local SEO Case Study
Profile calls up 112.5%, average map rank 6.74 to 2.49 across six keywords, top-three pins 33% to 86%, and organic clicks from 246 to 971.
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This Buford plumber now shows in the top three on 62% to 66% of the map for water heater searches. If you manage local SEO for plumbers, we can talk about supporting your clients under your brand.