Case Study: Local SEO for an HVAC Franchise Location
Some of the most valuable search queries are local. Small businesses in a range of industries rely on reaching a qualified, local audience to generate consistent leads. Oneupweb’s experience helping local businesses raise their profiles made us the obvious choice for a local HVAC company looking to elevate its brand and grow its business in the American Southwest.
See how working with an experienced local SEO agency can benefit HVAC franchisees in our HVAC franchise SEO case study.
Local SEO Campaign Case Study
The Problem
Many home service brands are highly dependent on a mix of paid channels, including paid search, display, and paid social, to win qualified leads. Our local HVAC client, creatively named “client” at the request of their franchise system, sought out ways to win business organically and reduce their reliance on paid.
The Solution
Oneupweb started working with the owner-operated company in May 2024. The primary objective was to grow organic leads, measured by phone calls and appointment form submissions.
This location chose our enhanced local SEO package, which included:
- 2 local web page optimizations and/or new local pages per month (“strategies”)
- 1 Google Business Profile (GBP) post per month
Local SEO for HVAC Contractors: A Timeline
Month 1: The Setup
The first month of our local SEO agreement was dedicated to organization, research, and aligning our findings with the owner’s business priorities. During this time, Oneupweb conducted a competitor analysis, search trend and seasonality research, and extensive keyword research to develop strategies for the remaining 11 months of the engagement.
Months 2-12: Strategy Execution
Local Homepage
The first strategy for every local SEO engagement is optimizing the client’s local homepage. Without exception, the local homepage is a franchise location’s most important page. It’s where most users will land on the local site, and it’s where most conversion events begin. That’s why it’s critical to make sure this page is in the best possible shape first.
The Results: This client’s homepage’s organic sessions grew by 23% and leads grew by 54%, YoY.
Service Pages and Geopages
From there, we began optimizing existing service pages for the most important services this client offers, such as air conditioner repairs and installations. This included optimizing page title tags, meta descriptions, and on-page headers and page copy to introduce SEO-rich, localized keywords, such as:
- emergency air conditioning repair in (City)
- (City) HVAC companies
- heat pump installation in (City)
We also optimized geopages, or “Areas We Serve” pages, representing a few cities within the client’s territory. We didn’t optimize all of the client’s existing geopages because our keyword research showed no search volume for some of their smaller towns. It’s likely that property owners in those locales search for queries related to the major city closest to them.
The Results: Combined, the client’s service and geopages posted a 219% increase in organic sessions YoY.
Local Blogs
Our last priority for local SEO engagements is typically writing new local blogs. Blogs rarely generate leads, which is why they’re last on the list for this leads-focused client. However, blogs can be a great way to increase brand awareness and recall among locals and solidify the client’s reputation as a source of authoritative, trustworthy HVAC information.
The Results: New local blogs brought 22% of all new organic users to the client’s local pages and produced 19% of all organic sessions in the first half of 2025.
As of July 2025, local blogs were responsible for 78% of the location’s ranked keywords. The location’s blogs were cited in 8 AI Overviews, 62 People Also Ask SERP features, and 2 Things to Know SERP features. These types of citations are becoming increasingly important as Google tries to keep users on the SERP as long as possible.
The Results of Local SEO for This HVAC Contractor
Comparing the first six months of 2025 to the first six months of 2024, the performance gains are profound.
- Organic landing page sessions increased by almost 69%.
- Organic new users grew by 84.5%.
- Total organic key events (aka leads, including form submissions and calls) increased by 194%.
- Organic call click leads from the website swelled by 359%!
Google Business Profile’s Impact
One GBP post per month may not sound like much, but serving these monthly conversion-ready posts contributes significant organic leads and supports local brand awareness.
Comparing February-July 2025 versus the previous year:
- The client’s GBP was shown in 31.2% more search results.
- Calls from GBP increased by 21.3%.
- Clicks from GBP to the client’s local homepage increased by 2.4%.
Resources: Our Local SEO Services
Monthly Reporting Insights
Another benefit of our local SEO agreements is having a project manager who monitors organic performance and provides valuable data to the client. Depending on the brand’s local SEO agreement, this reporting information is delivered via email, video recording, or on live calls. For this client, Oneupweb provides monthly reporting insights via email. This regular touchpoint provides an opportunity to keep the client informed about the performance of their web pages and the progress we’re making through their approved strategies.
The Results: The client is light years ahead in understanding organic search and how SEO and paid media interact.
Looking to Year Two and Beyond
We recently started our second year of local SEO services with this client. SEO, like most home service industries, is constantly evolving. Ongoing search trend shifts and algorithm updates mean we need to constantly assess and refresh the homepage and key service pages.
Along with page optimizations, we’re continuing with additional local blog generation. With any additional local service page options off the table indefinitely due to corporate policy, we’re focusing on blog topics that will allow us to target high-value, conversion-ready keywords centered on this client’s core services.
Invest in Organic Growth with a Dedicated Local SEO Partner
Whether you’re looking for local SEO for an HVAC company or any industry, Oneupweb can help. Our local SEO and content marketing team has supported diverse clients in a wide range of verticals, from local nonprofits to nationwide franchise organizations (and their individual locations!).
If you’d like to learn more about how Oneupweb’s local SEO retainers will make a difference for your local business, let’s talk.
