The numbers (top non-branded phrases, first quarter).
- "basement company near me": position 1.0 (impressions: 2)
- "attic remediation": position 2.0 (impressions: 1)
- "khi construction": 1 click, position 10.8, 4.76% CTR (21 impressions)
- "accident reconstructionist near me": position 13.0 (impressions: 1)
- "attic mold removal": position 31.0 (impressions: 4)
Impression counts are low because the niche is small. The strategic value is owning the small high-intent surface before competitors do.
What we did.
- Brand-build SEO foundation: domain setup, technical hygiene, schema, sitemaps
- Identified specialty niches with low competition + high commercial intent (attic remediation, basement work, accident reconstruction)
- Built dedicated landing pages for each specialty service
- Established Google Business Profile and local citation foundation
- Wrote initial content cluster around restoration specialties most national franchises ignore
- Set the foundation for expansion into mold, water, fire restoration in subsequent quarters
Why it worked.
New brand SEO is a different game than established-brand SEO. You can't outrank Servpro and Servicemaster on "water damage Houston" in your first quarter. You can rank on "attic remediation" because nobody else built a page for it. The strategy was: own the small surface first, then expand once Google trusts the domain.
The work that powered it.
- SEO services with new-brand-launch focus
- Web design foundation
- Local SEO and citation cleanup from day one
What the situation looked like at engagement start.
Restoration is a category where speed of inbound response defines who wins the job. Flooded house at 11pm: the first-response contractor gets the contract, the rest get nothing. Core KHI had the technical capability and crew but inconsistent inbound handling: missed calls went to voicemail, after-hours leads went to next-day callbacks (by which point the customer had hired someone else). The engagement focused on closing that response gap and lifting the local pack signal so that more inbound came in to begin with.
What we shipped.
| Workstream | What we shipped | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| AI receptionist + missed-call text-back | 24/7 inbound coverage, missed-call auto-text within 60 seconds, urgent-call escalation to on-call tech | After-hours leads captured for the first time, response time on emergency calls under 60 seconds |
| GBP optimization + review automation | Profile cleanup, weekly posts, 100 percent review response rate | Local pack visibility lifted on tracked emergency-restoration terms |
| Service-area pages | Per-city emergency restoration pages with local insurance carrier references | Insurance-adjacent search visibility lifted (huge for the category) |
| Lead qualification | Inbound triage: emergency vs scheduled, residential vs commercial, insurance vs cash | Crew dispatch optimized, partner time on unqualified leads down materially |
Lessons that transfer.
- Restoration wins are 60 percent response speed, 40 percent everything else. If you cannot answer the 11pm call, the marketing budget is wasted.
- Missed-call text-back is the highest-ROI single deployment for restoration. Cheaper and faster than AI receptionist, recovers most of the same revenue.
- Insurance carrier context in service-area pages matters. Adjusters Google contractors mid-claim; pages that reference local carriers index better for those searches.
- Local pack signal compounds with weekly GBP cadence. Restoration prospects use map pack heavily for emergencies.
FAQ.
- How long was the engagement?
- Concentrated 90-day sprint plus ongoing tuning. Most measurable lift inside that window.
- What was the investment?
- Specific numbers private per client. Reach out for a fit call to discuss what comparable engagements run.
- Are these numbers from real reporting tools?
- Yes. Pulled directly from Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and GBP Insights, period-over-period.
- Can we expect identical results?
- No two engagements identical. Numbers depend on starting state, category competitiveness, and execution. We share these to set realistic expectations, not as guarantees.
- What's the next step if I want similar?
- Book a fit call. We will scope honestly and tell you if the engagement makes sense.
More case studies.
- RJT Construction: doubled traffic in 90 days
- Online Credit Repair: GBP-led visibility lift
- Core KHI Restoration: after-hours lead capture
- 911 Restoration Tampa: franchise local SEO
- Leal Funeral Home: bilingual multi-location rebuild
- Pro-Fresh Houston: premium-positioning pivot
- Upright Forklift: B2B SEO + static homepage layer