CASE STUDY: SPOKANE PLUMBER TURNS TINY AD BUDGET INTO A LEAD MACHINE WITH SEO

Dear Plumber,

Meet Dave.

Dave runs a one-man plumbing shop in Spokane, Washington. Been at it for 14 years. Great with his hands. Terrible with marketing.

Before he found us, Dave was spending $1,800 a month on Google Ads. And getting maybe... 8-10 calls from it.

Do the math on that. He was paying nearly $200 per lead. For a plumber in Spokane. That's insane.

grabs calculator... throws calculator

His "web guy" (a friend of a friend who "knew computers") told him that's just what it costs. That plumbing is a competitive industry. That he should actually spend MORE.

Dave almost believed him.

The Situation Before

When Dave reached out to us, here's what we found:

1. Website: Built on Wix. Hadn't been updated in 3 years. Loaded slower than dial-up.
2. Google Ads: $1,800/month with a 1.2% click-through rate (industry average is 3-4%)
3. SEO: Basically nonexistent. His site didn't rank for a single keyword. Not one.
4. Google Business Profile: Half-filled out. 6 reviews. No posts since 2022.
5. Monthly leads from website: 8-10 (and most were price shoppers)

The guy was paying $21,600 a year in ads and barely breaking even on the leads they generated.

That's not marketing. That's a money bonfire.

What We Did

### Step 1: Built a Real Website

We scrapped the Wix site. Built Dave a fast, mobile-first plumbing website with:

1. Service pages for every major offering (drain cleaning, water heater install, leak repair, sewer line, repiping, bathroom plumbing)
2. Location pages for Spokane and surrounding areas (Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Cheney, Airway Heights, Mead)
3. A homepage that actually converts (clear headline, phone number above the fold, trust badges, and a simple contact form)
4. Page load time under 2 seconds (his old Wix site took 7+ seconds)

### Step 2: Fixed His Google Business Profile

This took us about 45 minutes. But the impact was enormous.

1. Filled out every single field
2. Added 30+ photos of real jobs Dave had done
3. Set up weekly Google Posts
4. Responded to all existing reviews
5. Added services, hours, and a proper business description with keywords

### Step 3: Launched a Local SEO Strategy

Here's where the magic happened.

We identified 47 keywords that Spokane homeowners actually search for. Things like:

1. "plumber near me Spokane"
2. "emergency plumber Spokane WA"
3. "water heater replacement Spokane"
4. "drain cleaning Spokane Valley"

Dave wasn't ranking for ANY of them. Not on page one. Not on page two. Not on page ten.

We built content around every single one. Optimized his service pages. Added schema markup. Built local citations. Got him listed in every relevant directory.

### Step 4: Cut His Ad Budget (Yes, Cut It)

This is the part that scared Dave.

We told him to cut his Google Ads budget from $1,800 to $400 a month. He nearly had a heart attack.

"But that's where all my leads come from!"

No, Dave. That's where all your EXPENSIVE leads come from. We're gonna get you cheaper ones.

We restructured his remaining $400 budget to target only high-intent emergency keywords. The stuff where people need a plumber RIGHT NOW and will pay whatever it takes.

Everything else? SEO would handle it.

The Results (90 Days Later)

Here's what happened in the first 90 days:

| Metric | Before | After 90 Days | |--------|--------|----------------| | Monthly website visitors | 180 | 1,400 | | Monthly leads | 8-10 | 42 | | Google Ads spend | $1,800/mo | $400/mo | | Cost per lead | ~$200 | ~$32 | | Keywords on page 1 | 0 | 23 | | Google Business Profile views | 400/mo | 2,800/mo |

Read that again.

42 leads a month. At $32 each. Spending $1,400 LESS on ads.

Dave went from barely scraping by to having to turn down jobs because he couldn't fit them all in.

wipes tear

The Snowball Effect

Here's what people don't understand about SEO vs. ads.

With ads, you pay every single month. Forever. The second you stop paying, the leads stop coming.

With SEO, the work compounds. The content we built for Dave in month one is STILL generating leads in month six. Month nine. It'll keep working for years.

By month six, Dave was getting 60+ leads a month. His ad spend was still $400. His total marketing cost was a fraction of what it used to be.

He hired his first employee. Then a second one.

All because his website started doing the selling for him.

The Lesson Here

Dave's story isn't unique. We see this pattern constantly with plumbing businesses.

They're spending thousands on ads because some "marketing guru" told them they had to. Meanwhile, their website is a dumpster fire that couldn't convert a thirsty man in a desert.

The fix isn't more ad spend. The fix is a website that works. Paired with an SEO strategy that brings in organic traffic. Traffic you don't have to pay for every single click.

Ads are renting leads. SEO is owning them. We break down this comparison further in our post on Google Ads vs. SEO for plumbers. And if you want to learn how Google actually decides who shows up first, check out Google's SEO Starter Guide.

Could This Work in Your City?

Look. Spokane isn't some tiny town with no competition. There are plenty of plumbers there. Dave was competing against companies with way bigger budgets.

But he won. Because he had a better website, better SEO, and a smarter strategy.

Your city is probably no different. There's a ton of plumbers spending a fortune on ads with mediocre websites. And there's a massive opportunity for the one plumber who does it right.

That plumber could be you.

Get your free website audit and we'll show you exactly what keywords you're missing and how many leads you could be getting.

P.S. Dave told us last month he made more in Q1 2025 than he made in all of 2023. From a website that cost him less than one month of his old ad budget. Still think SEO doesn't work for plumbers? Check out our other case studies and see our pricing. But don't wait too long. We only take on 10 new plumbing clients per month, and 6 spots are already filled.