A family-owned Pittsburgh plumber had been in business for 15 years, but barely showed up in AI answers. When homeowners asked ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity for a plumber, AI named their competitors instead, so the company paid lead sites like Angi and Yelp to win customers.
Plumbing · Pittsburgh, PA · 3 months in, ongoing
72%AI visibilityup from 16%: named in 18 of 25 questions across 6 AI engines
+85%Inbound calls40 → about 74 a month
−75%Ad and lead spend$10,000 → $2,500 a month
$7,500Saved every month$90,000 a year at the new spend level
The challenge
Invisible in AI, paying for every lead.
- $10,000 a month on ads and lead sites, or $120,000 a year
- Shared leads: marketplace leads often go to competing plumbers too
- Named in just 4 of 25 customer questions across 6 AI engines, and missing from the other 21
- Sent to competitors: AI pointed homeowners to other Pittsburgh plumbers instead
- One generic Pittsburgh page for every area they serve
- 28 Google reviews after 15 years built on referrals and repeat customers
What we did
Fix the foundation. Then grow.
Stage 1 / Foundation / Month 1
Month 1: the AI visibility baseline in 7 days, then audits, listings cleanup and schema.
- 01AI visibility audit25 customer questions across 6 AI engines: where AI named them, and who it named instead.
- 02Technical SEO auditIndexing, crawlability, site health and AI crawler access.
- 03Competitor gap analysisWhere competitors got named and cited, and how to close the gap.
- 04Business interview and 90-day planBest jobs, service areas and capacity, turned into a ranked 90-day plan.
- 05Google profile and listings cleanupName, address, phone, service areas and services made consistent everywhere AI reads.
- 06Structured dataLocalBusiness and Service schema, so Google and AI know who they are and where they work.
Stage 2 / Growth / Months 2–3
- 07Service-area pagesDedicated pages for Monroeville, Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Cranberry Twp., built for searches like “emergency plumber in Monroeville.”
- 08Content: plumbing pricing guidesCost guides for drain cleaning, water heater repair and replacement, pipe leak repairs, sewer line repairs and emergency calls. Each one answers what homeowners ask before they hire, like “How much does it cost to replace a water heater in Pittsburgh?” Most local plumbers don’t publish prices, so these pages filled a gap their competitors left open.
- 09Monthly articlesNew articles and refreshes, built from the owner’s real answers and approved before publishing.
Every month / Ongoing
- 10Mentions on trusted sitesPersonal outreach to relevant sites, with every live placement checked and logged.
- 11Google profile and reputationProfile, reviews, listings and photos reviewed every month.
- 12AI visibility trackingThe same 25 questions tracked across 6 AI engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude.
- 13Monthly reportsWhat was done, what changed and what’s next.
- 14Monthly strategy callsPriorities reviewed and next month agreed with the owner.
The result so far
34 more calls a month, for $7,500 less.
Three months in, AI names them in 18 of 25 target questions across 6 AI engines, up from 4. Inbound calls have risen from 40 to about 74 a month, while ad and lead spend has dropped from $10,000 to $2,500. The work is ongoing.
| Before | After 3 months | Change |
|---|
| AI visibility (6 engines) | 4 of 25 (16%) | 18 of 25 (72%) | +56 pts |
|---|
| Inbound calls per month | 40 | ~74 | +85% |
|---|
| Monthly ad and lead spend | $10,000 | $2,500 | −75% |
|---|
| Yearly ad and lead spend | $120,000 | $30,000 | −$90,000 |
|---|
Estimated revenue impact
~10Qualified leads a monthif 30% of the 34 extra calls qualify
~6Booked jobs a monthat a 55% close rate
~$3,720Revenue a monthat a $620 average job
~$44,640Revenue a yearif the current pace holds
Results so far, 3 months in. Leads, jobs and revenue are estimates using an assumed 30% qualified rate, 55% close rate and $620 average job.