How Holmes Homes Drove a 1,109% Surge in Model Home Visits With Local SEO

  • 4

    Homes sold at Juniper Bend in the first month of campaign launch (2 was the goal), after no sales in over 4 months

  • 8

    Homes sold at Juniper Bend in the second month (1 was the goal)

  • Back-to-back record-setting months

    June and July 2020

The challenge

Holmes Homes had a few particularly slow-selling communities that were lagging behind others in the state and required a new marketing strategy to drive more traffic and sales for these specific areas. Separately, Holmes Homes struggled with underwhelming visibility in local search results, while competing builders consistently appeared first in Google's search and map-pack listings.

The approach

Max Connect launched an omni-channel strategy that geo-targeted the cities of the slow-selling communities, using ads specific to each community's features, amenities and unique geography, with highly targeted native campaign placements for in-market audiences supplementing a full array of display and social channels. For local SEO, MCD implemented a location-driven growth strategy focused on Google Business Profile (GBP) optimization, accurate contact info citations, and widespread directory submissions. Every GBP was enhanced with geo-tagged images, keyword-optimized content, and comprehensive listings with FAQs, community highlights, and products tied to specific developments. The GBP listings were distributed across more than ten local directories and top data aggregators, and user behavior was tracked with UTM parameters.

The results

The Juniper Bend community, which hadn't sold a home in over four months, sold 4 homes the first month of the campaign (2 was the goal) and 8 homes the second month (1 was the goal). Additional campaigns for other underperforming communities led Holmes Homes to back-to-back record-setting months in June and July 2020. In local SEO, direction requests surged 1,109% year-over-year, website visits from Google profiles climbed 82%, phone calls rose nearly 28%, total GBP actions jumped 553% (exceeding 1,795 interactions in a single month), 52 new backlinks were added, and Holmes Homes now ranks #1 for its core branded keyword.

Every result, by the numbers

  • 4Homes sold at Juniper Bend in the first month of campaign launch (2 was the goal), after no sales in over 4 months
  • 8Homes sold at Juniper Bend in the second month (1 was the goal)
  • Back-to-back record-setting monthsJune and July 2020
  • 1,109%Increase in direction requests (year-over-year)
  • 82%Increase in site visits from GBP
  • nearly 28%Rise in phone calls
  • 553%Increase in actions on GBP
  • 1,795GBP interactions exceeded in a single month
  • 52New backlinks
  • #1Ranking for core branded keyword
  • more than tenLocal directories and top data aggregators GBP listings were distributed across

What we used

  • Omni-channel geo-targeted campaigns
  • Native advertising
  • Display
  • Social
  • Google Business Profile optimization
  • Citations
  • Directory submissions
  • Data aggregators
  • Backlinks
  • UTM tracking

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