Case study · Pest Control Companies · USA
Pest Control Case Study USA: +134% Leads
How a 9-technician pest control company in Charlotte grew calls and inquiries 134% and cut cost per lead 45% in 6 months with Google Ads, Business Listings and AEO.
Illustrative case study: the business is anonymised and the figures are modelled on typical results for this market.
Pest Control Companies · USA
Pest Control
A 9-technician pest control company based in Charlotte, serving the wider Charlotte area and focused on termite inspections and treatment, plus quarterly and recurring pest control plans. Before working with us, 58% of inquiries came through Angi and similar paid platforms, where the same lead often went to three or four competitors. The goal was more exclusive calls and inquiries, a lower cost per booked job and a pipeline the owner controls.
Results After 6 Months
Leads per month
+134%
Cost per lead
-45%
Marketing-sourced revenue
+159%
Return on marketing spend
5.5x
The challenge
Where the business was stuck
- Pest problems are urgent. The business that answers first usually wins the job.
- One-off treatments are useful, but recurring contracts are where the profit is.
- Commercial compliance work (food businesses, property managers) needs different messaging from residential callouts.
- Peak season (activity peaks in spring and summer, with termite swarms in spring and rodent calls rising in fall) was not being planned for, so budget ran out when demand was highest.
The approach
Three services, one goal
We focused on Google Ads, Business Listings & Citations and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), the three channels with the best cost per booked job for pest control businesses in Charlotte. Every call, form and chat was tracked to a booked outcome from week one, so every decision was based on revenue, not clicks.
What we did
The technical work behind the numbers, service by service.
Service 1
Google Ads
- Restructured the account into 12 single-theme ad groups by job type, with exact and phrase match only and a 353-term negative keyword list.
- Installed call tracking and imported booked jobs from the CRM as offline conversions, so bidding optimized for revenue, not form fills.
- Moved from manual CPC to Maximize Conversion Value with a target ROAS once 40+ conversions a month were flowing.
- Set up and managed Google Local Services Ads next to search campaigns, disputing invalid leads weekly.
Service 2
Business Listings & Citations
- Claimed and completed profiles on Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and 67 local and industry directories.
- Cleaned name, address and phone details everywhere, removing 5 duplicate listings that were splitting reviews and confusing Google.
- Added services, photos, opening hours, license numbers and booking links to every profile, with UTM tags to track leads by source.
- Set up monthly listing monitoring so incorrect edits by users or aggregators are caught and fixed within days.
Service 3
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
- Rewrote 17 service pages so each opens with a direct 40 to 60 word answer to the question buyers actually search.
- Added FAQPage, HowTo and Service schema and question-led headings to target featured snippets and People Also Ask.
- Built a price and timeline guide for termite inspections and treatment with tables that answer engines can lift straight into results.
- Optimized for voice and conversational queries such as "how much does termite inspections and treatment cost near me".
The numbers
Before and after
| Metric | Before | Month 6 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calls and inquiries per month | 68 | 159 | +134% |
| Cost per lead | $51 | $28 | -45% |
| Cost per booked job | $103 | $51 | -50% |
| Lead-to-job rate | 49% | 55% | +5 pts |
| Website conversion rate | 2.9% | 4.2% | +45% |
| Marketing-sourced revenue / month | $13k | $35k | +159% |
| Share of leads from paid directories | 58% | 24% | -34 pts |
| Search impression share | 24% | 55% | +31 pts |
| Listings with consistent details | 19 | 70 | all fixed |
| Featured snippets and PAA answers | 0 | 35 | +35 |
Lead growth
Calls and enquiries per month
Marketing-sourced revenue went from $13k to $35k a month, measured from booked treatments and plans in the CRM.
Optimisations That Moved The Numbers
- 01
The 353-term negative keyword list cut wasted spend on jobs, DIY and supplier searches by 34%.
- 02
Offline conversion import let bidding favour termite inspections and treatment searches, raising average lead value by 32%.
- 03
Fixing duplicates and inconsistent details lifted Google Business Profile views by 32%.
- 04
The business now holds 35 featured snippets and People Also Ask answers, up from 0.
The 6-month timeline
From tracking to scale.
Weeks 1 to 2
Audit, tracking and baseline
Call tracking, conversion tracking, CRM connection and a full audit covering Google Ads, Business Listings and AEO.
Weeks 3 to 6
Build and launch
Google Ads, Business Listings and AEO live for termite inspections and treatment, plus quarterly and recurring pest control plans.
Months 2 to 4
Optimise
Weekly search term, call and landing page reviews. Budget and effort moved to the jobs that close.
Months 5 to 6
Scale
Expansion into Tampa and nearby areas, plus new services with proven demand.
Illustrative case study: the business is anonymised and the figures are modelled on typical results for this market. Your results depend on your market, budget, capacity and follow-up. We share realistic forecasts in your free audit.
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