Case study · Heating Companies · Canada
Heating Case Study Canada: +165% Leads
How an 8-engineer heating company in Vancouver grew enquiries 165% and cut cost per lead 58% in 6 months with AEO, Google Ads and Local SEO.
Illustrative case study: the business is anonymised and the figures are modelled on typical results for this market.
Heating Companies · Canada
Heating
An 8-engineer heating company based in Vancouver, serving the wider Vancouver area and focused on furnace replacement, plus boiler and hydronic heating. Before working with us, 70% of enquiries came through HomeStars and similar paid platforms, where the same lead often went to three or four competitors. The goal was more exclusive enquiries, a lower cost per booked job and a pipeline the owner controls.
Results After 6 Months
Leads per month
+165%
Cost per lead
-58%
Marketing-sourced revenue
+183%
Return on marketing spend
14.3x
The challenge
Where the business was stuck
- Winter breakdowns create urgent demand, but boiler and heat pump installations are where the margin sits.
- Grants and regulations change the market quickly, and marketing that doesn't keep up falls behind.
- Annual servicing customers are valuable, but few heating businesses market to them systematically.
- Peak season (demand peaks from october to march) was not being planned for, so budget ran out when demand was highest.
The approach
Three services, one goal
We focused on AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), Google Ads and Local SEO & Google Maps, the three channels with the best cost per booked job for heating businesses in Vancouver. 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
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
- Rewrote 18 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 furnace replacement with tables that answer engines can lift straight into results.
- Optimized for voice and conversational queries such as "how much does furnace replacement cost near me".
Service 2
Google Ads
- Restructured the account into 30 single-theme ad groups by job type, with exact and phrase match only and a 463-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 30+ conversions a month were flowing.
- Set up and managed Google Local Services Ads next to search campaigns, disputing invalid leads weekly.
Service 3
Local SEO & Google Maps
- Rebuilt the Google Business Profile: primary category corrected, 5 secondary categories added, 11 services with descriptions and a service area matched to the real travel radius.
- Published 10 suburb and area pages across the wider Vancouver area, each with local job photos, travel times and area-specific FAQs.
- Launched a review request flow by SMS after every completed job, lifting review velocity from 4 to 13 new reviews a month.
- Tracked rankings on a 9x9 geo-grid around the office to see Maps visibility street by street, not just from one location.
The numbers
Before and after
| Metric | Before | Month 6 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiries per month | 34 | 90 | +165% |
| Cost per lead | C$183 | C$77 | -58% |
| Cost per booked job | C$677 | C$268 | -60% |
| Lead-to-job rate | 27% | 29% | +2 pts |
| Website conversion rate | 3.1% | 4.5% | +45% |
| Marketing-sourced revenue / month | C$49k | C$139k | +183% |
| Share of leads from paid directories | 70% | 28% | -42 pts |
| Featured snippets and PAA answers | 2 | 45 | +43 |
| Search impression share | 29% | 56% | +27 pts |
| Keywords in the Maps top 3 | 4 | 23 | +19 |
Lead growth
Enquiries per month
Marketing-sourced revenue went from C$49k to C$139k a month, measured from booked boiler and heating jobs in the CRM.
Optimisations That Moved The Numbers
- 01
The business now holds 45 featured snippets and People Also Ask answers, up from 2.
- 02
Direct-answer intros raised organic click-through rate on question searches from 2.4% to 6.1%.
- 03
The 463-term negative keyword list cut wasted spend on jobs, DIY and supplier searches by 44%.
- 04
Adding 5 secondary Google Business Profile categories lifted discovery searches by 44% in six weeks.
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 AEO, Google Ads and Local SEO.
Weeks 3 to 6
Build and launch
AEO, Google Ads and Local SEO live for furnace replacement, plus boiler and hydronic heating.
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 Mississauga 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.
Heating Companies case studies in other countries
UK
Netherlands
IrelandLet's Discuss Your Growth
Tell us about your business. We'll reply with a plan, realistic lead volumes and costs.