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A Leeds plumber went from word-of-mouth to a full diary in 30 days

A one-van plumbing business in Leeds was relying entirely on referrals and a creaking Yell.com listing. We launched search ads on local intent keywords within 48 hours, restructured their Google Business Profile, and built a simple landing page that converts. The result: 34 qualified leads in the first 30 days.

Sample engagement. This illustrates the work we deliver. For current real-client references, ask us on a call.
+34
qualified leads in 30 days
£2.10
average cost per lead
48h
from kickoff to first ad-driven lead
The starting point

A busy van, an empty pipeline

The owner — a sole trader running one van and an apprentice — was getting all his work from word-of-mouth and a 12-year-old Yell.com listing. Work would come in waves, then dry up for two weeks at a time. He had a basic website built by his nephew that didn't rank for anything.

Local competition was active on Google Ads, with three large multi-van firms bidding aggressively on "Leeds emergency plumber" keywords. He'd tried Google Ads himself for a fortnight and burned through £400 with two leads to show for it.

What we did

The 30-day plan

A focused, paid-search-first approach designed to bring leads in fast while we built the longer-term assets in parallel.

Day 1
30-minute kickoff call. Captured his service mix, geographic radius, pricing, and the top 5 jobs he wanted more of (boiler repair, blocked drains, emergency callouts).
Day 1–2
Built 4 tightly themed Google Search campaigns — emergency, repair, installation, drainage — with negative keywords to filter out time-wasters and DIY searches.
Day 2
Conversion tracking installed: call tracking via Google Forwarding Numbers, plus form-submission tracking on the website.
Day 2
Ads went live. First qualified call within 6 hours.
Day 3–7
Rebuilt his Google Business Profile: photos, services list, hours, response templates. Asked his 12 most recent customers for reviews — got 9.
Day 8–14
Built a single-page conversion site replacing his old one: clear pricing, service areas, before/after photos, instant-call button. Lighthouse 95+ across all metrics.
Day 15–21
A/B tested ad copy. Killed two underperforming ad groups, scaled budget on the emergency-callout campaign (best CPL at £1.80).
Day 22–30
AEO setup: structured FAQ content, schema markup, review-funnel automation. Started appearing in ChatGPT recommendations for "best plumber in Leeds" by day 28.
What worked

Why the numbers came in fast

  • Tight geographic targeting — 8-mile radius around Leeds city centre, not the whole region
  • Emergency callouts as the highest-margin focus — fewer searches, but every click was a wallet-out buyer
  • Call tracking — proved 22 of the 34 leads came through phone, not form, which most agencies miss
  • Reviews built ad credibility — 9 new 5-star Google reviews in the first month visibly lifted CTR
  • Negative keywords filtered out "DIY plumber" and "plumber jobs" searches that waste budget
"
I've had agencies before that promised the world and gave me a monthly report I couldn't read. These guys had my phone ringing within two days. Three weeks in I had to take on another apprentice.
Sample client · Owner, single-van plumbing business · Leeds

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