Case study

A local custom home builder in Texas

9,672visits from search in 12 months, 63% of them engaged.

By summer 2025, search was the company's #1 source of website visits: 55% of them in the four weeks to Aug 4, 2025, and 53% the four weeks before.

We worked together May 2024 to Sep 2025. Google Analytics counted the visits Jul 13, 2024 to Jul 13, 2025.

  • The business Luxury custom homes, designed and built in Texas

  • The work A blog, Google profile and social posts, and search tracking

Google
about 132,000

times Google showed the site, Feb 2025

Up from about 70,300 in Oct 2024.

Clicks
711

clicks from Google search in Feb 2025

Up from 559 in Oct 2024.

Blog
156

new blog posts in four months

Reviews
8

new Google reviews, every one answered

Blog posts on the company's website210

Line chart of blog posts on the company's website, Jan 2024 to Oct 2024. The shaded band marks the months we worked together. The last point, Oct 2024, is 210.

Each point is the posts on the site at the end of that month, from the site's own post list. The last saved copy is from Oct 4, 2024.

Where they started

A luxury builder with a quiet blog

The company designs and builds luxury custom homes in Texas. When we started in May 2024, the blog's 54 posts had not changed since 2022.

Google reviews came in, but most sat without a reply: 4 of the 11 in the 16 months before we started had one.

Blog posts on the site, Jan 2024
54
Google reviews before we started
23
Answered, of 11 reviews just before we started
4

What we did

The work, in plain words

We also built downloadable guides on financing a custom home and on finding a builder, and a dashboard for the company's team.

Visits from search

By summer 2025, search was the company's #1 source of website visits

Visits from search
1,174
Jul 8 to Aug 4, 2025

55% of all 2,121 visits to the site.

The four weeks before
1,072
Jun 10 to Jul 7, 2025

53% of all 2,032 visits to the site.

Engaged visits from search
6,115
Jul 13, 2024 to Jul 13, 2025

Visitors who stayed, opened a second page or took an action.

Counted in the company's own Google Analytics and read off the screens we shared on recorded client meetings. Google Analytics counts these as organic search: visits from Google, Bing and other search engines.

Google's own count

Google showed the site about 132,000 times in Feb 2025, nearly double Oct 2024

Times Google showed the site, Feb 2025
about 132,000

Up from about 70,300 in Oct 2024.

Clicks from Google search, Feb 2025
711

Up from 559 in Oct 2024.

Clicks from Google search in a year
about 8,150
Jul 14, 2024 to Jul 12, 2025

From Google Search Console's own monthly emails, and its report on a recorded walkthrough. Search Console keeps only recent months, so these saved copies are the record of our time.

Reviews and the map

Every new review answered, and #1 on Google's map for a home builder search, read in Nov 2026

New Google reviews while we ran the account
8

7 of them five-star.

New reviews answered
8

Out of 8. In the 16 months before, 4 of 11 were.

Searches where the company is first on Google's map
74
Nov 4, 2026

Among its 100 busiest searches, after our work.

Google does not date its owner replies, so answered means each review from our months carried a reply when we read the list in Nov 2026. The map result is a search tool's estimate of Google's results, read after our work, not Google's own count.

AI answers

When AI answers custom home questions, it quotes the company's site the most

#1of 24 sites ChatGPT quoted

The site ChatGPT quoted most in Sep 2025, our last month

Asked about custom home design, building timelines and luxury builders, ChatGPT's answers linked to the company's own website more than to any other site.

Times ChatGPT quoted the company's site173
The next site, the American Institute of Architects91

After our work, #1 on every AI platform tracked

The company's site is the most-quoted site on each one.

  • ChatGPT#1
  • Gemini#1
  • Google AI Mode#1
  • Copilot#1
  • Claude#1

#1of 887 sites

After our work, still the most-quoted site across five AI platforms

On the same questions, AI answers link to the company's site more than to any other site.

Times AI answers quoted the company's site639
The next site, another luxury builder54

#2of 93 brands

In share of AI answers, after our work

Only one home builder has a bigger share.

  • Another luxury builder#1
  • The company#2

Named first when asked about the company by name

On all 5 questions that use the company's name, in Sep 2025, our last month.

  • ChatGPT#1
  • Gemini#1

#1on ChatGPT

After our work, ranked first on a question that never says the company's name

Asked about "communication best practices for high-end home construction clients," ChatGPT ranked the company first in 2 of 5 checks after our work, the last in Apr 2026.

Every figure on the six cards above is an estimate from an AI visibility tracker. It asks AI tools the same 15 custom home questions. Inside our time with the company it checked once, on Sep 10, 2025, on ChatGPT and Gemini. The biggest card and the card on questions that use the company's name come from that check. The other four cover Oct 1, 2025 to Nov 3, 2026, after our work, on ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Copilot and Claude, and the company moved to a new website built by another firm in Sep 2025. It is not a count from OpenAI, Google, Microsoft or Anthropic. 5 of the questions name the company, and on those a brand's own site gets quoted by default, so the ranks are the safer figures to go by.

The short version

What it added up to

  1. Search brought visitors. 9,672 visits from search in 12 months, 63% of them engaged.

  2. Search led every other source. 55% of all website visits from Jul 8 to Aug 4, 2025.

  3. Google showed the site more. About 132,000 times in Feb 2025, up from about 70,300 in Oct 2024.

  4. A blog that grew. 156 new posts in four months, and 106 posts from our first year still run on the new site.

  5. Every review answered. 8 new Google reviews while we ran the account, and every one carries a reply.

  6. AI quotes the company's site first. The site ChatGPT quoted most in our last month, and the most-quoted site on all five AI platforms after our work, an estimate from an AI visibility tracker.

Where every number came from

Every number, and its record

Each figure on this page comes from a saved record we can open on a call.

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