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Local SEO + CROLOCAL

A regional lender won the local pack and converted the clicks

Strong rates buried below national brands in local search. We earned the top-three spots and turned the traffic into applications.

ORGANIC LEADS · 7 MONTHSGSC VERIFIED
+44%vs. baseline
INDUSTRY
Mortgage lending
VERTICAL
Local
SERVICES
Local SEO · CRO
TIMELINE
7 months
Overview

A regional mortgage lender with genuinely competitive rates was losing its own markets to national originators and rate-aggregator sites. Incomplete Google Business Profiles kept its branches out of the local pack, and the traffic it did earn hit a slow, multi-step application that leaked borrowers. Over seven months we won top-three local pack spots across core markets and rebuilt the pages to convert. Organic leads grew 44 percent as landing page conversion rate climbed from 1.6 to 3.4 percent.

7 mo
to own the local markets
Top 3
local pack across core markets
1.6 to 3.4%
landing page conversion rate
+44%
organic leads vs. baseline
01 / THE STARTING POINT

Invisible in the map pack, leaky on the page.

A regional mortgage lender with competitive rates was losing local search to national originators and rate-aggregator sites. Their Google Business Profiles were incomplete, they had one thin page trying to rank for every market they served, and the pages that did get traffic sent borrowers to a slow, multi-step form. Good rankings would not have mattered because the pages leaked the visitors they earned.

The problem compounded at both ends of the funnel. Because one generic page tried to cover every market, it ranked well nowhere and never triggered the local pack, so the branches were invisible to borrowers searching their own towns. And the few visitors who did land arrived at a form that asked for too much too early, so they abandoned before a loan officer ever saw them. Winning rankings alone would have poured more traffic into a page that could not hold it.

9th
average local pack position
1.6%
landing page conversion rate
incomplete profilesone page per marketleaky forms
02 / WHAT WE DID

Own each local market, then convert every click

We ran local visibility and conversion as one project, because ranking a page that leaks is wasted effort. First we made each branch legible to Google with complete profiles, real service areas, and a steady stream of reviews. Then we built a dedicated page for every market and loan type and rebuilt the application around it, so the traffic we earned actually turned into borrowers.

Local pack and CRO togetherWe rebuilt Google Business Profiles for every branch with accurate categories, service areas, and a steady review cadence, then created a dedicated landing page for each market and loan type with local proof and current rates. On those pages we cut the application to the fields that matter, added a rate quote above the fold, and tested headlines and calls to action until the traffic we ranked started converting.profile optimizationlocation pagesform testing
Local visibilityOptimized Google Business Profiles, built consistent citations, and drove reviews to lift branches into the top-three local pack.
Location landing pagesOne page per market and loan product with local rates, testimonials, and schema so both Google and borrowers trusted them.
Conversion optimizationShortened the application, added instant rate quotes, and A/B tested pages, tracking leads weekly in the client dashboard.

The work, month by month

The same plan, laid out on the calendar it actually ran on.

1MONTH 1

Audit and profiles

Rebuilt every Google Business Profile with accurate categories and service areas and cleaned up inconsistent citations.

2MONTH 2-3

Location pages

Shipped a dedicated page per market and loan product with local rates, testimonials, and schema.

3MONTH 3-5

Reviews and rankings

Ran a steady review cadence that pushed branches into the top-three local pack across core markets.

4MONTH 5-7

Convert the traffic

Shortened the application, added above-the-fold rate quotes, and A/B tested until conversion more than doubled.

Lead funnel

Where CRO stopped the leak

How a cohort of local-pack visitors now moves from a landing page to a submitted application.

Local pack visitorsTop-three rankings across core markets replaced traffic the branches never used to see.100%
Reached the formLocal proof and above-the-fold rate quotes kept borrowers on the page instead of bouncing.71%
Started applicationA shortened form that led with a rate quote lowered the barrier to begin.38%
SubmittedLanding page conversion rate climbed from 1.6 to 3.4 percent after CRO.3.4%

Percentages are share of the local-pack visitor cohort. Submitted applications are the leads a loan officer works.

Leads over time

Organic leads grew as rankings and CRO stacked

Monthly organic leads across the seven-month engagement.

+44%organic leads vs. baseline
GSC VERIFIED
M1M3M5M7
Rankings lifted traffic first, then the CRO work in the back half of the engagement converted more of it, compounding the lead gains.
Local packTop 3
Conversion rate1.6 to 3.4%
03 / WHAT CHANGED

Top of the pack and converting the clicks

Seven months in, the lender was first in the markets it serves and the pages finally held the borrowers they earned. Top-three local pack rankings replaced traffic lost to national brands, landing page conversion more than doubled, and organic leads grew 44 percent.

+44%
organic leads vs. baseline
Top 3
local pack across core markets
1.6 to 3.4%
landing page conversion rate
9th to 2nd
average local pack position
ORGANIC LEADS, 7 MONTHS+44%
M1M2M3M4M5M6
4local markets in the top 3 pack
Local pack top 3
Google Business Profile
Location landing pages
Landing CRO
Top 3local pack rankings across core markets
We were losing our own backyard to national lenders. Now we show up first in the markets we serve, and the pages actually turn those searches into applications.MARKETING DIRECTOR · REGIONAL LENDER
04 / WHAT WE SHIPPED

What we shipped

Get a plan like this
Rebuilt Google Business Profiles for every branch with accurate categories and service areas
Consistent local citations cleaned up across directories
A steady review cadence to lift branches into the top-three local pack
A dedicated landing page per market and loan product with local rates and schema
A shortened application with an above-the-fold rate quote
A/B testing of headlines and calls to action on the location pages
Weekly reporting on local rankings, conversion rate, and organic leads in the client dashboard
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