How a Simple SEO Trick Added 100 Leads

This week, I sat down with Joshua Thompson, founder of Brightbeam SEO, a Boise, Idaho based agency that helps local businesses rank on Google Maps, Google Search, and the AI and LLM tools like ChatGPT that are increasingly shaping how people find a business. After a decade doing SEO, Joshua found his way into local search and has stayed focused there ever since.

Joshua works almost exclusively with home service businesses, roofers, HVAC companies, plumbers, and gutter installers among them, and he’s built his approach around one simple idea: targeting bottom of the funnel customers who are ready to book a job today, rather than chasing traffic that doesn’t convert.

We covered his simple OCTBR framework for ranking on Google Maps, why reviews are the one lever business owners can’t get back later, the biggest mistakes he sees on Google Business Profiles, and how AI tools like ChatGPT are changing what it means to rank for a local search.

The Key Takeaways

Below are the most essential insights from my conversation with Joshua that you can apply to your home services business today.

1. Why Joshua Went All In on Local SEO for Home Services

After a decade doing SEO broadly, Joshua narrowed his focus entirely to local search, with a heavy emphasis on Google Maps. He decided it’s better to get really good at one thing than to spread across many, and he’s cut everything else out of his business to focus on Google Maps and local search for home service companies like roofers, HVAC, plumbing, and gutter businesses.

“I’ve just found in today’s world, it’s better to get really, really good at one thing than to do a lot of things. And so I’ve cut everything else off.”

— Joshua Thompson

2. Target Bottom of the Funnel, Not Just Traffic

Joshua’s whole philosophy centers on the word “targeted.” Instead of chasing rankings or traffic that doesn’t convert, he focuses on people who are looking for a service today and want an estimate as soon as possible. He describes SEO as a net rather than a spear, best suited for businesses that serve a broad need like roofing or plumbing rather than a narrow specialty.

“I want to find people who are looking for the service today, right? And they want to get an estimate as soon as possible. That to me is the best type of client.”

— Joshua Thompson

3. The OCTBR Method: A Simple Framework for Ranking on Maps

Joshua breaks his approach down into what he calls the October method: Optimize, Content, Backlinks, and Reviews. Optimization means making sure your Google Business Profile name, categories, and description match your website. Content means targeting your pages and profile around the searches people actually use, like “pressure washer in my city.” For businesses focused purely on maps, reviews carry far more weight than backlinks.

“This is just a really simple method, kind of a framework to use to think, how do I rank higher on Google Maps and Google local search? Optimization comes first. This is really the thing most businesses can do.”

— Joshua Thompson

4. Reviews Are the One Thing You Can’t Get Back Later

If Joshua could tell a business owner to focus on just one thing, it would be reviews. Backlinks and technical fixes can be added later once a business starts seeing results, but a review from a year or two ago can never be recreated. Stacking reviews consistently from day one gives a business a compounding advantage competitors can’t easily catch up to.

“It’s difficult to get a review from a year ago or two years ago. So even if everything isn’t perfect, if you can stack reviews and keep getting reviews and make that a point of focus, you’re going to get benefit.”

— Joshua Thompson

5. What Actually Makes a Review Move the Needle

Not all reviews carry equal weight. Google rewards reviews with more than 200 characters, and reviews that include photos get an extra boost, which is why Joshua points to a roofing company that hands customers drone photos of their finished roofs to post alongside their reviews. The reviewer’s own account also matters: an established local guide’s review counts for more than one from a brand new account. Velocity, meaning how many reviews you’ve earned in the last one to three months, matters as much as your total count, and Joshua recommends keeping your overall rating above 4.5 to 4.7.

“If you can start getting on average more reviews than your competitors every month over time, that’s going to be huge because you’re going to have a higher velocity, which is also a really important metric.”

— Joshua Thompson

6. The Two Mistakes That Quietly Sink Google Business Profiles

Joshua sees the same two errors constantly. The first is having the wrong primary category on a Google Business Profile, which alone can keep a business from ranking for the keywords that matter most. The second is tinkering with the business name, adding or removing an LLC, an extra letter, or capitalization, which risks getting the entire profile suspended and triggers a painful process to get it reinstated.

“Every time you mess with your name, you risk getting suspended. So these people end up suspending their profile and having to go through all this work to get it back and it’s such a hassle. Google takes your name very seriously.”

— Joshua Thompson

7. Ranking in AI Search Means Ranking for a Compilation of Searches

Instead of a customer typing “plumber in Boise,” they’re now asking an AI tool “who are the top three plumbers in Boise?” Behind the scenes, the AI runs roughly ten variations of that search, pulls from maps, and compiles the results. Businesses that can rank for several of those variations end up higher in the AI’s compiled answer, which means the goal isn’t ranking for one keyword anymore, it’s showing up across a whole cluster of related searches.

“If you have a lot of authority and you can rank for five, six, seven of those variations, then you’re probably going to be higher up, right? Because it’s a compilation. It’s not just ranking for one keyword.”

— Joshua Thompson

Looking Ahead

Joshua closed with a reminder that backlinks don’t have to be complicated or expensive. Reaching out to other local businesses in your area and simply asking for a link, or offering to swap one, takes very little time and can give a real boost with almost no effort. He’d rather see a business owner do the simple things consistently, focusing on reviews and a handful of relevant backlinks, than get distracted chasing every technical detail. For a deeper dive, he’s been building a step by step local SEO guide at brightbeamseo.com.

“You can always just reach out to people in your area and see if you can get backlinks from their website. It can be very helpful and not take you very much time to do if you’re looking to give yourself a boost for very, very little effort.”

— Joshua Thompson