SEO strategist for home service companies

Ryan Johnston

Hi, I'm Ryan. When someone searches in this new AI search landscape, I want your company to be the answer.

I'm an organic traffic driver. I get companies onto the first page of Google, then I watch how they perform, because the results never sit still. I build sites from the ground up, content and structure included. Design and development are someone else's job (I just get AI to mock up ideas). It's organic only. Paid ads are a different department.

My motto 1% better each day

Clients where I was the main SEO strategist: 36
Accounts on my plate right now: ~20
Site launches I did the SEO for: 20+
Years in SEO: 3.5+

Projects

Real client sites and real numbers. Open a card for the full story, or go visit the site.

Multi-office pest control, South Carolina

One page template, then a page for every office

This account needed a turnaround. So I built one template and cloned it for every location.

When: spring 2025

Visit ProCore Pest Control

+31% organic sessions
+22.7% summer organic leads
~9 hrs to build every location page

See the full story

The problem: The account needed a turnaround, and it needed local pages that could grow fast.

What I did: I built a template for local landing pages: a custom intro, links to nearby pages, and each office's details. Then I bulk-created a page for every location in about nine hours. I also fixed the homepage links (only 8 city pages were linked) and pointed each Google Business Profile at its own page.

The result: Organic sessions went up 31%. Summer organic leads went up 22.7%.

What I'd fix: Building that fast had a side effect. Pages started competing with each other. After a Google core update, I found that 47% of tracked keywords had more than one page fighting for them. A cleanup is planned. My rule now: scale first, then consolidate.

More numbers

47% of tracked keywords had competing pages
Only 8 city pages were linked from the homepage before I fixed it

Pest control, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Two years of city pages and internal links in a tough market

Tough market, no steady spot on Google Maps. I fixed that with clusters of linked city pages.

When: 2024 to now

Visit Dandi Guaranty

+83% form leads
+41% phone leads
+61% organic and Maps sessions

See the full story

The problem: The site was still building authority, had no steady spot in the Google Maps results, and was in a very competitive market.

What I did: I built city pages in clusters of nearby towns and linked them to each other. I also fixed technical problems, rewrote titles and meta descriptions, and ran a blog push on the topics we wanted to own. I've had this account since I was an analyst.

The result: In the latest six-month review, form leads were up 83%, phone leads were up 41%, and organic and Google Business Profile sessions were up 61%. One city keyword went from #10 to #1.

What I'd fix: Five older markets lost ground in the same stretch, and one page got 13,876 impressions but only 24 clicks. Those are next on my list.

More numbers

One city keyword went from #10 to #1
First steady Google Maps spots on termite keywords

Termite and pest control, Tennessee

A website relaunch built for local search

A brand new site, planned for local search from day one, then checked at 2 weeks, 1 month, and 3 months.

When: March 2026 relaunch

Visit HTP Pest Control

421 organic leads in 6 months
9 of 9 main keywords in the top 3
37 AI Overview citations

See the full story

The problem: The company was relaunching its site and needed to be found in the big markets and the small towns.

What I did: I planned and shipped city and service pages across the new site, checked the redirects after launch, and reviewed the results at two weeks, one month, and three months.

The result: In six months the site earned 421 organic leads (356 phone calls and 65 forms). In its main market, 9 of 9 tracked keywords landed in the top 3. It also picked up 31 top-10 Maps rankings, and 71% of them came from towns where the company has no office. Google AI Overviews cited the site 37 times.

What I'd fix: Two big cities still have no Maps visibility, and 72% of organic traffic goes to just five pages. That's a lot of eggs in a few baskets, so spreading it out is the next job.

More numbers

356 phone calls and 65 forms
31 top-10 Maps rankings, 71% from towns with no office

Latest side projects

What I build and learn on my own time. Some of it is finished, some of it is half-baked, and I'm fine with that.

In progress

Job Search Depot

My home base for running a job search like an SEO project. I built it with Claude Code. Every morning it pulls new jobs from my alerts and six job boards, scores them against my own rules, and matches each requirement to my experience. It also suggests how to tailor my resume and preps me for interviews. It never applies for me.

Tools: Claude Code, Python, JavaScript, Gmail and Google Sheets APIs

Dashboard preview of my Job Search Depot. It shows a job posting with a fit score, a checklist matching each job requirement to my experience, and a panel of next steps.

Live

This website

I built RyanRanksStuff.org from scratch in plain HTML and CSS. I learned how to host a website and use Claude Code as I went. It has schema markup, a sitemap, a social share card, and a 98 out of 100 on Google PageSpeed.

Tools: HTML, CSS, GitHub, Cloudflare, Claude Code

TBD

Claude upskilling

Still cooking. This is where I'll show what I'm learning and building with Claude. Check back.

Skills

What I do every week, and what I do it with.

What I do

Building websites from the ground up: content, structure, and on-page SEO (not design or dev)
Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Multi-location SEO, including city pages and internal linking
Technical SEO and Core Web Vitals
On-page SEO, keyword research, and content strategy
Schema markup
AI search: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and AI Overviews
Website launches, from planning and redirect checks to three-month reviews
Reporting and quarterly reviews for business owners

What I use

Screaming Frog
Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4
CallTrackingMetrics
Whitespark
Ahrefs
Claude, for research, content, and workflow building

Ryan Johnston smiling in a blue button-down shirt and a yellow bow tie.

About me

I started as an SEO analyst in 2023. At my busiest, I supported up to 40 accounts at once, working under different strategists. In 2024 I became a strategist, and I've been the main SEO strategist for 36 clients.

I talk to business owners all over the country, from small family shops to big corporate teams. Their business rides on our results, so I take the work seriously, even if I don't always take myself seriously.

My favorite part is the technical side, and learning the "why" behind how search works. It never stops changing, which keeps it interesting. GEO is the newest puzzle. I'd bet even the people building these AI tools don't fully know what gets a site cited. What I do know is that good SEO basics, backlinks, and community trust still do the heavy lifting.

Before SEO, I worked in sales and client services, so a call with an owner feels as normal as a crawl report.

Off the clock

I'm a DIYer. If I can do a home project myself, I will. Latest example: I sanded and resurfaced my hardwood floors, stained them, and sealed them with polyurethane. All of it myself.

I have two cats, both American Shorthairs. One is a tabby and the other is an orange tabby. Photos are coming, because the internet requires it.

I'm an Eagle Scout and I've been snowboarding for 10+ years. I learned on the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Since then I've ridden Mont Tremblant and Copper Mountain, and Whistler and the Alps are on the list for 2027.

Contact

I'm open to new roles, and I'm happy to talk SEO or swap ideas too. Say hi.

Based in Raleigh, NC.