Carpet Cleaning SEO Case Study: 172% Organic Growth for a 90-Year-Old Seattle Brand

D.A. Burns & Sons is a leading carpet cleaning company based in Seattle, Washington. Although the company started purely as a carpet cleaning business in 1935, they have also incorporated services such as oriental/specialty rug, leather upholstery, stone, and tile cleaning into their core services.

Their speciality lies in custom carpet fabrication, accent edge treatments, and expert rug repair/reweaving.

Over the last 90+ years, the company has built a strong reputation across the local community. When they came to us, they had two physical locations, over 9 decades of industry experience, a loyal design-professional referral base, and strong local word of mouth. 

The problem was, such an impressive reputation wasn’t reflected online. Their website was ranking, but much of its online traffic was concentrated around branded searches and a relatively narrow set of city-based terms.

In other words, the business had established a covetable local credibility, but its online presence wasn’t capturing the full range of services and locations it could compete for.

Competitive Context

The search landscape for carpet cleaning in Seattle is overcrowded with franchise operators, national brands and lead-generation directories. It was tough for a family business to compete with them. As a result, a number of competitors held the top spots for high-intent terms in both organic results and the Map Pack.

So, rather than “ranking for more keywords”, we shifted the primary goal of our campaign to get D.A. Burns’ commercial service and location pages in front of people who are actively looking for carpet, rug, upholstery and related cleaning services in Seattle and Bellevue.

In other words, our campaign focused on strengthening the technical foundation and information architecture of their website first. Our next target was to build the service, location and local-search signals over that solid foundation so competing for those core search terms becomes more feasible. 

Project Overview

In our initial audit, we found 251 critical errors and 118 orphan pages, alongside indexing, sitemap, page-structure and local-search issues. This indicated that optimizing their technical foundation was much more important than publishing more content or getting more links. 

To make sure D.A. Burns’ online presence properly reflects their established local reputation, we designed a 12-month campaign around a simple principle: Fix the dependencies first, and then scale the outputs. 

Our simplified work order looked something like this: 

Technical health >> Page-level targeting and structure >> Content and local presence >> Authority building.

Rather than following a rigid start-and-stop schedule, we divided our campaign into five connected phases with timelines that overlapped each other when the work supported it. Here’s what each phase included: 

The sequencing was important here. If we published new content or added new backlinks without fixing the technical foundation, we would struggle to see results. That’s why we focused on strengthening the foundation first, and gradually moved onto other phases.

We also set a number of goals before we started our campaign. Here’s a snapshot of the target we set to elevate D.A. Burns’ online visibility: 

Website Status Before the Campaign

Before making any changes, we established a January 2025 baseline so we could measure the campaign against the site’s actual starting point. Here’s summary of what we found: 

The data showed that the website already had a search visibility. Multiple keywords were ranking on Google’s first page.

However, the underlying technical issues suggested that there were a lot of improvement areas. The visibility wasn’t nearly enough compared to the level of organic reach the business could potentially capture.

The Year Before We Started (2024)

We also logged the performance data from the year before (2024) to get a better picture of their visibility growth. The data showed inconsistent growth. Their organic traffic fluctuated between 383 and 751 monthly visits with no structural growth behind it.

Across the entire year, the website was able to generate only 6,399 organic visits and 52,528 impressions, a mere fraction of its offline track record. 

Here’s what the month-wise visibility breakdown looks like: 

As you can see, there was traffic on the website but no visible growth pattern. The stronger months in Q4 had not developed into a new baseline by the time the campaign began.

Previous Keyword Position Distribution

We found a similar pattern in their keyword position distribution data from 2025. Multiple keywords held the top positions, but most of them were failing to capture qualified traffic. Here’s what we found: 

Of the total 566 keywords we tracked, only 26% (147) of them were positioned on Google’s first page. However, most of them were brand searches and low-volume long tail keywords. High-intent service terms were positioned between 4-20.

That distribution mattered more than the raw keyword count. That meant our campaign didn’t need to start from scratch. The website already had a base and we needed to prioritize expanding that base by fixing the sites’ technical and structural problems

Full SEO Audit: What We Found

We began with a complete SEO audit of the website and its local search presence. We crawled the site in Ahrefs Site Audit, cross-checked technical findings in Screaming Frog and Google Search Console, and manually reviewed the site’s key service and location pages.

Ahrefs’ Health Score indicated a poor website health (66/100) and it flagged 1,644 issues in total. Among them, there were 251 errors, 690 warnings, and 703 notices.

We also reviewed both Google Business Profiles, their citation footprint, and backlink profile.

Here’s the full report: 

The audit pointed to a common theme: we had a tall order of things that needed optimization, but not all problems were equally important. 

We prioritized the issues that could affect the website’s relevance: how Google crawled the site, understood its pages, and connected those pages with relevant commercial and local searches.

1. Technical SEO Issues

Our technical audit revealed several issues that could potentially interfere with crawling, discovery and page performance.

Here’s a summary of what we found: 

A number of the technical issues we found were connected. For instance, Broken and redirected URLs added more friction to that system. Here’s a list of 4XX and pages we found:

Also, orphan/blocked pages, incomplete internal linking, and sitemap problems made it harder for important pages to be consistently discovered and connected within the site’s architecture.

We also found a number of unnecessary redirections that were affecting website loading time and diluted link equity. 

As a result, the technical cleanup had to be done before anything else. The site’s existing structure needed to be more dependable before we tried to expand it.

2. On-Page SEO and Site Structure Issues

After the technical issues, we checked their site structure and on-page SEO. The website showed weakness in how the pages were structured and communicated their topics. 

For instance, here’s a list of pages that had zero meta descriptions:

Aside from pages having multiple H1 tags, we also found pages that didn’t have H1 titles at all: 

And here are the pages with multiple H1 titles:

Some pages were found with titles that are too long:

Additionally, many of the pages contained unoptimized titles, including core service pages.

We also found a number of orphaned pages that were diluting the page authority, creating cannibalization opportunities and dead ends: 

The table below shows what else we found and what could those findings be translated into: 

This data indicated that inconsistent page targeting became a more prominent issue than any individual missing meta description or H1. A very few pages were serving or could serve their intended purpose. 

3. Content Issues

Next, we moved onto the content. What we found is that the pages closest to revenue weren’t providing enough depth for the searches they were intended to capture. This is a problem that can’t be fixed simply with “publishing more blog content”.

Our audit revealed that what we needed to do the most was to strengthen the service pages that mattered commercially, establish clearer location relevance, and build supporting content around the questions customers ask before booking.

4. Local SEO and Google Business Profile Issues

D.A. Burns & Sons had the advantage of multiple physical locations, but were not able to use it to increase their local footprint. Their online presence didn’t fully communicate the scope of a two-location business.

We also found: 

We also logged six-month worth of pre-campaign GBP data to establish a useful baseline: 

The baseline data suggested that the profile was already generating user activity. Our job was to improve and systematize a local presence that existed before the campaign started.

GBP performance before the campaign

5. Off-Page and Authority Issues

Lastly, we also audited existing backlinks on the website and created a sample for their authority profile. It presented a different kind of problem. 

Despite serving the industry for over 90 years, the company’s backlink profile wasn’t reflecting the depth of that history. For instance, here are the spammy links we’ve tracked: 

Our audit also revealed: 

We also found a number of spammy links that were potentially hampering the website’s reach and visibility. 

What the Audit Told Us

The audit changed the way we approached the campaign. At first glance, the website had a content-volume problem. The audit told us a different story: it had a technical foundation problem. 

The 90-year-old brand already had genuine advantages: decades in the market, two physical locations, established services and existing local search activity.

All of that was being held back by crawl errors, orphan pages, missing on-page signals, and a nearly empty GBP. 

What’s more, the issues were interconnected. So, to help the website reach its full potential, we established a sequence that addresses all the issues based on their dependencies: 

Fix the technical foundation >> Clarify the structure and targeting >> Strengthen key pages and content >> Increase local relevance >> Expand authority and maintain the gain. 

How We Fixed Their Visibility: Our 12-Month Optimization Process

Our first priority was making the site’s important pages easier for search engines to crawl, render, discover and understand. So, we started phase one of our SEO campaign. 

Phase 1: We Strengthened Their Technical Foundation

All of our tasks in phase one were aimed at ensuring that Google could crawl, render and index every page that mattered. Here’s how we did it: 

Our goal for phase one was to remove obstacles that could interfere with the pages we planned to optimize and expand. Rather than chasing technical perfection, we prioritized strengthening the foundation so it can support the upcoming growth. 

Phase 2: We Improved Their Site Structure and On-Page SEO

Once we made the site crawlable, we started clarifying what each important page was and which search term it was supposed to rank for. We followed a simple principle: each page should have one clear primary purpose rather than several pages competing for the same search.

Our workflow looked something like this: 

Here’s how the site looked after we fixed the 4XX issue: 

And here’s the orphan page issue fixed: 

For more pressing technical issues, here’s how we improved crawlability for D.A. Burns & Sons’s website:

We also optimized the Schema markup across their key service and location pages:

For each pages, we followed a content hierarchy that looked something like this:

We also made sure each image has a descriptive alt text to improve accessibility and context:

Our work in phase two set the stage for upcoming content optimization. We made sure each page has a specific target and the page fits neatly within the site structure.

Here’s how the website looked after we completed our on-page optimization: 

Phase 3: We Optimized Their Content for Better Visibility and Targeting 

After we clarified the site architecture and page target, we focused on strengthening the content for the key pages. Rather than increasing the page or word count, we structured the site in a way that gives every targeted commercial search a relevant, useful page that could realistically compete for the rank.

Here’s how we made that happen: 

We started with mapping the core keywords and internal links for each page and content:

We also optimize all the meta tags so search engines can easily find, index, and understand the message each page was trying to deliver:

Rather than treating  the content calendar as a separate publishing exercise, we organized it around the keyword map:

This ensured that the service pages handled the commercial intent, while supporting articles addressed the questions customers were likely to research before contacting the company.

Phase 4: We Optimized Their Local SEO and Google Business Profile

Since D.A. Burns wasn’t operating from a single location, the local visibility optimization needed a separate workstream. This is where the biggest gap was. 

We optimized both Google Business Profiles and aligned them with the corresponding website pages and local citations.

We also optimized each core service page with in-depth descriptions to better context for their services across Seattle and Bellevue: 

Next, we added high-quality relevant images to capture image search terms and increase relevance: 

Additionally, we set up a review management system that automates review requests and replies to every feedback within 48 hours:

Here’s how our optimization workflow went: 

After the GBP update was over, we noticed a significant improvement in their local map grid: 

We also identified another local market baseline from the data before we started our campaign. The six months immediately before the campaign provide a useful comparison point. Here’s how that comparison looks like: 

This gives us a much stronger basis for the results section as it avoids making the local-search improvement look like a simple January-to-December seasonal effect.

GBP data after July-December 2025

Phase 5: We Build Their Authority Off-Page

After we strengthened D.A. Burns’s site structure, commercial pages, and overall local presence, we moved onto expanding the site’s external authority.

To do that, we followed this workflow: 

During the implementation, we were able to earn a number of relevant local citations and backlinks. This also helped us grow the number of referring domains their website has: 

Our Ongoing Monthly Workflow 

Our campaign didn’t end after completing the major implementation phases. We moved our campaign into a recurring maintenance and growth cycle that looked like this: 

Project Outcome: What We Achieved

After the 12-month campaign was over, we measured the campaign’s December 2025 performance against the January 2025 baseline using the same primary sources: Ahrefs, Google Search Console and Google Business Profile.

The results showed significant improvement across organic visibility, keyword rankings, technical health and local search activity.

1. Headline Results

As the data indicates, our SEO campaign helped D.A. Burns produce gains at both ends of the funnel: more search visibility and stronger rankings, alongside a substantial improvement in the site’s technical condition.

2. Increased Organic Traffic and Impressions (Month by Month)

Like any other SEO campaign, the growth wasn’t linear here. We’ve developed a month-by-month comparison that shows how D.A. Burns’s website gained visibility over time: 

The month-by-month comparison shows that growth wasn’t limited to a single spike at the end of the campaign.

The 2025 site generated 11,779 organic visits, compared with 6,399 in 2024 (84% increased). Organic traffic increased sharply in the first quarter, then continued to build through the rest of the campaign, with the strongest monthly result arriving in December.

3. Improved Site Health After the Campaign

After we fixed most of the critical technical issues, the site’s performance improved substantially alongside search visibility. The Ahrefs Health Score increased from 63 to 95 and reported issues fell from 1,644 to 145. 

All the remaining issues were low-priority notices we continued to monitor monthly. 

The most significant change was in critical errors: 251 at the beginning of the campaign versus 13 at the end, a 95% reduction.

4. Expanded Keyword Ranking Distribution

The site’s ranking footprint expanded across every major position band. Here’s what the ranking distribution data looked like: 

The most commercially significant movement was in the top-three band, which increased from 58 to 103 keywords. The top-three growth is particularly important for commercial visibility because these positions receive substantially more exposure than lower-ranking results.

5. Increased Commercial Keyword Movement

The broader ranking growth translated into movement across searches closely aligned with D.A. Burns’ core services and markets. These are the searches that increased job bookings across Seattle and Bellevue: 

Source: Ahrefs Site Explorer, US database, comparing January 1, 2025 with December 31, 2025.

This data clearly indicates the keywords that gained significant visibility and drove traffic to D.A. Burns’s website. 

6. Top Traffic-Driving Keywords After the Campaign

We also tracked the rough amount of monthly traffic coming from core search terms, which helped us map the extended visibility. Here’s what we found: 

This data showed us that the traffic growth wasn’t coming from one head term. Multiple service, location and specialty queries contributed to the expanded visibility.

7. Optimized Local Search and Google Business Profile

We recorded the fastest and clearest shift here, which is normal when a profile starts out this under-optimised. We optimized their local visibility across both locations they serve, and saw a significant improvement.  

By December 2025, the profiles were generating substantially more visibility and customer actions than at the January 2025 baseline.

Here’s what we saw: 

We also tracked their GBP performance by month. Here’s a snapshot of what changed: 

The biggest movement came from customer actions, not just profile visibility. By December, the profiles were generating 238 calls, 611 website clicks and 187 direction requests in a single month.

That means the GBP optimization wasn’t simply increasing the number of people seeing the business. More of that local visibility was translating into actions that can lead directly to jobs.

8. New Frontier: Improved AI Search Visibility

After the campaign was over, we also noticed that it produced visibility across several AI search surfaces. Alongside the traditional rankings, the brand name and key pages also started appearing in AI citations. 

Here’s what we found: 

Source: Ahrefs Brand Radar / AI responses index, latest snapshot.

However, this doesn’t represent direct lead attribution, but it provides an additional signal that the brand and its content were appearing in AI-generated answers for relevant queries.

Business Outcome

The campaign didn’t just improve D.A. Burns & Sons’ SEO metrics. It gave a well-established local business a much stronger digital acquisition foundation across both Seattle and Bellevue.

By the end of the 12-month campaign, the company was receiving substantially more visibility from organic and local search:

• Organic traffic increased from 515 to 1,403 monthly visits.
• Organic impressions increased from 4,732 to 13,604 per month.
• Top-three rankings increased from 58 to 103 keywords.
• GBP profile views increased from 1,240 to 5,860 per month.
• GBP calls increased from 62 to 238 per month.
• Website clicks from GBP increased from 148 to 611 per month.
• Direction requests increased from 44 to 187 per month.
• CTR increased from 0.9% to 1.3%.

Comparing July–December 2024 with the same period in 2025, D.A. Burns & Sons’ GBP activity increased significantly. This local-search growth is particularly important for a service business where customers often move directly from a Google search to a phone call, website visit or request for directions. 

At the same time, their site became substantially easier to maintain and grow. The Ahrefs Health Score increased from 63 to 95, while total reported site issues fell from 1,644 to 145.

From Offline Reputation to Search Visibility

D.A. Burns & Sons already had something many newer competitors have to spend years building: a recognizable brand, decades of operating history, specialist expertise, two physical locations and an established customer base.

The campaign’s job was to make that existing business strength more visible and accessible through search.

By the end of the campaign, the company had:

• Dedicated pages targeting its major services and locations
• Stronger visibility for commercial Seattle and Bellevue searches
• A more complete and active presence across both Google Business Profiles
• More opportunities for local searchers to call, visit the website or request directions
• A healthier technical foundation for future SEO growth
• A broader ranking footprint across both commercial and informational searches

The business outcome was therefore bigger than a traffic increase. D.A. Burns & Sons moved from having a strong offline reputation with limited search visibility to having a broader search presence capable of capturing substantially more of the demand already existing in its markets.

Client Testimonial

The statement below was provided by their Operations Manger, Bryan O’Haleck and approved for use in this case study.

“We knew there were problems with the website, but we didn’t realize how much they were affecting our ability to show up in search. The team helped us clean up the technical issues, improve the pages that mattered and get both locations working better in Google. We saw a significant improvement in our ranking, traffic, and conversion. The experience was phenomenal.” 

Bryan O’Haleck, Operations Manger

D.A. Burns & Sons, Inc., Seattle, Washington

Final Results

D.A. Burns & Sons came to us with almost-a-century worth of reputation and a website that failed to support it. 

To help their website translating their 90 years of authority into search visibility, we focused on clearing the technical debt that was holding the site back first. Then, we rebuilt its commercial pages and local search presence, giving every commercial search a page built to win it.

Lastly, we expanded its authority across Bellevue and Seattle so their local presence and website reflects the same standard as the business itself.

Here’s what we recorded after the campaign was over: 

• Monthly Organic Traffic increased 172%
• Monthly Organic Impression increased 187%
• Top-10 Ranked Keywords increased 53%
• Top-3 Ranked Keywords increased 78%
• CTR increased from 0.9% to 1.3%.
• GBP profile views increased 373%
• GBP calls increased 284%
• Website clicks from GBP increased 313%
• Direction requests increased 325%
• Ahrefs Health Score increase by 32 points
• Total site issues reduced 91%
• Total Referring Domains increased 60%
• Search visibility increased for multiple AI search surfaces

However, the bigger outcome wasn’t any single ranking or traffic number. It was the newer, stronger foundation that was now capable of supporting the expanded growth. 

Their site became technically healthier, commercial searches had dedicated pages built around them, and both locations had an active local-search presence rather than relying on static business listings.

That gives D.A. Burns a stronger platform to keep publishing, ranking and generating local demand without the technical and structural problems that constrained the site at the beginning of the campaign.