NexAir HVAC case study:
$1M to $4M with Google Maps SEO.

The starting point: strong reviews, invisible on Maps

NexAir started from zero, with no acquired company, customer list or membership base. After 12 months with its first SEO provider, its Google Business Profile still wasn't fully set up, and it didn't show up on Google Maps.

Jeremy Payne came to HVAC from accounting. He spent years in public accounting and as a financial analyst in the coal industry, then became general manager of a heating and cooling company and grew it. Then he and his team decided to do it for themselves. "We literally just came up with a brand, put our flag in the ground and said call us if you need us. We didn't have one customer" (9:17).

For a brand-new HVAC company, that means everything depends on demand capture. Homeowners with a broken AC or furnace search Google and call one of the first companies they see in the map pack. NexAir did a lot right early on. It ran local Facebook and video content, sent custom direct mail and, in Jeremy's words, was "smoking reviews." But the channel that matters most for capturing that demand wasn't working.

"I did not vet my initial SEO company as well as I should. A lot of promises were made and … I was taken for a ride for $36,000 and 12 months after the fact … my Google Business Profile was not only not optimized, it wasn't even fully set up. You know, we were nowhere to be found on maps after 12 months, even though we had been smoking reviews." Jeremy Payne (10:25)

In the testimonial video he describes the old provider's other problems: unclear communication, no idea who was working on the account or what they did each month, and lead flow well below what he expected. The challenge was simple to state and expensive to ignore. NexAir had a good brand and real reviews, but Google wasn't showing it to people searching for HVAC service in its own towns.

The strategy: fix the profiles, then build one per market

Stryker audited every NexAir Google Business Profile, completed and optimized them, built a separate profile for each real market NexAir serves, and backed them with local SEO and transparent monthly reporting.

1. Deep audit of every Google Business Profile

The first job was finding out why a company with that many reviews didn't rank. "Stryker Digital came in, they did deep audits on all of our business profiles, they cleaned everything up, optimized everything," Jeremy says in his testimonial. An audit like this checks the primary and secondary categories, services, service area, business description, hours, photos, products and website link against what Google needs to understand the business. We cover the full checklist in our HVAC Google Business Profile optimization guide.

2. One real profile for each market

One profile, however well optimized, ranks strongest near its own address. NexAir serves several cities along the I-64 corridor, so we built out a profile for each real market. Today NexAir runs five Google Business Profiles, which is why the call chart below is stacked by profile. Every profile has to be tied to a real location that meets Google's guidelines. As Bodhi put it to Jeremy, "if I need an address at this location, we got to do whatever it takes to get you that. You get it done" (3:42). Shortcuts here are what get profiles suspended; see what to do if your Google Business Profile is suspended.

3. Reviews that finally count

NexAir already had what most HVAC companies lack: a steady flow of Google reviews. Once the profiles were complete and in the right categories, those reviews started working for rankings and conversion instead of sitting on a profile Google wasn't showing. For context, our best-performing clients are getting 25 new reviews per month.

4. Local SEO that supports the map pack

Google Maps rankings lean on the website as well as the profile. Relevance, proximity and prominence all improve when each market and core service has a matching page, consistent business information and local links. That's the work covered in our HVAC SEO services and HVAC Google Maps SEO guide.

5. Reporting the owner can check himself

Jeremy is an accountant who tracks every dollar, and he wanted to know why each task mattered. "We always know what's done every single month on our account. We can see the results for ourselves." We track calls from each profile and run map-ranking grids for the money keywords in each market, so progress can be seen and checked.

Timeline: from invisible to 140 calls a month

Year one with the old provider: no Maps visibility. Year two with Stryker: revenue growth above 150%. By mid-2026: about 140 Google calls a month across five profiles.

Results: 841 calls and the top 3 in every market

841 calls from Google in six months, top 3 on Google Maps in Huntington, Charleston, Beckley and Bancroft, and growth from $1M to $4M in yearly revenue.

The calls are spread across all five profiles. The largest produced 269 calls in the period, the Huntington heating and AC profile 191, two more 170 and 169, and the newest 42. No single location carries the business, which is what you want when you're growing into more towns.

A ranking grid checks where a profile ranks for one keyword from many points across a service area. NexAir's grids show it in Google's top 3 in every market we track. That's the difference between not being found and being one of the three HVAC companies most people call. Here's how to read a ranking grid.

• Revenue: about $1M to $4M a year (owner's figures).
• Year-two growth: above 150% (11:14).
• Return: "the return in top line revenue I would put in the millions" (2:17).

Results shown reflect individual client outcomes and are not guaranteed. Performance varies by market, competition and other factors.

In Jeremy's words

▶ Watch: Jeremy Payne, NexAir Home Services: client testimonial

▶ Watch: How Jeremy Payne Grew His HVAC Business to 150% in Year Two After Fixing His SEO

▶ Watch: How Jeremy Payne Turned $30K in SEO Spend Into Millions of Dollars with Stryker Digital

Jeremy calls SEO "one of the safest investments I have as a business guy," because demand capture pays off as long as you pick channels that fit the stage of your business (3:56).

What other HVAC owners can copy

Put demand capture first, make sure your profile is actually complete, give each real market its own profile, and demand reporting you can check.

1. Capture demand before you build a brand. Jeremy's own advice: if he started over, his main investment would be "SEO, setting up the profiles correctly, pouring it into Google reviews and establishing that online presence," with TV and other branding later.
2. Check that your profile is fully set up, not just claimed. Reviews can't rank an incomplete profile. Go through categories, services, service area and website link line by line.
3. Grow one real market at a time. Each town you want to own needs a real location, its own profile and a matching page on your site.
4. Keep the review flow constant. Ask after every job, across every location.
5. Watch your call board. Jeremy judges demand capture by whether technicians' schedules stay booked at least three days out, and only shifts budget into branding once they do (15:06).
6. Ask for proof every month. Calls by profile and a ranking grid for your main keywords. If your agency can't show you both, find out why.
7. Add paid search when organic is working. Once the profiles rank, Local Services Ads and Google Ads for HVAC can add calls on top. Here's how the two compare.

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