Work photo for OnGrade Plumbing & Excavating, plumbing in Fort Collins, CO

PLUMBING · FORT COLLINS, CO

From #49 to as High as #2 on Google

How a new website and steady local SEO moved a family-owned Fort Collins plumber from page 5 to the top of their local market.

Read the case study

best local Google ranking (up from as low as #49)

average ranking over the last 28 days (was mid-30s)

months

Results as of November 2026.

The challenge

Where they started

OnGrade Plumbing & Excavating is a family-owned plumbing company in Fort Collins, serving homeowners and businesses across Northern Colorado. They take on the big jobs a lot of plumbers would rather avoid: mainline drain and sewer line repairs and replacements, along with tankless water heaters and boiler work.

Plumbing is one of the most competitive local categories on Google. Northern Colorado has no shortage of plumbers, and plenty of them have been building their online presence for years.

Six months ago, OnGrade was ranking as low as #49 in their local area and averaging somewhere in the mid-30s. That's page 4 or 5, where almost nobody looks.

It mattered. When a homeowner's sewer line backs up or their water heater quits, they don't scroll. They call one of the first few names they see. OnGrade does excellent work, but those homeowners weren't finding them.

Our approach

What we did

We built OnGrade a website designed to win local searches, then kept pushing.

1
A new website. We built a custom-coded website powered by AI with clear pages for the services that drive their business: sewer and mainline drain work, excavation, tankless water heaters, and boilers. Call buttons are on every page, so a homeowner with an emergency can reach them in one tap.
2
Local SEO across Northern Colorado. We set the site up so Google understands exactly what OnGrade does and where, from Fort Collins out to the surrounding communities they serve.
3
Focus on the jobs that matter. We prioritized the high-value services OnGrade is best at, so better rankings bring in the kind of work they actually want.
4
Steady, ongoing work. We tightened the technical foundation, added structured data that spells out the business and its services, kept their business details consistent across the web, and kept improving month after month.

The results

What they got back

Six months ago, OnGrade was ranking as low as #49 in their local area.

Over the last 28 days, they've averaged 7th on Google and have ranked as high as #2 in their local market. That's a move from page 4 or 5 to page 1, and at times the very top of it.

Now, when someone in Northern Colorado needs a plumber for a sewer line, a water heater, or a boiler, OnGrade is one of the first names they see. And as a fellow Fort Collins business, we couldn't be happier to see it.

Average position

Google ranking climb

From #49 to #2 in 6 months

Average: mid-30s to #7

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Before RallyPoint Marketing