From Page 3 to the #1 Spot and 3X More Leads in Just 90 Days

From invisible to top 3 in only 3 months

In today’s competitive photography market, ranking at the top of Google Maps is essential for maintaining a fully booked calendar.

In this study, I will reveal how an experienced SEO specialist can help position your studio as the #1 choice in your local area, attracting more clients and growing your business.

The challenge was simple to understand, but complex to execute: moving from position #22 on Google Maps to the local 3-pack (the top three results) in just three months.

The starting point

All Heart Photography, based in College Station, Texas, specializes in wedding and family photography. Despite having stunning photos and a strong local reputation, the studio faced fierce competition and struggled to stand out online. To change this, John the manager reached out to our team for help in boosting his studio’s visibility.

When we began, the studio already had beautiful photos and a strong local reputation, but it was practically invisible in Google search results.

Key issues detected:

Google Business profile poorly configured, with generic descriptions and categories
Low-quality blog posts targeting unproductive categories
Slow, poorly optimized website
Numerous broken links, undermining credibility
No clear strategy to grow visibility in regional niches, such as wedding photographers

Below is an overview of the website’s metrics before our team’s intervention, showing organic traffic, monthly leads, and ranking positions.

You can see the website’s organic traffic three months before our work. It was stagnating at around 60 views per month.

On average, the studio was generating only two leads per month through its website, a number far too low to sustain growth in such a competitive market.

Below is the website’s ranking. First, let me explain what the map represents: each dot corresponds to a 1-mile radius, and together all the dots show the area we cover. The business is at the center. You can see that the farther from the business, the lower the site’s position. The website was ranking in moderate positions in nearby areas, but performed very poorly in more distant locations.

The application of our 3-month plan

From the context above, it’s clear the website was underperforming. Despite a stunning portfolio, the studio struggled with low organic traffic, minimal leads, and poor search rankings. Over the next three months, our team implemented targeted strategies that transformed the website, delivering impressive results in a very short time.

#1 Month - Local Foundations

The first step was building a strong foundation.

Google Business Profile Optimization
Corrected business categories (main: Wedding Photographer; secondary: Portrait Photographer, Family Photographer)
Wrote a complete description with local keywords and client-oriented language
Added 40+ photos with keyword-rich captions

#2 Month – Content & Authority

With the foundation in place, we focused on creating relevance.

As you can see below, the article “15 Best Engagement Photo Locations in College Station” was designed to attract people already searching for popular spots such as Wolf Pen Creek or Central Park. We created this blog post using the top-ranking keywords in the College Station region, and it quickly became one of the most accessed articles,(you can see the article here.)

Another blog post, “Astin Mansion / College Station Wedding”, focused on a well-known local venue. Since the mansion is so popular, we strategically included the keyword “Houston area” in the post. This allowed us to attract many visitors from the Houston region who were searching for weddings at this location, ( you can see the article here).

#3 Month – Reviews & Consolidation

Finally, we focused on trust and sustained visibility.

At the end of the 3 months, you can see the improvements: the studio went from being nearly invisible to appearing in the local 3-pack—more visibility, more leads, more clients. In the image below, the search term “wedding photographer in College Station” shows that, despite having fewer reviews and less time in the market, we were able to reach the top three alongside other competitors. From there, the studio continued to grow, achieving even higher rankings in some areas. More results can be seen below.

Results

After 90 days, the studio began to dominate the rankings—rising from position #22 to #1 or the local 3-pack in many of the areas we targeted. Organic traffic grew by 30% in just three months and more than doubled within six months. As a result, the number of leads also saw a massive increase.

Let’s start with the visits. As you can see, before we began, the average traffic was around 60 per month. In just three months, that number grew to over 112 monthly visits, and within six months it had risen to more than 170.

We know that more traffic means more potential leads. Tyler was losing money, with only 2-3 potential leads per month from his website. After our team’s work, that number increased to 9 in just 3 months and 15 in 6 months a major improvement that continues to rise, with potential clients consistently coming through his website.

And finally, the rankings, the local 3-pack. On the left, you can see the studio’s rankings before our work, performing very poorly in areas farther from the location. On the right, All Heart now ranks in the local 3-pack across most of the areas we targeted, making him the go-to reference for wedding photography in his region.

Conclusion

In just three months, All Heart Photography went from almost invisible online to a local leader, ranking in the coveted Google 3-Pack and generating 3X more leads than before. This case proves that with the right mix of local optimization, content strategy, and review management, even studios in competitive areas can dominate search results.

And the best part? The same roadmap can be adapted to photographers in any county across the U.S., delivering consistent, measurable growth without ad spend.

Ready to turn your studio into the #1 choice in your county? Let’s build your 3-month roadmap today.

Your photography studio deserves to be at the top of Google Maps!