How a Hackensack Plumber Got 40% More Leads with GEO (No Ad Spend Required)

Mike runs a plumbing company in Hackensack. Been at it for 11 years. Good reviews, solid reputation, the kind of business that gets referrals from neighbors. But last year, something shifted. His Google Ads cost kept climbing while his lead volume stayed flat. His website ranked on page one for "plumber Hackensack NJ," but the phone wasn't ringing like it used to.

When he came to us at Simple Rabbit LLC, his first question was: "Do I need to spend more on ads?"

Our answer: "No. You need to spend smarter. And the smartest spend right now is GEO."

The Problem Nobody Told Mike About

Here's what was actually happening. Mike's SEO was fine. His website was clean. His Google Business Profile was filled out. But when we tested what AI search engines said about plumbers in Hackensack, his business didn't exist.

We typed "best plumber in Hackensack NJ" into ChatGPT. Three businesses came up. Mike wasn't one of them. Same test in Perplexity. Same result. Google AI Overviews? His competitor got the citation. Mike got nothing.

His traditional SEO was working in the traditional search world. But a growing chunk of his potential customers had moved to AI search, and in that world, Mike's plumbing company was invisible.

The Audit: Finding the Gaps

We started with Simple Rabbit LLC's GEO Audit. Here's what we found across the four major AI search platforms:

Entity confusion. Mike's business was listed as "Mike's Plumbing" on Google, "Mike's Plumbing & Heating LLC" on Yelp, "Mikes Plumbing Hackensack" on Angi, and "M&S Plumbing" on his old Facebook page. To a human, these obviously all refer to the same company. To an AI model cross-referencing sources, this is five different entities. The AI couldn't confidently connect them, so it didn't recommend any of them.

Zero schema markup. Mike's website had no structured data whatsoever. No LocalBusiness schema, no Service schema, no FAQ schema. The AI had to scrape his site and guess what his business did, where it operated, and what services it offered. Compare that to competitors who had schema telling AI "we are a licensed plumbing company serving Bergen County NJ with emergency, residential, and commercial services." The competitors made it easy. Mike didn't.

Content that wasn't built to be cited. Mike had a blog (his old marketing company had set it up). But the posts were generic: "5 Tips to Prevent Frozen Pipes" and "When to Call a Plumber." These might rank in Google, but AI doesn't cite them because they don't answer specific local questions with authority. Nobody asks ChatGPT for generic plumbing tips. They ask "who should I call for a burst pipe in Hackensack."

The Fix: Full Entity Overhaul

Mike went with our $5,000 Full Entity Overhaul. Here's what we did.

Entity cleanup across 50+ platforms

We standardized his business name, address, phone number, and service descriptions across every platform we could find him on. Google Business Profile, Yelp, Angi, HomeAdvisor, BBB, Facebook, Apple Maps, Bing Places, and 40+ industry and local directories. One consistent identity. One entity that AI could confidently reference.

Comprehensive schema markup

We deployed LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, and Review schema across his website. This gave AI engines a structured cheat sheet: here's what this business does, here's where it operates, here are the specific services it offers, here's what customers say about it. We included his service area covering Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood, Paramus, and surrounding Bergen County towns.

10 GEO-optimized content pieces

We replaced his generic blog posts with content built to be cited. Instead of "5 Tips to Prevent Frozen Pipes," we wrote "Emergency Plumber in Hackensack NJ: What to Do When Pipes Burst at 2 AM." Instead of "When to Call a Plumber," we wrote "How Bergen County Homeowners Save Money on Plumbing: A Hackensack Pro's Guide." Every piece answered a specific question someone would ask an AI, positioned Mike as the local authority, and was structured for easy extraction and citation.

Backlink and mention acquisition

We placed Mike's business in 10 authoritative local and industry sources. Local business roundups, Bergen County community sites, trade publications. Each mention reinforced the entity signals that AI models use to establish trust and authority.

The Results: 90 Days Later

Within 60 days, Mike's business started appearing in ChatGPT responses for "plumber Hackensack NJ" and "emergency plumber Bergen County." By day 75, Perplexity was citing his website directly. By day 90, Google AI Overviews included his business in local plumbing recommendations.

The lead impact was immediate and measurable. Mike tracked a 40% increase in inbound leads compared to the same quarter the previous year. And here's the part that really mattered to him: his Google Ads spend stayed exactly the same. These new leads were coming from AI recommendations, which function like organic referrals. High trust, high intent, zero cost per click.

Mike's cost per lead dropped significantly. His close rate on AI-referred leads was actually higher than his ad-generated leads because people who get a recommendation from an AI tool treat it like a trusted referral, not an advertisement.

What Mike's Story Means for Your Bergen County Business

Mike isn't special. That's not an insult. It's the point. He's a regular local business owner who does good work and had decent marketing in place. The only thing that changed was adding GEO to his strategy.

If you run a service business in Hackensack, Paramus, Ridgewood, Teaneck, Fort Lee, Englewood, or anywhere in Bergen County, the same opportunity exists for you right now. Your competitors probably aren't doing this yet. The window where you can establish AI authority in your category and your zip code is open, but it's going to close as more businesses and agencies catch on.

The math is simple. A $5,000 one-time investment that generates a 40% lift in leads with no ongoing ad cost is one of the best ROI moves a bootstrapped business can make. Even our $1,500 GEO Audit gives you the complete picture of where you stand and exactly what to do about it.