Account Review & Turnaround Strategy — 2026-04-05

Overview

Weekly call between Ben San Fratello and Mark Hope diagnosing Exterior Renovations as a neglected account and defining a two-pillar turnaround strategy. The account shows critical underperformance across SEO, Google Ads, and local search — but the low baseline means measurable improvement should be visible quickly. Mark tasked Ben with owning the turnaround and building it into a case study.

Attendees: Ben San Fratello · Mark Hope
Recording: Fathom

Account Diagnosis

Google Ads

Logo rejections: Two logos flagged — one for low resolution (blurry), one for excessive blank space. The client sent a PDF logo, which cannot yield a high-res image. High-res files must be obtained from the client (Melissa).
High CPC ($9): Driven by an AI-managed Target CPA set to $67. For a siding contractor where only ~10% of leads may convert, the effective cost per closed job becomes ~$670. Target CPA needs to be lowered.
Messy conversion goals: Current goals include ambiguous entries ("contact," "converted lead") and a useless one ("get directions" — the business has no public office). Anouk needs to clarify and consolidate. The "submit a form" goal shows "needs attention" status.
Single campaign: Only siding is being advertised despite the client offering decks, roofing, and windows. Seasonality may justify this in winter, but should be confirmed with Chris.
Optimization score: Below 70% at time of review.

SEO & Organic

Domain Rating: 2. Competitors range from 0.9 to 25+. Infinity Roofing (a regional competitor with a Madison office) sits at DR 25. This is the single largest structural weakness.
Organic traffic declining since July. Likely a mix of seasonality and content gap. Keyword count has also dropped over the same period.
No competitor tracking in Ahrefs. Competitors were not added until this call. Key competitors identified: Infinity Roofing, The Exteriors Company, Madtown Siding.
No visitor tracking. Ahrefs tag was not installed on the site prior to this call.
Wrong traffic. Google Search Console shows the top-performing content is a "level beam" article (a roofing structural topic the client doesn't sell) and gutter content. There is effectively zero traffic for high-intent siding keywords ("exterior siding," "siding contractors Madison," etc.).
Thin on-page content. The homepage has minimal siding copy — a few sentences and images. The siding services page has almost no text. Google will not rank pages without substantive content.
Unindexed blog posts. Several existing articles (e.g., "The Importance of a Good Gutter System," "Garage Bump-Out Project") have so little traffic they are not indexed.

Local SEO (Moz Local)

Exterior Renovations is present in Moz Local but Google Business Profile and Facebook are not connected.
The business does not appear in the Google Maps local pack for "siding contractors Madison." Competitors with worse websites rank above them.

Turnaround Strategy

Pillar 1 — Technical SEO: Domain Rating Boost

Mark initiated a $200 backlink service (resold at $250) targeting a DR increase from 2 → 30 within 30 days.
Ahrefs updates DR monthly, so the jump won't be visible immediately.
Mark added an Ahrefs visitor tracking tag to the site during the call.
Key competitors (Infinity Roofing, The Exteriors Company, Madtown Siding) were added to Ahrefs for ongoing monitoring.
Ben should run a Madison-localized competitor search using a VPN or browser location spoofing, then cross-reference competitor keywords in SpyFu.

Pillar 2 — Content & On-Page SEO

Homepage: Add 300–500 words of siding-focused copy. Break the services section into distinct subsections with expanded text for siding. Create a staging version (homepage-new in WordPress) for client review before going live.
Blog: Commission 2–3 long-form articles (2,500+ words) on siding topics from Gavin. Use Surfer SEO to guide keyword density. Suggested angles: how to pick siding, weatherproofing, signs your siding needs replacement.
Content promotion: Boost each new article on Facebook ($25–$100) targeting Madison. This drives social traffic signals to Google alongside paid and organic, creating a more diverse traffic profile.
Email: Consider adding a newsletter send linking to new articles (not currently being done for this client).

Google Ads & Local Fixes

Logo: Get high-res files from Melissa; replace blurry and blank-space-flagged logos in Google Ads assets.
Goals: Email Anouk to clarify "contact" and "converted lead" goals; remove "get directions"; consolidate form goals; resolve "needs attention" flag on form submissions.
Target CPA: Lower from $67 to reduce the $9 average CPC.
Moz Local: Connect Google Business Profile and Facebook to the existing Moz Local listing.

Key Decisions

Decision	Owner
Ben owns the Exterior Renovations turnaround end-to-end	Ben San Fratello
$200 backlink service ordered to boost DR 2 → 30	Mark Hope (initiated)
Ahrefs visitor tag installed on site	Mark Hope (completed in call)
Competitors added to Ahrefs	Mark Hope (completed in call)
Goal: build this account into a case study	Ben San Fratello

Action Items

[ ] Email Melissa requesting high-res Exterior Renovations logos; replace flagged logos in Google Ads — @Mark Hope
[ ] Email Anouk to clarify "contact" and "converted lead" goals; remove "get directions"; consolidate form goals; resolve "needs attention" flag — @Ben San Fratello
[ ] Connect Exterior Renovations GBP and Facebook in Moz Local — @Ben San Fratello
[ ] Run Madison-localized competitor analysis via VPN (Ahrefs + SpyFu); update Ahrefs competitor list — @Ben San Fratello
[ ] Verify exterior renovations URL and confirm $250 backlink service order; monitor DR in Ahrefs over 30 days — @Ben San Fratello / @Mark Hope
[ ] Analyze Exterior Renovations GSC in depth; brief Gavin to write 2–3 siding articles (2,500+ words each) — @Ben San Fratello
[ ] Draft homepage-new in WordPress with expanded siding content; send preview link to Chris for client approval — @Ben San Fratello
[ ] Lower Google Ads Target CPA from $67 to reduce CPC — @Ben San Fratello

Context & Notes

"You should make this your purpose in life — make this thing a case study. Just do whatever you got to do. Spend whatever time you got to spend. Just make this thing an icon." — Mark Hope

Mark used Citrus America as a benchmark for what a well-managed account looks like: DR 28 (rising to 50), competitors tracked, visitors monitored, organic traffic up. Exterior Renovations is the inverse on every metric.

The low baseline is actually an advantage: any meaningful action will produce visible results quickly, making this a strong candidate for a before/after case study.

^[1]
^[2]
^[3]
^[4]
^[5]
^[6]