How we did it
Searches. Six searches per trade, chosen from Google Ads volume data for the phrases owners use when shopping for help: the agency phrase, "marketing companies," "seo," "advertising" or "lead generation," "best … marketing agency," and the plain "… marketing" (garage door used "leads" and "advertising" in place of "marketing companies" and "lead generation"). Six more covered home services in general, including "contractor marketing agency" and "how to choose a marketing agency."
Results. Google US, desktop, page 1 (up to 10 organic results), pulled on October 18, 2026 through DataForSEO. That returned 262 organic results from 150 websites. We scored 146; YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Reddit results were counted but not scored.
Scoring. For every website we captured the home page, each ranking page and any pricing page, and scored it against a fixed checklist: what kind of business it is; which trades it serves; whether it publishes prices; whether it leads with booked jobs or revenue, leads or calls, or rankings and traffic; whether it shows a client result with a number; and whether it mentions field-software reporting, call tracking, Local Services Ads, AI search, call answering or booking, grid-based map measurement and guarantees. Each value needed a quote from the page. If the page didn't say it, we recorded "not stated."
Lists. 68 results looked like "best" or "top" lists. 51 turned out to be lists of agencies; for each we recorded who published it, whether the publisher listed itself and where, whether the criteria were stated, and whether they included measured client results.
Limits. This is one day of results from one location setting; rankings move. Pages were captured without running JavaScript, and seven sites returned no readable text. "Not stated" isn't proof an agency doesn't do something; it means its main pages don't say so. Scoring was done by reviewers working from the captured text against a written rubric, not by asking the agencies. We name no agencies here: the point is the pattern an owner meets, not any one firm.
Most "best agency" lists rank their author first
Of the 51 lists of agencies on page 1, 33 were published by agencies. 32 of those 33 included themselves, and 28 put themselves at #1. Across all 51 lists, the publisher was ranked first in 30 (59%).
- 34 of 51 lists said how agencies were chosen. 12 said their criteria included measured client results; all 12 were agencies listing themselves, 11 of them at #1, and none showed the client data.
- No list showed prices for every agency it listed; 36 showed none at all.
- Six websites published 26 of the 51 lists.
Lists are what Google shows for plural searches like "hvac marketing companies," so this is often the first thing an owner reads.
Few agencies lead with booked jobs
We recorded what each agency puts forward as the result of its work. 19 of 100 led with booked jobs or revenue, 26 with leads or calls, 7 with rankings or traffic, 37 with a mix, and 10 stated no outcome at all.
The proof behind booked-job claims is thinner still. 10 of 100 said they connect reporting to field software like ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber, the systems where booked jobs and revenue actually live. 6 did both.
AI search is everywhere; answering the phone isn't
69 of 100 agencies mention AI search: ChatGPT, AI Overviews, "AEO" or "GEO." 48 mention Google Local Services Ads. Only 24 talk about whether calls get answered or booked, and 4 measure Google Maps visibility across a grid of points.
That's the reverse of where owners lose money. In ServiceTitan's data the typical trades business booked 42% of calls,1 and in our own Charlotte study a typical company's visibility on Google Maps fell from 70% of residents near its shop to about 1% at 6.7 miles.2 Neither shows up in a ranking report checked from the shop.
Prices are rare, and wider than you'd think
28 of 100 agencies published their own prices. Among the 17 US agencies that listed a starting monthly price for an ongoing program, the median was $1,500 a month; entry prices ran from $197 to $4,000, and 10 of 17 fell between $1,000 and $3,000. Published top tiers reached $9,200 a month, and one large agency said its packages run to over $10,000. Setup or startup fees of $3,500 to $5,000 were common among those that charged one, and one national agency billed $8,600 or more for a two-month initial campaign.
16 of 100 offered some kind of guarantee. One guaranteed Google rankings, which Google's own guidance warns against: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."3 Another guaranteed citations in AI answers. The other 14 offered refunds, lead targets, performance-based fees or a general promise of results.
By trade
What agencies lead with, as the result of their work:
| Searches | Agencies | Booked jobs | Leads | Rankings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | 27 | 19% | 15% | 0% |
| Plumbing | 24 | 29% | 25% | 8% |
| Pest control | 24 | 21% | 21% | 17% |
| Garage door | 29 | 21% | 34% | 3% |
| Home services | 22 | 18% | 27% | 0% |
| All agencies | 100 | 19% | 26% | 7% |
What they mention and publish: field-software reporting, booking calls, prices, grid-based map measurement, and "best agency" lists ranking their own publisher first (of all lists).
| Searches | Software | Booking | Prices | Grid | Self #1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | 22% | 30% | 33% | 7% | 9/15 |
| Plumbing | 13% | 25% | 33% | 0% | 6/7 |
| Pest control | 8% | 33% | 33% | 4% | 8/14 |
| Garage door | 10% | 28% | 34% | 3% | 3/3 |
| Home services | 9% | 23% | 32% | 0% | 4/12 |
| All agencies | 10% | 24% | 28% | 4% | 30/51 |
An agency that ranked in more than one trade is counted in each, so trade rows overlap; the last row counts each agency once. Agencies not leading with booked jobs, leads or rankings led with a mix of outcomes or stated none. Per-trade "best agency" lists come from all six searches for that trade. Download: summary table (CSV).
HVAC and pest control searches returned the most "best agency" lists (15 and 14), and pest control had the highest share of agencies leading with rankings or traffic. Plumbing agencies were the most likely to lead with booked jobs or revenue, and mentioned Local Services Ads most often (71%). Garage door had the most agencies leading with leads or calls and offering guarantees (24%). HVAC agencies mentioned field-software reporting most often (22%).
What it means for owners
- Use "best agency" lists to build a shortlist, never to choose. Check who wrote the list first.
- Ask every agency how it will report booked jobs and revenue, and from which system.
- Ask how it will find your booking rate, and where you show up across your whole service area.
- Get the price in writing, separate from ad spend.
Our buyer's guides turn these into a scorecard for each trade.
Using this research
You're welcome to quote and reuse these findings with credit and a link: "Isoline Growth, Who ranks for 'HVAC marketing agency'? (October 2026)." This page is published under CC BY 4.0. The aggregate table is available as a CSV. We don't publish agency-level scores.
Questions owners ask
How many agencies did you audit?
150 websites appeared on Google's first page for our 30 searches on October 18, 2026. We scored 146 of them; the other four were YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Reddit. 100 were marketing agencies. The rest were software vendors, directories, publishers, a lead marketplace and other sites, and seven returned no readable text.
Why don't you name the agencies?
Rankings change daily and each agency's site changes often. The pattern an owner meets matters more than any one firm, and we compete with some of these agencies, so naming them would invite a fair charge of bias.
Does "not stated" mean an agency doesn't do it?
No. It means the home page, ranking page and pricing page we captured didn't say so. Ask the agency directly.
Will you repeat the audit?
We plan to rerun it, with the same searches and checklist, so changes over time can be compared.
Sources
About the audit: on October 18, 2026 we pulled Google's first page (US, desktop) for 30 searches an owner might type when shopping for an agency, six per trade plus six for home services in general (for example "hvac marketing agency", "plumbing seo", "best pest control marketing agency", "garage door advertising"). That returned 262 results from 150 websites; we scored 146 of them (YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Reddit were counted but not scored), and 100 were agencies. We captured each site's home page, its ranking page and any pricing page, and scored them against a fixed checklist using only what the pages say. If a page didn't mention something, we counted it as not stated, which isn't proof the agency doesn't do it. Seven sites returned no readable text. Entry prices count only US-based firms' lowest monthly price for an ongoing program.
- Call booking rates: data from 3,000+ trades businesses. ServiceTitan, Oct 2022. www.servicetitan.com/blog/data-call-booking-rates
- The Three-Mile Map: how far 138 Charlotte-area home service companies reach on Google Maps and AI. Isoline Growth, Oct 2026. www.isolinegrowth.com/research/three-mile-map/
- Do you need an SEO?. Google Search Central, updated Jun 5, 2026. developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo