LSEO Case Study / Energy + Home Services / SEO + Paid Media
How LSEO Helped Heller's Gas Grow Estimated Organic Traffic 255% and Generate 1,000+ Paid Leads
Heller's Gas came to LSEO after an underperforming paid-media relationship. The engagement expanded into a four-year SEO program that transformed the company's non-branded visibility while paid search and social campaigns generated qualified demand across a multi-state propane service area.
6,016 → 21,329
961 → 5,288
$53 blended CPL
$0.09 per engagement
Case Study at a Glance
A paid-media turnaround became a four-year organic growth story.
Heller's Gas provides propane delivery and service to homes, farms, and businesses across Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. LSEO began working with the company in fall 2019 to improve paid lead generation and expanded the partnership into SEO through October 2023.
- Client
- Heller's Gas
- Industry
- Propane, Energy + Home Services
- SEO Engagement
- October 2019 – October 2023
- Core Services
- SEO, Google Ads, Facebook + Instagram Advertising
- Organic Goal
- Expand non-branded commercial visibility
- Paid Goal
- Increase qualified leads while lowering acquisition cost
01 / The Business Challenge
Heller's needed growth from people who did not already know the brand.
Before LSEO, paid search was producing only a handful of form fills and calls each month. Organic visibility was also heavily concentrated around branded searches such as Heller's Gas rather than the broader service queries customers use when choosing a propane provider.
The business challenge was therefore two-sided: improve immediate lead generation through paid media while creating a larger organic discovery channel that could compound over time.
The site ranked for 961 U.S. keywords in October 2019.
Only 20 non-branded keywords ranked in Google's Top 10 in the supplied historical SEMrush export, and just 5 non-branded terms ranked in the Top 3.
For this case study, non-branded queries exclude keywords containing “Heller,” “Heller's,” or close brand variants.
02 / What LSEO Found
The opportunity was to connect high-intent local search with a much stronger conversion system.
Non-branded propane demand
Searchers were looking for “propane supplier,” “propane service near me,” “propane gas near me,” and similar high-intent terms. Heller's had room to become visible before a provider had been chosen.
Paid campaigns needed better qualification
The previous account generated little return. LSEO rebuilt audiences, offers, landing pages, and messaging around actions the customer-service team could actually follow up on.
Local intent could scale regionally
Propane is inherently local, but the underlying search pattern repeats across locations. Strong service pages and local relevance could compound across Heller's growing footprint.
Social could serve both lead generation and brand demand
Promotions and giveaways created a second role for Facebook and Instagram: generate response while increasing engagement with the Heller's brand.
03 / The Strategy
Capture immediate demand with paid media while steadily widening the organic search footprint.
Build non-branded discovery
LSEO expanded optimization around propane delivery, supplier, service, comparison, pricing, and location intent so Heller's could reach customers before they searched the company by name.
Rebuild high-intent acquisition
Paid search used stakeholder input, historical account data, competitive research, qualified audiences, conversion-focused landing pages, and offer-specific messaging to generate more actionable leads.
Create promotion-driven engagement
Facebook and Instagram campaigns supported monthly and quarterly promotions, giveaways, and lead-generation initiatives while expanding brand engagement.
04 / SEO Performance
Four years later, Heller's organic search footprint was dramatically larger — and far less dependent on branded demand.
| Commercial keyword | Oct. 2019 | Oct. 2023 | 2023 search volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| propane supplier | #36 | #3 | 18,100 |
| propane gas near me | #33 | #9 | 6,600 |
| propane suppliers near me | #29 | #8 | 5,400 |
| propane service near me | #79 | #7 | 2,900 |
| propane gas service | #73 | #5 | 110 |
Historical keyword positions and volumes are from supplied SEMrush U.S. desktop exports for October 2019 and October 2023. Search volumes reflect the 2023 export and are third-party estimates.
05 / Paid Media Performance
The paid-media reset produced qualified demand while social campaigns expanded reach and engagement.
Qualified audiences
Campaign structure used Heller's customer profile and service-market data to focus budget on more relevant prospects.
Offer-specific landing pages
Traffic was routed to conversion-focused experiences matched to the service, promotion, or incentive being advertised.
Integrated follow-up
Lead capture was designed around the next operational step: Heller's customer-service representatives contacting the prospect.
“LSEO has been working wonders for us!”Client testimonial published in LSEO's original Heller's Gas case study
06 / AI Search Context
This engagement predates modern AI Visibility tracking — so LSEO does not retroactively claim AI results.
The underlying search strategy still matters.
Heller's growth came from stronger relevance for non-branded service queries, broader topic coverage, local intent, and a larger search footprint. Those same fundamentals help modern answer engines understand what a business does, where it serves customers, and which needs it can satisfy.
Attribution boundary
LSEO did not have first-party AI Visibility measurement during the 2019–2023 Heller's engagement. No present-day AI citation, mention, referral, or recommendation is presented here as an outcome of this historical campaign.
07 / Why It Worked
LSEO solved immediate acquisition and long-term discovery as one connected problem.
Paid media created demand immediately
Google and social campaigns could generate calls and form fills while organic rankings were still building.
SEO reduced dependence on brand familiarity
The non-branded Top 10 footprint expanded from 20 to 278 keywords, exposing Heller's to customers who had not yet chosen a propane company.
The strategy matched a local service business
Search intent, landing pages, offers, and customer-service follow-up were aligned around the real path from local need to new account.
Branded rankings are not enough for regional growth.
The largest opportunity was visibility for the category and service need — propane suppliers, delivery, and service — not just Heller's name.
Paid and organic search can play different time horizons.
Paid media captured demand quickly while SEO created durable visibility that continued compounding across four years.
Lead quality starts before the form fill.
Audience selection, offer framing, landing-page relevance, and handoff design all influence whether a lead becomes an actionable sales opportunity.
08 / Measurement & Data Integrity
Historical SEO estimates and published paid-media actuals are clearly separated.
SEMrush traffic and search-volume values are third-party estimates and should not be interpreted as first-party analytics. They are used here to compare the same domain across two historical snapshots using a consistent measurement source.
09 / FAQs
Questions about the Heller's Gas engagement.
What services did LSEO provide for Heller's Gas?
LSEO provided SEO plus paid acquisition and social advertising across Google, Facebook, and Instagram. The relationship began in fall 2019, and the supplied SEO performance window runs through October 2023.
How much did Heller's organic search visibility grow?
In the supplied SEMrush U.S. historical exports, estimated organic traffic increased from 6,016 to 21,329, while the ranking keyword footprint expanded from 961 to 5,288 between October 2019 and October 2023.
Did LSEO improve non-branded rankings?
Yes. Non-branded Top 10 rankings increased from 20 to 278 in the supplied exports, while non-branded Top 3 rankings increased from 5 to 114. Examples include “propane supplier” moving from #36 to #3 and “propane service near me” from #79 to #7.
What paid-media results were reported?
LSEO's original case study reports more than 1,000 leads at a $53 blended cost per lead across Google, Facebook, and Instagram, plus more than 275,000 social post engagements at $0.09 per engagement.
Does this case study include AI Visibility results?
No. The work predates modern AI Visibility measurement, so LSEO does not attribute current AI mentions or recommendations to the historical engagement.
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