Porto Car Care Case Study - 3× Visibility Growth | Luís Madeira | Luís Madeira

Overview

Porto Car Care is a professional auto detailing service based in Porto, specializing in paint correction, ceramic coating, and interior detailing. Despite offering premium services and having excellent customer reviews, they were struggling to be found online by local customers searching for auto detailing services.

They came to me with a clear goal: dominate local search results for auto detailing keywords in Porto and surrounding areas. They had a basic website that wasn't ranking, minimal online presence, and were relying almost entirely on word-of-mouth referrals.

Over four months, I implemented a comprehensive local SEO strategy that tripled their organic visibility, moved them from page 3-4 to consistent page 1 rankings, and increased their phone call volume by 40%.

The Challenge

The Situation

Porto Car Care faced several critical challenges that were limiting their growth:

Virtually Invisible in Search: Not ranking on page 1 for any relevant local keywords. Most target keywords weren't even appearing in the top 50 results.
Strong Local Competition: Competing against established auto detailing businesses with years of SEO investment and strong domain authority.
Limited Online Presence: Basic one-page website with no blog content, minimal service pages, and no structured local SEO foundation.
Missed Local Opportunities: Not appearing in Google Maps results for high-intent searches like "auto detailing near me" or "ceramic coating Porto".
Dependence on Referrals: 90% of new business coming from word-of-mouth, making growth unpredictable and slow.

Goals

Rank on page 1 for primary local keywords within 4 months
Increase organic traffic by 200%+
Generate 5-10 qualified leads per week through organic search
Dominate Google Maps results for "auto detailing Porto"
Build sustainable, long-term organic visibility

The Solution

Discovery & Strategy

I started with comprehensive keyword research and competitive analysis. I identified that while direct competitors were targeting obvious keywords like "auto detailing Porto," there was massive opportunity in long-tail, service-specific keywords that showed higher commercial intent.

The strategy centered on three pillars:

Implementation

Phase 1: Technical Foundation (Week 1-2)

Before creating content, I rebuilt the technical foundation:

Site Restructure: Migrated from single-page site to comprehensive service-based structure
Technical SEO: Implemented proper heading hierarchy, schema markup, mobile optimization, and page speed improvements
Local SEO Setup: Optimized Google Business Profile, ensured NAP consistency, submitted to local directories
Analytics: Set up Google Analytics 4 and Search Console with proper goal tracking

Phase 2: Programmatic SEO Strategy (Week 3-6)

This is where the magic happened. Instead of manually creating pages for every service and location combination, I implemented a programmatic approach:

Service Pages: Created dedicated pages for each core service (paint correction, ceramic coating, interior detailing, PPF installation)
Location Pages: Generated pages targeting nearby cities and neighborhoods (Matosinhos, Vila Nova de Gaia, Gondomar, Maia)
Service + Location Combinations: Programmatically created pages like "Ceramic Coating in Matosinhos" and "Paint Correction in Vila Nova de Gaia"
Unique Content: Each page had unique, valuable content with local information, service details, and clear CTAs

This approach allowed us to target 50+ highly specific keyword combinations that competitors weren't covering.

Phase 3: Content & Authority Building (Week 7-16)

With the foundation in place, I focused on content and authority:

Educational Content: Created guides like "How to Maintain Ceramic Coating" and "Paint Correction vs Polishing"
Before/After Galleries: Showcased work with keyword-optimized descriptions
FAQ Schema: Added FAQ sections to all service pages with structured data markup
Link Building: Secured local citations and links from automotive forums and local business directories

SEO Strategy Deep Dive

Keyword Research

Target keywords included:

"auto detailing Porto" (primary)
"ceramic coating Porto"
"paint correction Porto"
"car detailing near me"
"PPF installation Porto"
Plus 45+ long-tail service + location combinations

On-Page Optimization

Optimized title tags with local keywords and service specifics
Compelling meta descriptions with CTAs (increased CTR by 23%)
Proper heading structure (H1 → H2 → H3) for topical relevance
Internal linking strategy connecting related services and locations
Image optimization with descriptive alt text and compressed files

Technical SEO

Site speed optimization (reduced load time from 4.2s to 1.1s)
Mobile-first responsive design
Schema markup: LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, Breadcrumbs
XML sitemap with proper priorities
Robots.txt optimization

Local SEO

Google Business Profile optimization with keywords, photos, and regular posts
Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across all platforms
Local citations on 20+ Portuguese business directories
Encouraged and responded to customer reviews
Created localized content for each target city

Results

Key Metrics

Visibility

+294% increase in overall Google Search visibility
0 → 47 keywords ranking in top 10
Page 1 rankings for 8 out of 10 primary target keywords

Traffic

+312% increase in organic traffic
4,200+ monthly visitors (up from 950)
73% local traffic from Porto metropolitan area

Business Impact

+40% increase in phone calls
25-30 qualified leads per month (up from 8-12)
€12,000+ estimated monthly revenue from organic leads

Ranking Improvements

"auto detailing Porto": Position 47 → Position 3
"ceramic coating Porto": Not ranking → Position 2
"paint correction Porto": Not ranking → Position 5
"car detailing Matosinhos": Not ranking → Position 1
"PPF Porto": Position 35 → Position 6

Technologies Used

Astro: Static site generator for maximum performance
Tailwind CSS: For responsive, mobile-first design
Google Search Console: Performance monitoring and keyword tracking
Google Analytics 4: User behavior and conversion tracking
Ahrefs: Keyword research and competitor analysis
Schema.org: Structured data implementation
Cloudflare: CDN for improved global performance

Lessons Learned

This project reinforced several key principles that I now apply to all local SEO projects:

Programmatic SEO works brilliantly for local services: By systematically targeting service + location combinations, you can dominate search results that competitors ignore.
Technical foundation is non-negotiable: No amount of content will save a slow, poorly structured website.
Long-tail keywords convert better: "Ceramic coating in Matosinhos" had 10x better conversion rate than generic "car detailing."
Google Business Profile is critical: 40% of leads came directly from Google Maps listings, not website clicks.
Local citations matter: Consistent NAP across directories helped rankings significantly in the first 2 months.

Porto Car Care