Case Study — North Myrtle Beach, SC
Baldwin Builders — North Myrtle Beach General Contractor.
A template site that barely showed up on Google → a custom-built site now seen 30,678 times a month in Google — nearly 6× more than before — ranking on page 1 for “general contractor North Myrtle Beach,” showing in the top 3 of Google’s local map, and even quoted by Google’s new AI answers. Here’s how.
At a glance
The Client
Strong work. Strong reviews. Zero visibility on Google.
Baldwin Builders is a locally owned general contractor on the Grand Strand — custom homes, kitchen and bathroom remodels, additions, storm repair, the works. The reviews were real. The book of work was real. But when a homeowner in North Myrtle Beach searched “general contractor near me” or “custom home builder Conway,” the site was nowhere. A Wix template was eating every lead they could have been getting.
The ask was simple: build a site that matches the quality of the work, and a search footprint that puts them in front of the people already shopping. No fluff. Just rank.
The Challenge
Scored 38 out of 100 — on a platform we couldn’t fix.
A full check-up scored the old site 38 out of 100. It was a Wix template: copy-paste town pages with just the city name swapped (the kind Google quietly ignores), photos with no labels, no license number shown, and a broken setting that was hiding a page from Google. None of it unusual for a small contractor site — all of it costing them calls.
The bigger problem was the platform itself. Wix made the fixes that mattered slow and clumsy, so the smartest path was a clean rebuild on a faster, custom foundation we fully control.
The Approach
Six moves, all built to work together.
01 We rebuilt the whole site from scratch.
Off the Wix template and onto a fast, custom-built site — every page built by hand, with no page-builder bloat slowing it down. We carefully pointed every old web address to its new home, so nothing Baldwin had already earned on Google got lost in the move. The new homepage leads with real projects, clear services, the owner’s name, and an easy way to ask for a quote.
02 A real page for every service.
We built 13 service pages — custom homes, commercial builds, kitchen and bathroom remodels, whole-home renovations, additions, structural repair, and storm and water damage — split between the Charleston and North Myrtle Beach areas. Each one answers the exact thing a homeowner types into Google, instead of one generic “services” page trying to cover everything at once.
03 A page for every town they serve.
The old site had copy-paste town pages with just the city name swapped — the kind Google ignores. We replaced them with 13 real service-area pages (Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Conway, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and more), each written for what actually matters there: coastal building codes, flood zones, hurricane-proofing, and how permits work in that county.
04 We made the whole site easy for Google to read.
Behind the scenes, we gave Google everything it looks for to trust and rank a local business — the company details, service areas, hours, and real reviews, plus clear labels on every page and photo. We also fixed the broken setting that had been quietly hiding a page from Google.
05 A standout project page to show off real work.
We built a dedicated page for the Little Crane Motel build — a real coastal SC project. It does three jobs at once: it shows off the work, it gets Baldwin found for specific project searches, and it’s something they can send a prospect as proof. It’s the template for adding more projects as they wrap — the kind of page most contractor sites never bother to build.
06 24 helpful guides for homeowners.
We wrote 24 in-depth articles answering what Grand Strand and Charleston homeowners Google before they ever call a contractor — building permits, flood zones, hurricane-proofing, remodel costs, what to expect during a build, and more. They bring people in early and build Baldwin’s name as the local expert — and one of them is now quoted by Google’s AI (more on that below).
The Results
What Google’s own numbers show.
The clearest proof is Google’s own data. How often the site shows up in Google went from 5,314 times a month when we started to 30,678 now — nearly 6× more. Clicks to the site rose from 107 to 193 a month, and its average spot in Google climbed from page 4 to page 1. These are measured Google numbers, not estimates.
Source: Google Search Console, scbaldwin.com — first 30 days of data (Feb 3 – Mar 4, 2026) vs. the most recent 30 days (May 30 – Jun 28, 2026). Exported 2026-06-30.
The rankings back it up. For the search that matters most — “general contractor North Myrtle Beach” — Baldwin now shows up in the top 3 of Google’s local map (#1 right from North Myrtle Beach) with the website on page 1 just below it. All told, the site now shows up for 39 different searches, 8 of them on page 1 — up from almost nothing. Checked live on 2026-06-30.
Top of the map — beating firms far older.
When someone near North Myrtle Beach searches for a general contractor, Baldwin shows up in Google’s local map of three businesses — #1 right from North Myrtle Beach, and in the top 3 across the wider area. It’s sharing that spot with companies that have been in business 20+ years. Baldwin is three years old. Checked live on 2026-06-30.
Quoted by Google’s AI.
When people ask Google about Horry County building codes, Google’s new AI answer pulls from Baldwin’s permit guide and names scbaldwin.com as a source — right alongside the county’s own website. That’s the new front page of Google: Baldwin isn’t just listed, it’s being used to answer the question. Checked live on 2026-06-30.
“A building permit is required in Horry County for any project that changes the structural integrity, electrical wiring, plumbing, or mechanical systems.”
Cited source: scbaldwin.com · Horry County permit guideWhy it works: the rebuild itself.
Those Google gains rest on the rebuild. Scored on the same 100-point check-up before and after, the site jumped from 38 to 89 — here’s where that came from.
Where Baldwin Builders is ranking right now.
Where Baldwin shows up in Google (snapshot 2026-06-30; top rankings re-verified live 2026-07-19). “Monthly searches” is roughly how often each phrase gets searched in a typical month.
| Search term | Monthly searches | Where Baldwin ranks |
|---|---|---|
| general contractor north myrtle beach | — | Map #1 + page 1 |
| baldwin builders (their name) | 320 | #1 |
| horry county sc building permits | 480 | #7 (page 1) |
| horry county building permits | 480 | #8 (page 1) |
| horry county permit office | 140 | #6 (page 1) |
| horry county building codes | 30 | #4 (page 1) · quoted by Google AI |
| horry county permit portal | 110 | #10 (page 1) |
| general contractor myrtle beach | 320 | Page 1 |
| builders myrtle beach | 170 | #11 (just off page 1) |
| builders in myrtle beach sc | 170 | #13 (page 2) |
From invisible to the top of the map. When someone nearby looks for a general contractor right now, Baldwin is in the top 3 of Google’s map (#1 from North Myrtle Beach), with the website on page 1 right below — and on page 1 for “general contractor Myrtle Beach” too. The Horry County permit guide holds multiple page-one spots and is cited as a source by Google’s AI Overview. (Headline rankings re-verified live 2026-07-19.)
We had a website that wasn’t pulling its weight. They rebuilt it from the ground up — service pages, neighborhood pages, the works. Now when somebody searches for a general contractor in North Myrtle Beach, we show up. The calls we get are real project leads. — Baldwin Builders · North Myrtle Beach, SC
Under the Hood
Built to last — and keep ranking.
- Custom-built & fast
- Hand-coded instead of a template, so it loads fast and there’s no page-builder bloat dragging it down.
- Built to be found
- Set up the way Google wants — clear pages, labeled photos, company details, hours, and reviews it can actually read — across all 56 pages.
- Great on phones
- Fast and easy to use on mobile, where most homeowners are searching when they need a contractor.
- Trust front and center
- Licensed SC GC #CLG124644, the owner’s name, real reviews, and matching contact info everywhere — the website and the Google listing line up.
Want this for your business?
Free SEO audit. Same framework, run on your site.
You get a clear score for your site, the exact fixes that matter most, and a plain-English answer on whether it can compete or needs a rebuild. No commitment. No sales pitch. The same approach that took Baldwin Builders from barely showing up to nearly 6× the views on Google.