Our Performance Guarantee

Last updated: August 2026 (v2)

We sell the expertise to run your local marketing system. That means we’re on the hook for the outcomes this system is built to produce. This page documents what we guarantee, what we need from you for the guarantee to apply, and what happens if we miss.

What we guarantee

Within 90 days of onboarding completion (not contract signing, see “When the clock starts” below), the Growth plan will deliver:

1. 20+ new Google reviews across your Google Business Profile(s) within 90 days of onboarding completion.
2. Measurable Google Maps ranking improvement within 90 days, defined as at least one of the following:
   • Entering the local 3-pack for at least one pre-agreed target keyword in your primary service area, OR
   • Improving your average map-pack rank by 3 or more positions for your pre-agreed primary service keywords (tracked weekly via independent rank-tracking software), OR
   • A 10% or greater increase in Google Business Profile views, calls, or direction requests compared to the 90 days immediately before engagement began (pulled from Google Business Profile Insights).

If either benchmark isn’t met by day 90, we’ll continue running the Growth plan at no additional charge for up to 90 additional days until we do. If after the 90-day extension we still haven’t hit either benchmark, either party may terminate the agreement without penalty and you’ll receive a 30-day service credit toward any future work.

For Full Department clients (additional benchmark)

Full Department clients receive everything in the Growth guarantee above, plus:

3. A measurable increase in appointments booked through your website within 90 days, defined as at least one of:
   • A 10% or greater increase in website-attributed appointment bookings in month 3 compared to month 1, OR
   • At least 3 website-attributed appointment bookings in any single 30-day period before day 90 (if month-over-month comparison isn’t feasible due to lack of prior baseline data).

“Website-attributed” means appointments booked through: our online booking widget, a tracked website contact form, the website chat widget, or a tracked phone number associated with a landing page we built.

What’s required of you

For the guarantee to apply, you agree to:

Minimum business activity thresholds

1. Provide a past customer list of at least 150 customers within 14 days of kickoff (so Review Kickstart has a meaningful pool to activate). If your customer list is smaller than 150, the guarantee still applies, but the 20-review benchmark is prorated to 20% of your list size (with a minimum of 5 reviews).
2. Average at least 20 completed jobs, appointments, or services per month during the guarantee window (so Review Velocity has new transactions to work with). Seasonal businesses: we’ll agree on an annual baseline at kickoff.

Ongoing participation

3. Submit at least 10 photos or project/service updates per month to our content intake channel (email or SMS provided at kickoff). This feeds The Ranking Engine’s GBP posting cadence.
4. Respond to service-recovery alerts within a reasonable time window. When the Review Velocity flow flags a customer who responded with negative sentiment, you’ll receive a notification so you can reach out and make it right before we ever ask that customer for a review. These alerts are typically a handful per month and protect your star rating from negative reviews.
5. Maintain an active, unsuspended Google Business Profile and comply with Google’s review, posting, and listing policies throughout the engagement.

What we handle on your behalf

• All Google Business Profile review responses (positive and neutral)
• GBP posting, category management, service listings
• Website updates and maintenance
• Review-request outreach to your past and current customers
• Rank tracking and reporting

What we need from you at kickoff

• Admin access to your Google Business Profile (or Owner-level invitation)
• Agreement on target keywords and geographic service area for rank tracking
• Your past customer list in a usable format (CSV or exported from your CRM)
• A designated point of contact authorized to approve changes and receive service-recovery alerts

If you don’t meet these preconditions, the guarantee doesn’t apply until you do. We’ll work with you to get there, but the clock on the 90-day window doesn’t start until kickoff is complete.

Exclusions

The guarantee doesn’t apply if:

1. You cancel Growth (or Full Department) before day 90.
2. You decline to implement material recommendations we make (for example: GBP category corrections, service area changes, site copy updates we flag as high-priority).
3. You don’t meet the participation obligations above.
4. A major Google algorithm update materially disrupts local search during the guarantee window. In this case, we’ll extend the guarantee window by the amount of time needed to absorb the impact.
5. Your business is under active Google penalty, review takedown, manual action, or any compliance action from a third-party platform during the guarantee window.
6. You ask us to pause work or reduce scope during the guarantee period.
7. You violate Google’s review policy (for example: incentivizing reviews, review gating beyond our approved sentiment flow, soliciting reviews from non-customers).
8. Business disruptions outside our control materially affect your ability to meet minimum job thresholds (natural disasters, regulatory changes, extended shutdowns).

When the clock starts

The 90-day guarantee window begins on onboarding completion, which we define as:

• Your Google Business Profile is claimed and all optimization work is in place
• Review Kickstart campaign has been activated (first wave sent)
• Review Velocity is triggering automatically on completed jobs
• Your website updates are live
• Initial GBP posts are scheduled
• Target keywords and service area are locked for rank tracking

Onboarding typically takes 14 to 30 days. The 90-day guarantee window starts once all of the above is complete. You’ll receive a written onboarding completion confirmation with the explicit guarantee start date.

Pause and extension policy

If at any point during the guarantee window you fail to meet the participation obligations for more than 14 consecutive days (for example: no photos submitted, service-recovery alerts ignored), the guarantee clock pauses until you resume participation. Pauses extend the 90-day window by the length of the pause plus 5 days of ramp-up time.

Example: if you stop submitting photos from day 30 through day 50 (20 days), the guarantee window extends by 25 days to account for the pause plus ramp.

How we track and report

• Reviews: Google Business Profile review count verified weekly. Tracked and reported in your monthly ranking and insights report.
• Rankings: We use independent rank-tracking software (BrightLocal, Local Viking, or equivalent) to track pre-agreed target keywords across pre-agreed geographic grid points in your service area. Weekly data, monthly reports.
• GBP metrics: Views, calls, direction requests pulled directly from Google Business Profile Insights, compared against the 90-day baseline before engagement.
• Appointment bookings (Full Department): Tracked through our integration with your booking/CRM system, with attribution to website sources verified monthly.

All data is shared with you in your monthly reporting. You’ll see exactly what we see.

If we don’t hit the benchmarks

We continue running Growth (or Full Department) at no additional charge for up to 90 additional days until both the review benchmark and the ranking benchmark are met. During the extension:

• You remain on your regular billing schedule (no additional charges during the extension).
• All service continues as normal.
• We provide weekly check-in updates instead of monthly during the extension period.

If after the 90-day extension the benchmarks still haven’t been met, you may terminate the agreement without penalty and receive a 30-day service credit toward any future engagement.

What this guarantee is not

To be clear, we’re not guaranteeing:

• Specific revenue numbers, lead volume, or booked job counts (we can guarantee reviews and ranking, but revenue depends on dozens of factors outside our control: your pricing, your close rate, your service quality, your geographic market, seasonality, competitor activity).
• Ranking in the #1 position for any specific keyword. Google’s algorithm is dynamic and competitive. We guarantee measurable improvement, not a specific rank number.
• Specific ROI multiples like “8x return” or “3-5x more calls.” Those are illustrative figures from our existing case studies, not forward-looking promises.
• Results if you’re actively working against the system (not participating, contradicting our recommendations, maintaining practices that conflict with Google’s guidelines).

Locked thresholds reference

Questions? Email [email protected] or book a 15-minute call.