A fictional business. The figures are a modelled scenario, not a client result.
SEO case study✦Mtaa Fundi✦Handyman network, 120 artisans · Nairobi
+197%
organic job requests in 9 months, across Nairobi’s estates, in two languages.
Lugha mbili, soko moja
The challenge
Searches mixed English and Swahili, and listings for individual artisans were scattered and inconsistent across directories.
Mtaa Fundi dispatches 120 artisans — plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters and gas fitters — across Nairobi. A tenant in South B types “fundi wa maji”; a landlord in Westlands types “plumber near me”. Both want the same thing in the next two hours, and neither was finding Mtaa Fundi. Classified sites and WhatsApp groups caught the demand instead.
Ukaguzi · Diagnosis
Audit & diagnosis
Mtaa Fundi, M-Taa Fundi, Mtaafundi Ltd: 230 directory listings carried 41 name variants, 17 phone numbers and three dead Kilimani addresses. Google could not tell they were the same network.
The Business Profile sat under 'Employment agency', with no service area, no services list and 6 photos. It never appeared for plumber, electrician or carpenter intents.
Roughly 38% of modelled demand was in Kiswahili or Sheng ('fundi wa maji', 'fundi mtaani'). The site was English-only, so that demand went to classifieds and Facebook groups.
A single 'Nairobi' page tried to rank for every estate from Ruaka to Rongai. No estate names in titles, no local proof, no internal links between trades and places.
Most searches came from Android handsets on mobile data. A 2.9 MB hero slider pushed LCP to 6.8 s; the WhatsApp button loaded last.
Individual fundis had self-made directory listings pointing to personal numbers, splitting reviews and confusing the entity behind the network.
Mpango · The plan
The strategy
Built on our Local plan: the Local playbook, painted estate by estate and in both of Nairobi’s search languages.
Decal 1
“Kila mtaa, ukurasa wake”
Every estate gets its own page
Decal 2
“Ramani ni yetu”
The map is ours
Decal 3
“Tunaongea lugha yako”
We speak your language
Decal 4
“Jina moja, namba moja”
One name, one number
Kituo kwa kituo · Stage by stage
Month by month
Crawled 230 listings, mapped every name variant. Search demand split by language and estate.
Category fix, service areas, 34 services. Phone numbers consolidated to one tracked line.
Kilimani, Westlands, South B/C, Embakasi, Rongai, Kasarani, Ngong Road go live.
First 20 Kiswahili service pages with hreflang. Mobile LCP down to 1.9 s.
205 of 230 listings unified. Artisan listings re-pointed to profiles.
Eastlands and Thika Road estates added; review prompts by SMS switched on.
12 Kiswahili repair guides with price ranges; 'fundi near me' reaches #1.
Ruaka, Kitengela, Upper Hill and Kariobangi pages; internal link pass.
28 estates in the top 3 of the local pack; 84 Kiswahili terms ranking.
Matokeo · Results
Results after 9 months
Modelled scenario for a fictional business — not a client result. Rankings and traffic are never guaranteed; see our Terms.
28
0 → 84
230
Estates in the top 3
28 of 32 estate pages hold a map-pack top-3 spot; 230 citations unified by month 7.
Google.co.ke, mobile, Nairobi location. Month 0 vs month 9 (modelled).
| Query | Language | Searches / mo | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fundi near me | Sheng | 6,600 | #31 | #1 |
| fundi wa maji Kilimaniplumber, Kilimani | Kiswahili | 880 | — | #1 |
| fundi wa stima Westlandselectrician, Westlands | Kiswahili | 720 | — | #2 |
| plumber Nairobi | English | 5,400 | #18 | #3 |
| handyman Nairobi | English | 2,900 | #12 | #1 |
| kutengeneza bomba linalovujafixing a leaking pipe | Kiswahili | 590 | — | #1 |
| fundi wa mbao Rongaicarpenter, Rongai | Kiswahili | 390 | — | #2 |
| electrician near me | English | 4,400 | #27 | #4 |
| fundi wa rangi beipainter, price | Kiswahili | 480 | — | #3 |
| fundi wa gesi Embakasigas fitter, Embakasi | Kiswahili | 320 | — | #1 |
| fundi mtaani leofundi in the estate today | Sheng | 260 | — | #2 |
| tile fixer South B | English | 210 | #44 | #2 |
Choose a route and an estate to read its local-pack position.
28 of 32 estate pages hold a local-pack top-3 position at month 9 (modelled).
Stage board · West
Kilimani
Searchers in Kilimani asking for “fundi wa maji Kilimani” or “plumber Kilimani” land on one estate page listing the 9 artisans based nearby.
Destination
Estate pages, a Business Profile that wins the map, content in the languages your customers search in, and one clean name everywhere.