Direct Effect Smoke Shop’s Local SEO Success Story with Web Rank Digital

Direction Requests

4%

Phone Calls

216%

Website Click

59%

Background

Direct Effect Smoke Shop partnered with Web Rank Digital to increase local visibility, drive in-store foot traffic, and capture high-intent searches for smoke shop, vape, and tobacco products in Murrieta, California. With customers relying heavily on Google Search and Google Maps to find nearby smoke shops, strong local SEO visibility was essential to competing against nearby stores with significantly higher review counts.

Operating in a high-demand retail area with over 2,100 monthly searches for smoke shop–related terms, Direct Effect Smoke Shop needed a Local SEO strategy that could deliver consistent calls, direction requests, and website visits—without relying on paid advertising.

Client Name

Direct Effect Smoke Shop

Industry

Smoke Shop & Vape Retail

Program

Local SEO by WRD

Challenges

Competing against nearby smoke shops with 100+ Google reviews

Limited visibility for high-intent smoke shop and vape keywords

Inconsistent inbound calls and direction requests

Under-optimized Google Business Profile engagement

Solutions Implemented

Google Business Profile Optimization

Optimized business categories, products, and service areas
Enhanced profile with consistent updates and optimized business information
Improved profile completeness to strengthen Google Maps visibility

Content & Engagement Strategy

Published frequent Google Business Profile posts to drive activity
Generated localized FAQs targeting buyer-intent product searches
Actively managed reviews and engagement signals to build trust

Heatmap & Keyword Rank Tracking

Tracked smoke shop and vape-related keywords using grid heatmaps
Monitored competitor positioning across the local service area
Adjusted Local SEO tactics based on ranking movement and SERP data

Results After 6 Month

Engagement Metrics

Phone Calls: ⬆️ 216% increase
Website Clicks: ⬆️ 59% increase
Direction Requests: ⬆️ 4% increase
Search Views: ⬆️ 123% increase
Maps Views: ⬆️ 68% increase

Improved Keyword Rankings

Smoke shop – Average ranking improved from 12.88 to 7.47
Smoke store – Improved from 13.73 to 7.66
Tobacco shop – Improved from 15.88 to 8.24
Cigarettes – Improved from 13.09 to 7.56
Vape accessories – Improved from 8.92 to 5.38
Incense – Improved from 11.2 to 7.25

“Web Rank Digital helped put our shop on the map. We’re getting more calls, more direction requests, and more customers finding us when they search for smoke shops nearby. The results have been consistent month after month.”

— Owner, Direct Effect Smoke Shop

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