Homeowners discover firms in search. Developers use it to vet them.
Architecture search splits two ways: homeowners type 'residential architect scottsdale' like consumers, while developers get a name from their network and search it to validate. The same thin profile loses both — one never finds you, the other finds you and moves on.
Where architects lose the map pack.
A thin name-search result kills warm referrals
Commercial clients and referred homeowners search the firm's name before the first call. A branded search that returns a sparse profile, a handful of photos, and an unclaimed BuildZoom listing undoes the referral that produced it — the verification layer fails before the discovery layer is even tested.
The lowest review bar in local search cuts both ways
When I measured the Phoenix metro in October 2026, the architects in the top three on Google Maps had a median of 2 reviews, so a milestone-based ask — design approval, permit issuance, project completion — can move a firm up with single-digit gains. It also means each review carries enormous weight, including a bad one left unanswered.
Credentials sit unverified on the site
Every practicing Arizona architect is registered with the Board of Technical Registration, and AIA membership is the profession's recognized peer signal. Firms that name registrations and link the BTR lookup give Google and referral-checking clients a verifiable trust chain; most firms mention neither.
Who holds the top three, city by city.
35 of the 42 top-three spots across the metro went to listings with fewer than 20 reviews.
Google reviews held by the three businesses at the top of Google Maps when someone at each city's center searches “architect”, measured October 2026. One day's snapshot: the map moves with where the searcher stands, and a listing with a handful of reviews can sit on top on distance alone. That is why the audit measures your own map pack, not an average.
Bold numbers are listings with 20 or more reviews; light ones have fewer.
What moves the map pack for architects.
A page for every built project
Each project gets its own page: the place, the problem, the design response and photographs with descriptive captions. These pages earn the searches that come months before a client calls.
Separate pages for homeowners and commercial clients
Homeowners search for a custom home architect plus a city; developers and businesses search by building type. Each needs its own pages; one page written for both serves neither.
Post the work on Houzz
Houzz is where residential clients browse, and where builders and designers look you up. A full project portfolio there works as a citation and a referral path at once.
What I do for architects.
Every engagement starts with the $197 audit: where an architecture firm stands against the three businesses above it, and what to fix first. Then one of two builds, and Grow keeps everything running after.
Launch
A new architecture firm, in its first year.
$7,500, paid $1,250 a month for 6 months
The Launch page →Optimize
An established architecture firm that is underperforming on what it already has.
$1,895 a month for 3 months
Optimize on the pricing page →Grow
After a build. The monthly plan that keeps everything running and moving.
$900 a month, month to month
Grow on the pricing page →The work is the same eight parts for every local business; the trade changes the details.
What the audit checks for an architecture firm.
- Your map pack position for the residential and commercial architecture searches actually typed in your cities — tracked, not guessed
- What your firm-name search returns — the validation layer developers and referred homeowners check before calling
- Your review count against the firms winning your map pack, in the category with the lowest review bar in local search
- GBP category, photo depth, and portfolio configuration against what top-ranked firms run
- Whether BTR registration and AIA membership are surfaced and linked as verifiable credentials, or just claimed
- Citation presence and NAP consistency across 22 directories, including Houzz, BuildZoom and Dwell, with claim links for every miss
Delivered within 3 business days as a written report, a working spreadsheet, and a prioritized plan — with a money-back guarantee. It's the same audit that starts every plan.
Not ready to spend $197? Run the free 60-second grade — live map pack checks for your searches, the review gap to your market's leaders, and your website basics. No card, no account.
Quick answers.
How long before local SEO produces signed engagements for an architecture firm?
Is the audit specific to architecture?
Our clients come through builders and past collaborations — why invest in search?
The guide, the playbook, the checklists.
Find out why the architects above you are above you.
The $197 audit maps your rankings, reviews, citations, and competitors — and tells you exactly what to fix first.