Barrons Building Services
A premium stonemasonry rebrand and rebuild that took Barrons from invisible on Google to ranking, and getting cited by AI answer engines, for the searches that matter most.
SECTOR
Construction & Trades
LOCATION
Stroud, Gloucestershire (Cotswolds)
SERVICES
Web Design, SEO & AEO, Photography
RESULT
Page 1 Google rankings, plus a direct citation inside Google's AI Overview for a target search term
18.62%
Search visibility
Up 9.89 points since the rebuild
#1
Google rankings
Page one for 'dry stone walling cotswolds' and 'dry stone walling gloucestershire'
#2
'Cost of dry stone walling'
Cited directly inside Google's AI Overview for this exact search
5
Keywords in Google's Top 10
Up from a standing start before the campaign
A prospective client, a former cyber security analyst at GCHQ, came to see us specifically to say how impressed he was with the new website. That's not the kind of feedback you get very often, and it's exactly why we wanted it done properly.
Nick, Founder, Barrons Building Services
The situation
Nick runs Barrons Building Services, a Stroud-based stonemasonry and building specialist with genuine pedigree: 15+ years' experience, work showcased on BBC's Building the Dream, a Chelsea Flower Show commission with garden designer Chris Beardshaw on a Morgan Stanley-sponsored garden, and heritage projects at estates including Blenheim Palace. None of that came through on the old website. It read like a generic local trades site: a templated layout, awards buried below the fold, and messaging pitched at 'all your masonry needs' rather than the high-end stonework Nick actually specialises in. The risk was direct: Nick nearly lost a piece of client work because the site didn't represent the quality of what he does.
The brief
Reposition Barrons as the premium option it already was in practice, not just on paper.
Google + AI
Two engines, one site
What we did
We rebuilt the site from the ground up: darker, more editorial, positioned around 'Crafting timeless stonework and bespoke living spaces' rather than a generic service list. We went on-site with Nick and the team to shoot real project photography, replacing the stock-adjacent imagery on the old build. Alongside the rebuild, we ran a focused local SEO and AEO campaign targeting the specific high-value searches Barrons' ideal clients actually use, getting the technical and content foundations right rather than chasing volume for its own sake.
Results
Within months, Barrons moved from not being visible on Google for these terms to ranking on page one for 'dry stone walling cotswolds' and 'dry stone walling gloucestershire', second on page one for 'cost of dry stone walling', and second for 'drone surveyors gloucestershire'.
More significantly for AEO, Barrons now appears as a directly cited source inside Google's AI Overview for 'cost of dry stone walling', genuine proof the AEO work is landing, not just traditional rankings. Nick has also confirmed the site is now surfacing in ChatGPT and Claude for relevant searches.
A prospective client, a former GCHQ cyber security analyst, visited the site and told Nick unprompted how impressed he was by how well it was built. It's the kind of validation that's hard to manufacture, and exactly the problem the project set out to solve: a site that actually reflects the standard of the work behind it.
Real project photography
Every image here is genuine work, shot on-site. Nothing stock, nothing borrowed.
Built by the people who wrote this
Same team, start to finish. No handoffs, no ghostwriting.
The same SEO & AEO system we run ourselves
Not agency theory — the exact approach behind Unpick’s own visibility.
Numbers you can check yourself
Every stat above is traceable, not rounded up for a case study.
BEFORE
AFTER
The detail
18.62%
Search visibility (+9.89)
9.54
Estimated traffic (+1.84)
1
Keywords in Top 3 (new)
5
Keywords in Top 10
7
Keywords in Top 20
7
Keywords in Top 100
Ranking #1 (page 1) for 'dry stone walling cotswolds'
Ranking #1 (page 1) for 'dry stone walling gloucestershire'
Ranking #2 for 'cost of dry stone walling', also cited directly inside Google's AI Overview
Ranking #2 for 'drone surveyors gloucestershire'
Confirmed appearing in ChatGPT and Claude search results for relevant queries