About James Ranks
James Ranks is an independent SEO operator and SaaS founder who builds and ranks local service websites, and builds the software behind them.
The short version
James Ranks is an independent SEO operator and SaaS founder. Rather than selling search work to clients, James Ranks builds local service websites, ranks them in local search, and keeps ownership of the asset. The businesses that receive the enquiries pay for lead flow, not for a retainer.
That model runs across home service trades in Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
The software and services
The two halves of the work are not separate. Operating a portfolio surfaces problems that no off-the-shelf tool or generic link vendor solves well, and those problems become products.
James Ranks is the founder of LocalPBN, a link-building service that restores real, dropped local business websites, sets up a Google Business Profile on each one, and gives the client a single contextual homepage link. It grew out of the same local-domain sourcing work James Ranks does for his own portfolio.
James Ranks is also the founder of Expired GMB Domains, a SaaS product that finds registerable expired domains attached to Google Business Profiles. It began as an internal sourcing step for the portfolio and became a product for other operators working the same problem. That is the pattern: build it because the portfolio needs it, then ship it to the people who need the same thing.
The systems
Running a portfolio is an infrastructure problem more than a content one. James Ranks builds the rank tracking, call tracking, lead routing and publishing automation the portfolio depends on, because the reporting that proves a lease is worth paying for has to be measured rather than asserted.
Areas of expertise
Search
- Local SEORanking service businesses in map and organic results.
- Expired domain acquisitionSourcing dropped domains that carry relevant local history.
- Local link buildingRestoring real local business sites through LocalPBN.
- Technical and on-page SEOSite architecture built around service and location demand.
Software
- SaaS product buildingTools for search operators, starting with Expired GMB Domains.
- Managed link servicesLocalPBN, a link-building service for other operators.
- Lead generation infrastructureCall tracking, routing and lead delivery.
- Rank trackingPortfolio-wide position monitoring over time.
- Publishing automationRepeatable build and deploy tooling for many sites.