Tired of paying for leads from Angi and HomeAdvisor?

How to (Ethically) Steal Their Leads : Use Their Own Tactics Against Them

Contractors love to gripe about Angi’s Leads and HomeAdvisor—and for good reason. These lead gen companies charge a hefty fee, sell the same leads to four or five other contractors, and leave you fighting tooth and nail for a job that barely covers the cost of the lead itself. It’s like a rigged boxing match where you’re already down two rounds by the time you step into the ring.

But what if I told you that you could steal their lead flow, use the same tactics they do, and get all those leads exclusively for yourself?

Yup, it’s possible. You don’t have to keep cursing at Angi or HomeAdvisor while they’re making millions off your frustration. I’m going to break down exactly what they do and show you how to replicate their strategy for your own business.

How Angi and HomeAdvisor Dominate Online—and What You Can Learn from It

Let’s start with the basics. Angi and HomeAdvisor aren’t magical lead-producing machines. They’re not plucking leads out of thin air or running some mysterious operation. They’re using a very simple but powerful strategy: SEO and content-driven websites. They build a ridiculous number of pages for just about every service imaginable, targeting every dinky little town you’ve ever heard of (and plenty you haven’t).

For example, I’m based in Paso Robles, California—small town, not a huge population. But if I type in “retaining wall builder in Paso Robles,” guess who shows up near the top? That’s right—HomeAdvisor. They’ve spent time, money, and resources building a specific page just for that tiny market. And they’re not alone. They do this for retaining walls, synthetic lawns, paving services, you name it. The result? When people search for these specific terms, HomeAdvisor is front and center.

They’ve got pages for “synthetic lawn installation in Paso Robles,” “paver installation in Paso Robles,” and “driveway paving in Paso Robles.” You get the idea. They didn’t half-ass it, either. The meta titles, descriptions, keywords—they’re all optimized to dominate the search results.

Here’s the kicker: there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from doing the same thing.

Why Can’t You Do This Too? (Hint: You Can)

What’s to stop you from building service-specific pages on your own website? It’s not like HomeAdvisor has some secret sauce. They just have more pages—and a lot of them. But you don’t need a million pages. You just need a handful that are hyper-focused on the services you offer and the areas you serve.

Take a page out of HomeAdvisor’s book: if you’re a landscaper offering retaining wall installations, build a page specifically for that service in your town. Write content around it, add your keywords, and optimize the hell out of it. Rinse and repeat for your other services, and pretty soon, you’ll start eating into HomeAdvisor’s lead flow.

Real-World Example: How We’re Outranking the Big Dogs

ve been helping a few guys over in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of them runs a dumpster rental and junk removal business. What did we do? We built out service-specific pages, just like HomeAdvisor does. For example:

Hot Tub Removal in Grand Rapids: We created a dedicated page targeting this exact service and location. Result? It’s now ranking #3 on Google.

Deck Removal in Grand Rapids: Same process. This page? It’s sitting pretty at the top spot, outranking even the big-name competitors.

All it took was following basic SEO principles—title tags, meta descriptions, H1 headers, the works. And it’s working like a charm. These pages are now generating leads directly for this business, without having to pay anyone else a dime. No middleman, no competition with five other contractors, no bullshit.

How to Start Building Your Own Lead-Generating Machine

So, how do you get started?

First, forget about building some flashy, over-the-top website. Keep it simple. Your goal is to create service-specific pages that answer what customers are looking for.

Think of each page as a fishing pole in a big pond—each one is another opportunity to catch a lead.

Step-by-Step Breakdown:

Pick a Service and Location: Start by choosing one service you offer and one town or city you want to target. For example, “Retaining Wall Builder in Santa Barbara.”
Create a Dedicated Page: Build a specific page around that service and location. Use keywords in your title tag, meta description, and headers. Make it crystal clear what you offer, where you offer it, and how to get in touch.
Optimize for SEO: Follow the basic rules: use H1 and H2 tags, add internal and external links, include images with alt text, and use your keywords naturally throughout the content.
Rinse and Repeat: Once you’ve got one page up and running, move on to the next service and location. The more specific pages you have, the more opportunities you have to rank for those terms.

The Endgame: Compete with HomeAdvisor on a Smaller Scale

If you do this correctly and consistently, you’ll start showing up for more and more local searches.

Each page is a little soldier in your digital army, fighting for a piece of the market that you’d otherwise be paying lead gen companies for.

I’m not saying you’ll put HomeAdvisor out of business—but you can definitely take a nice chunk of their leads without breaking a sweat.

Just remember, every time you add another page, you’re adding another chance for a customer to find you instead of them.

Wrapping Up: Beat Them at Their Own Game

So, next time you catch yourself complaining about Angi’s Leads or HomeAdvisor, take a step back. Instead of whining about their lead-stealing ways, use their strategy for your own business. Build those service-specific pages, optimize for SEO, and steal back those leads they’ve been hogging.

You’ve got nothing to lose—except maybe a few hours of your time—but the potential reward? Direct leads with zero competition.

If you want more details on how to do this, check out the templates I’ve created or reach out to me.

Trust me, it’s a lot easier than you think to start stealing some of HomeAdvisor’s lunch money.