Local SEO for tradespeople: how do you get found in your area?

How local search works for trades

When someone searches "boiler repair Stockport" or "roofer near me", Google tends to show two kinds of results: a map with a small group of businesses, and the normal list of websites below it. Broadly, three things decide who appears:

• Relevance: does your business clearly do the thing searched for?
• Distance: how close are you to the searcher, or to the place they named?
• Prominence: how well known and trusted do you look, judged from reviews, links, mentions and your website?

You cannot move your base, but you can make your relevance unmistakable and build prominence steadily. Four levers do most of the work: your area pages, your Google Business Profile, your reviews and your citations.

Lever one: area pages that are actually useful

If you cover several towns, a page for each main area helps both customers and search engines see that you work there. The trap is writing ten copies of the same page with the town name swapped. Those pages add little and can make the whole site look thin.

A useful area page includes things that are genuinely local:

• The towns, villages and postcode districts you cover from that base.
• Typical jobs you do there, such as the kind of housing stock or common problems in the area.
• One or two recent jobs nearby, with photos and a short description (with the customer's permission).
• Reviews from customers in that area, if you have them.
• Practical details: call-out arrangements, parking or access notes, how quickly you can usually attend.

Start with your three or four most important areas and do them well. Add more only when you have something real to say. Give each a clear title such as "Electrician in Chelmsford" and link to it from your main services page.

Service pages come first

Before area pages, make sure each main service has its own page. "Boiler servicing", "boiler installation" and "power flushing" are different searches from different customers. One page that lists all three in a sentence will rarely rank for any of them. Our guide to what to write on a tradesperson website covers how to word them.

Lever two: your Google Business Profile

For many trades, the map results bring more calls than the website listings. Your Google Business Profile is what appears there. The essentials are:

1. Choose the most accurate primary category, then add secondary ones that genuinely fit.
2. If you visit customers rather than having them visit you, set a service area and hide your address if it is your home.
3. Use the same business name, phone number and website address you use everywhere else.
4. Add real photos of your work, your van and yourself, and keep adding them.
5. Fill in services and a plain description of what you do.
6. Link it to the most relevant page on your website.

The full setup is covered in our Google Business Profile guide. The point for this article is that the profile and the website should support each other: the same details, the same services, the same areas.

Lever three: a steady flow of reviews

Reviews affect both prominence and whether people choose you once they see you. A steady trickle matters more than a sudden burst. A simple routine works best:

• Ask at the moment the customer is happiest, usually when the job is finished and they have seen the result.
• Make it easy: send a direct link to your review page by text or email the same day.
• Ask everyone, not just the customers you think will be glowing. Asking only selected customers can conflict with platform rules.
• Reply to every review, briefly and politely, including critical ones.
• Never pay for reviews or write them yourself. Platforms remove them, and fake reviews can break consumer protection rules.

When a customer mentions the town and the job in their own words, such as "replaced our roof valley in Hove", that helps too. You can suggest they say what you did, but do not script their review.

Lever four: citations and consistency

A citation is any mention of your business name, address and phone number on another site: directories, trade bodies, local listings, supplier "find an installer" pages. They help search engines confirm you are real and where you work.

Type	Examples	Priority
Core platforms	Google, Bing Places, Apple Maps	Do first
Trade bodies and schemes	Membership or registration listings you qualify for	High, they also build trust
Manufacturer installer lists	Brands you are accredited with	High where available
General directories	Well-known UK business directories	Medium
Local sites	Community, parish or local business association pages	Medium, often overlooked

Consistency matters more than quantity. Decide on one exact version of your business name, phone number and address or service area, and use it everywhere. When you change number or move, update the listings you control. Our guide to directory listings versus your own website explains how lead sites and directories fit alongside your site.

A simple monthly routine

Local SEO rewards steady effort rather than one big push. An hour or two a month is enough for most sole traders and small firms:

1. Add three to five new job photos to your Google profile and website.
2. Ask every finished customer for a review, and reply to new reviews.
3. Improve one service or area page with a recent job or a common question.
4. Check your listings still show the right phone number and hours.
5. Look at which pages bring enquiries, and strengthen those first.

Avoid shortcuts that promise rankings in days, keyword-stuffed pages, or buying links. They tend to waste money and can harm your visibility.

Making the website side easy

All four levers point back to your website, so it needs clear service pages, area pages and a contact route that works on a phone. Site Shifter builds a complete first version of a trades site from six questions, including services and the areas you cover, and lets you add unlimited pages, so you can grow area pages over time without paying more. Whatever you use, the routine above is what moves you up the local results.

Frequently asked