If you are a plumber, electrician, builder, landscaper or any other kind of tradesperson, most of your work comes from people nearby. They search online, they pick from the first few results they trust and they call. The question is whether your business appears when they do that search, and whether your listing gives them enough confidence to choose you over the competition.
That is what local SEO is about. It is not complicated, but it does require some attention.
When someone searches for “plumber in Exeter” or “electrician near me,” Google shows two types of results: the map pack at the top of the page (usually three local businesses with a map) and the standard organic results below it. Getting into the map pack is often more valuable than ranking in the organic results, because the map pack appears higher up the page and includes your phone number, reviews and opening hours at a glance.
Google uses three main factors to decide who appears in local results. The first is relevance, meaning how well your business matches what the person is searching for. The second is distance, meaning how close you are to the searcher. The third is prominence, which is a combination of your online reputation, the quality of your website and how consistently your business information appears across the web.
You have limited control over distance, but you have a lot of control over relevance and prominence.
If you have not claimed and completed your Google Business Profile, that is the single most impactful thing you can do today. It is free, and it directly controls what appears in Google Maps and the local search results.
Start by making sure all the basics are filled in accurately. Your business name, address, phone number, website, opening hours and the categories you operate in should all be complete. Choose your primary category carefully. If you are a general builder, “Building Contractor” is more accurate than “Construction Company,” and the specificity helps Google match you to relevant searches.
Once the basics are done, there are a few things that make a real difference to how well your profile performs.
Online reviews are one of the most powerful factors in local search rankings and one of the most powerful factors in getting someone to call you. A business with 40 reviews averaging 4.7 stars will almost always win more enquiries than one with 10 reviews at 4.9, simply because the larger number feels more credible to a potential customer.
The simplest way to get more reviews is to ask. Most satisfied customers are happy to leave one if you make it easy. Send a follow-up message after completing a job with a direct link to your Google review page. You can get your review link from your Google Business Profile dashboard. Some trades businesses include it in their invoice or in a short card they leave with the customer. Respond to every review, positive and negative. A brief, professional response to a negative review often reassures prospective customers more than a page of glowing praise, because it shows you take your work seriously and handle problems well.
Your website plays an important role in local SEO, even though the Google Business Profile does a lot of the heavy lifting in the map pack. Google looks at your website to understand what you do and where you do it, so it needs to be clear about both.
The most common mistake trade businesses make with their website is being vague about location. A page that says “serving the South West” tells Google very little. Mentioning specific towns and areas where you work, in a natural way within your page copy, helps enormously.
You do not need to build a separate page for every town you cover. A single service area page that clearly lists the areas you work in is often enough. If you want to go further, a handful of location-specific service pages, one for each main town or area, can help you rank for those specific searches. These pages work best when they contain real local content rather than just swapping a town name into a template.
Your contact page should also include your address and a map embed if you have a fixed base, even if customers rarely come to you. It helps Google confirm your location.
Many tradespeople cover a wide area and are not based in the main town where most of their work comes from. This is a common challenge. Google prioritises businesses that are physically close to the searcher, so if your workshop is in a village outside Exeter but most of your work is in Exeter itself, you may find it harder to rank there than a competitor based closer to the city centre.
The best approach is a combination of things. Make sure your service area is set correctly in your Google Business Profile. Build up reviews from customers in the towns you want to rank in. Create location-specific content on your website that mentions those areas naturally. And consider whether your website has any pages targeting the towns where most of your work comes from.
It also helps to have consistent business information across directories like Checkatrade, Yell and TrustATrader. Google cross-references these listings when deciding how prominent your business is, and inconsistencies in your name, address or phone number can work against you.
A slow, poorly designed website will cost you customers even if your local SEO is otherwise good. If someone finds your business in the map pack, clicks through to your website and it takes five seconds to load or looks broken on their phone, they will go back and call your competitor instead.
Your website needs to load quickly, work properly on mobile, have your phone number prominently displayed and make it easy to understand what you do and where you work. These are not complicated requirements, but they do matter. If your current trade website is not doing those things well, it is worth addressing.
If you want to talk through how your website and local SEO are performing and what might be holding you back, get in touch with b:web. We work with tradespeople across England and understand the specific challenges that come with local search.
