SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It sounds like something for big companies with marketing departments. For a tradesperson, it boils down to one thing: when someone near you searches for what you do, your name is on the screen.
That is local SEO. And for trades it is the most valuable kind of marketing there is, because the person searching is usually ready to buy.
How Google decides who to show
When someone searches “plumber in Warrington” or “roofer near me”, Google tries to show the businesses most likely to be the right answer. For local searches it leans on three things:
- Relevance: does your business match what they searched for?
- Distance: how close are you to the searcher?
- Prominence: how well known and trusted do you look online?
You cannot change where your home is. You can change the other two.
Relevance: say exactly what you do
Google reads your website to understand your business. If your site just says “Quality workmanship, call us”, it has nothing to match. If it has a page about flat roof repairs, a page about chimney work and a page about new roofs, with the towns you cover, it has plenty.
This is why one page per service and one page per main area works so well. We cover that in one page per service and area pages.
Prominence: look like the real thing
Prominence is built from signals that you are a genuine, active business:
- A proper website that loads fast and works on a phone
- A complete Google Business Profile
- Reviews from real customers, with replies from you
- Your name, address and phone number matching everywhere they appear
- Links and mentions from other local websites
The three jobs that matter most
If you only do three things, do these:
- Build a website with a page for each service and each main area
- Set up and fully complete your Google Business Profile
- Ask every happy customer for a review
Everything else is detail.
What not to bother with
You will get emails and calls offering to “guarantee first page on Google”. Be wary. Nobody can guarantee a ranking, because Google does not sell them. A good site, a good profile and good reviews, built steadily, is what works.
Local SEO is not a trick. It is making it obvious that you are the right local business for the job.
Where we come in
Every website we build is set up for local search from day one: clear service pages, area pages, fast loading and the technical basics sorted. See how it works on our offer page.