Local SEO for Tradespeople: A Checklist for Plumbers, Electricians and Builders

You’re good at the job, and most of your work probably comes by word of mouth. But when someone with no heating on a cold morning types “plumber near me” into their phone, they aren’t asking a neighbour. They’re choosing from whoever Google puts in front of them: the handful of businesses in the map, and the first few websites underneath.

Getting into that set isn’t a trick. For a trade business, local SEO comes down to a short list: a Google Business Profile set up the way Google says a business that travels to customers should set it up, honest reviews, a website with a page for each job you want more of, your trade registrations in order, and a simple way of knowing where your calls come from. This checklist takes you through each one, with what Google or the relevant register actually says, so you don’t do something that gets your profile suspended.

It’s written for plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, heating engineers, carpenters, locksmiths and anyone else who goes to the customer. Nobody can honestly promise you the top spot, but you can make sure nothing on your side is holding you back.

Before you start

Have these to hand:

• Owner or manager access to your Google Business Profile. If a web designer, a relative or a marketing company set it up years ago, sort out access first; most of section 1 depends on it.
• Your website login, or the name of whoever edits the site.
• Your business name exactly as it appears on your van and invoices.
• The main jobs you want more of (boiler installs, rewires, extensions, roof repairs) and the towns and villages you actually cover.
• Any registration numbers, such as Gas Safe.

We’ll follow one made-up business through the list: Smith Plumbing, a one-person plumbing and heating firm run from the owner’s home, covering a town and the villages around it.

How Google picks which trades to show (in brief)

Google’s help page on improving your local ranking names three things: relevance (how well your listing matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well known you are, which Google says includes how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have). It also says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

You can work on relevance and prominence, but you can’t move closer to every customer. Our guide to the Google 3-pack explains the map results in full; this article sticks to what’s different when you’re a trade working from home.

1. Your Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your business, phone number and reviews into Google Search and Maps, often before a customer ever sees your website.

Claim and verify the profile

Make sure you (not a former supplier) own the profile and that it’s verified. Google says verifying tells it you’re authorised to represent the business, so the profile is more likely to appear in search results.

Check: you can log in and edit the profile, and it isn’t flagged as unverified.

Hide your home address and set your service areas

This is the step that matters most if you work from home. If customers don’t come to you, Google treats you as a service-area business: one that visits or delivers to customers rather than serving them at its own address. Google’s service-area help page uses plumbers as its example, and its business guidelines are blunter still: if you’re a plumber running the business from your home address, clear that address from your profile.

Google’s rules for service-area businesses:

• You can set up to 20 service areas, based on cities, postcodes or other areas.
• You can’t set a radius around your base.
• The overall area shouldn’t be more than about two hours’ driving time from where you’re based.
• You get one profile for the whole area you serve, not one per town.
• Changes may take up to 48 hours to show.

Service areas tell customers where you work. Google doesn’t say they stretch where you appear in results, and distance from the searcher still counts. Adding the far edge of the county won’t put you in the map there; it just tells people you’ll travel.

For Smith Plumbing, that means clearing the home address and adding the town and the villages or postcodes it covers.

If customers visit you at a yard or showroom, you may be what Google calls a hybrid business; if that address has no permanent signage, Google says to list yourself as a service-area business. A virtual office isn’t eligible, and a co-working space only counts if it has clear signage, you receive customers there and staff are present during opening hours.

Check: two days after any change, look up your business on Google Maps from your phone. No street address should show, and the areas listed should be the ones you cover.

Use your real business name, with nothing added

Google’s guidelines say your business name should match the name you use in the real world, consistently on your signage, website and stationery. Adding unnecessary information isn’t permitted and “could result in the suspension of your Business Profile”. The banned extras include service information and location information.

So “Smith Plumbing” is fine. “Smith Plumbing – Emergency Boiler Repair Worcester 24/7” is what the rule is aimed at. If you want to add “Ltd”, Google expects real-world proof such as signage, business cards or invoices.

Check: the name on the profile matches your van and invoices word for word. If someone stuffed keywords into it in the past, take them out now rather than waiting for Google to act.

Choose the most specific primary category

Your primary category is the one main label that says what your business is. Google says the categories you choose affect your local ranking. Pick the most specific primary category for your main business, use as few categories as you need, and don’t add them just as keywords or pick one for every service. You can’t invent your own. Start typing your trade into the category box (“plumber”, “electrician”, “roofing” and so on) and choose the closest match Google offers.

Check: your primary category describes the job you most want to be found for, and any extras are separate parts of the business.

Use a phone number you control

Google’s guidelines ask for a number that connects to your business, a local number rather than a central call-centre line where possible, and a number under the direct control of the business. Premium-rate numbers aren’t allowed. The guidelines don’t rule out mobiles, so a sole trader’s own mobile works, as long as it’s yours and it’s the same number you use everywhere else.

Check: ring the number from another phone. It should reach you, or a voicemail you actually listen to.

Add photos of real jobs

Google’s photo guidelines ask for images in focus and well lit, without significant alterations or heavy filters: “the image should represent reality”. Photos only show publicly once the profile is verified.

Google doesn’t say photos affect where you rank. Their job is trust: a finished bathroom, a tidy consumer unit, your van with your name on it.

Check: your photos appear when you view the profile as a customer would.

Keep opening hours honest

Google doesn’t require this, but it matters. Google’s Gemini assistant draws on Maps information, including opening hours (see section 7), so if your profile says 24 hours and you don’t answer at 2am, that’s what it has to go on. Only list emergency cover you provide.

Check: your hours match when someone will pick up.

2. Reviews

Reviews count towards prominence, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help. They’re also what a customer reads before choosing between you and the next firm.

Ask every customer for an honest review

Google’s Maps contribution policy sets the rules for businesses asking for reviews:

• No incentives. No payment, discounts or free work in return for a review, or for removing a bad one.
• No cherry-picking. You can’t ask only the customers you think will be happy, or discourage negative reviews.
• No pressure. Don’t require or push customers to leave a review on the spot.
• Don’t tell customers what to write. Google says businesses shouldn’t request that specific content be included.

That last point contradicts advice you’ll find elsewhere. Some guides for trades suggest asking customers to mention the job and the town in their review. Google’s policy says not to. Ask for an honest review and leave the words to them.

The UK regulator is watching too. In January 2025 the Competition and Markets Authority announced changes it had secured from Google, including warning alerts on the profiles of UK businesses that use fake reviews to boost their star ratings.

Reply to reviews, good and bad, briefly and politely. That part is our advice rather than Google’s; future customers read the replies too.

Check: you have one routine that goes to every customer after every job (a text with your review link works), and you never offer anything in return. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews shows how to find your review link, make a QR code and word the request.

3. Your website

Give each main service its own page

If you want more boiler installations, have a page about boiler installations. A single “Services” page listing everything gives a customer searching for one job very little to go on. This is practical advice rather than a Google rule, but it follows from relevance: a page about the specific job gives Google and the customer something to match.

A useful service page covers what the job involves, the areas you cover for it, photos of that kind of work, any registration that applies (Gas Safe on a boiler page, for example), and how to get in touch.

Check: each job on your “want more of” list has its own page, and each page would make sense to a customer who landed on it directly.

Only create area pages that are genuinely useful

An area page targets a place rather than a job (“Plumber in [town]”). You’ll see advice to build one for every town and every service. Be careful. Google’s spam policies (last updated 28 August 2026) describe doorway abuse: pages created to rank for specific, similar searches that lead people to intermediate pages less useful than the final destination. Google’s examples include pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page, and “substantially similar pages” that are closer to search results than a clearly organised site. The same policies describe scaled content abuse: many pages generated mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help users, however they’re made, AI tools included.

Google doesn’t ban area pages, and it doesn’t give a number. Our reading of those definitions gives a simple test: if you could swap the town name for another and the page would still read the same, it’s the same page twice. An area page earns its place when it says something specific and true about working there, such as how you cover it or the kind of work you’re asked to do there.

Be wary of anyone selling “100 town pages” as a package. That’s close to what Google’s scaled content policy describes.

Check: every area page has something on it that wouldn’t make sense on any other area page. If it doesn’t, merge it into your main service page or add something real.

Make it work on a phone, with a number you can tap

Google indexes and ranks sites using the mobile version of their content, which it calls mobile-first indexing. A customer who found you on their phone will also check your site on that phone before ringing.

Put your phone number near the top of every page and make it tappable. That’s about making it easy to call, not a ranking factor, but a customer who has to copy a number out by hand may ring the next firm instead.

Check: open your site on your own phone, tap the number and make sure it starts a call.

Match your details to your profile

Use the same business name, phone number and service areas on your website as on your Business Profile. You can also add LocalBusiness structured data, code that lets you tell Google about things like your opening hours. It’s optional, and Google makes no claim that it helps local rankings. Our website health check covers it alongside the other basics.

Check: name, number and areas are identical on the website and the profile.

If your current site can’t do any of this, our guide to what a website costs in the UK will help you budget for a rebuild.

4. Registrations, accreditations and directories

Customers use trade registers to check who they’re letting into their home, so your details there should match everywhere else.

Gas Safe Register (if you do gas work)

According to the Gas Safe Register, all gas businesses and their engineers must be on the register to carry out gas work legally. Members of the public can check a business or engineer on the register, including by business name or phone number.

Check: search for yourself on the register the way a customer would. Make sure the business name and phone number there match your profile and website, and show your registration on the relevant service pages.

Electrical competent person register (England)

In England, competent person schemes let installers self-certify certain types of building work. The government’s guidance on competent person schemes says that when you join an electrical scheme, you’re included in the electrical competent person register, a single place for householders to find registered electricians in their area. (Rules in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland aren’t covered here.)

Check: if you’re in a scheme, look yourself up on the register and confirm your details are right.

NICEIC, TrustMark and other schemes you belong to

If you hold them, list them. NICEIC runs a public “find a tradesperson” directory, and TrustMark describes itself as the government-endorsed quality scheme for work carried out in or around the home. Only show memberships you actually hold, and keep your details on each one matching your profile.

Directories you’re already listed on

If you already have a listing on a site such as Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyBuilder or Yell, check your name, phone number and areas match your profile and website. Whether a paid directory is worth the money is a separate decision; the job here is that customers don’t find three different phone numbers for you.

Check: list every register and directory you’re on, and tick each one off once the details match.

5. Local Services Ads (optional, paid)

Local Services Ads are a separate paid product from Google, and the one part of this list that costs money. According to Google’s UK help page, they appear in a “Local Services” section shown prominently in Search when people look for your services in the areas you choose. Leads come as calls and messages, and you pay only for leads related to your business. In some categories, businesses that pass Google’s screening get a Google Verified badge.

Before you look into it:

• Not every trade qualifies. When checked in September 2026, the UK list included Plumbers, Electricians, Roofers, Carpenters, Handyman, HVAC (heating or air conditioning) and General contractor services, among others. There was no category called “builders”; General contractor services was the closest. Locksmiths weren’t listed for the UK when checked. The list changes, so use the “Check eligibility” link on Google’s page rather than relying on this.
• You’ll need paperwork. Google’s UK page lists a licence or business registration among its requirements.
• Missed calls can count against you. Google says that if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected.
• Your reviews carry over. Google says the ad shows reviews from your Business Profile, and calls come through a tracking number that forwards to your own phone. The review work in section 2 pays off here too.

Paying for ads doesn’t buy you a better place in the unpaid map results; Google says there’s no way to pay for that. If you’re weighing up ads against the organic work in this checklist, our SEO vs PPC guide goes through it.

Check: if you’re interested, run Google’s eligibility check for your trade and area before anything else.

6. Measuring what’s working

Know what your profile’s numbers actually mean

Your Business Profile’s performance report shows views, searches and actions such as website clicks, direction requests and calls. Two things to understand:

• “Calls” means taps on the call button on your profile. It doesn’t tell you whether the call was answered, or whether it turned into a job.
• The figures combine activity from ordinary search results and from Google Ads.

Don’t go looking for a list of who rang, either: Google removed the call history feature from Business Profiles on 31 July 2024.

Ask every caller how they found you

The most reliable record is the one you keep yourself. Ask every new enquiry “How did you hear about us?” and write it down: date, job, where they found you, and whether it was booked. A notebook in the van or a simple spreadsheet is enough.

Check: once a month, put your own log next to the Calls figure in your profile. If profile calls are rising but your log shows few booked jobs from Google, look at what happens after the tap (missed calls, the wrong areas, the wrong kind of enquiry) before worrying about visibility.

7. AI search

For Google’s own AI answers, there’s no separate checklist: Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in its AI Overviews or AI Mode, recommends keeping your Business Profile information up to date, and says there’s no special structured data you need to add. Its Gemini assistant uses public information from Google Maps, such as your address, description, website, ratings and opening hours.

In other words, the profile work above is the AI work. For why assistants like ChatGPT recommend one firm over another, read why ChatGPT recommends your competitor.

What to skip

Some common tactics either break Google’s rules or aren’t worth your evenings:

• Keywords in your business name, which Google says could get your profile suspended.
• A virtual office or borrowed address to appear in another town.
• Dozens of near-identical town pages.
• Paying, discounting or cherry-picking for reviews, or telling customers what to write.
• Posting on your profile purely for rankings. Google’s local ranking tips page doesn’t mention posts. If you enjoy sharing jobs there, go ahead, but don’t let it replace anything above.
• Anyone who guarantees you the top spot. Google says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

The checklist on one page

Area	Tick when
Profile access	You own or manage the profile and it’s verified
Address and areas	No home address showing; up to 20 real service areas, within about two hours’ drive
Business name	Matches your van and invoices exactly, nothing added
Category	The most specific primary category for your main work; few extras
Phone	A number you control, the same everywhere, that you answer
Photos	Real jobs, unfiltered, visible on the profile
Hours	Match when you actually pick up
Reviews	Every customer asked, no incentives, no suggested wording
Service pages	One page for each main job you want more of
Area pages	Only where each says something specific and true
Mobile	Site works on a phone and the number dials when tapped
Consistency	Name, phone and areas identical on site, profile, registers and directories
Registrations	Gas Safe or competent person register details correct, if they apply
Ads (optional)	Eligibility checked before spending anything
Measurement	“How did you hear about us?” asked and logged; checked monthly against the profile

Whenever something changes (you move house, change your number, add a service or join a scheme), update the profile, the website and your registrations on the same day, so customers never find two versions of you.

When to get help

Everything above apart from the ads is work you can do yourself. If you’d rather hand it over, or you’ve worked through the list and still aren’t showing up where you’d expect, we can help.

Get Found is a local SEO, AI SEO and web design agency on Foregate Street in Worcester, with a second office in Stockport. We have 22 years’ experience, work with businesses across the UK and don’t tie clients into long contracts. You can read more about our local SEO for tradespeople service, or see how much SEO costs in the UK if you’re weighing up doing it yourself against paying someone.

The easiest first step is a free visibility audit.