You have a trade business, you do good work, and yet when someone in your town searches for what you do, other names come up. This guide explains, in plain English, how Google decides who shows up locally and the practical steps to get your business in the mix. None of it needs technical skills, and most of it is free.
How people actually find a tradesperson now
The typical journey looks like this. Someone gets your name from a neighbour or a local Facebook group, then they Google you to check you are real. Or they skip the recommendation entirely and search “plumber in their town”, look at the map results, scan the reviews, and ring one of the top two or three.
That means you need two things: to show up when someone searches your name, and ideally to show up when they search your trade plus your area. Here is how to do both.
Step 1: Set up your Google Business Profile
This is the single most powerful free tool for a local business. A Google Business Profile is the panel that appears on the right when someone searches your business name, and it is what puts you in the map results for “electrician near me” searches.
Setting one up takes about half an hour at business.google.com. Fill in every field: your services, the areas you cover, opening hours, phone number, photos of your work, and a short description of what you do. A complete profile outranks a sparse one, so do not skip the boring bits.
Step 2: Collect reviews, then keep collecting them
Reviews are the currency of local search. When Google decides which three businesses to show on the map, review count and quality are a huge factor, and when a customer compares you against two competitors, reviews usually decide it.
The method is simple: after every good job, ask. Send a text with your review link while the customer is still pleased. Most happy customers are willing, they just never think of it unprompted. Five reviews puts you ahead of most local trades. Twenty-five makes you the obvious choice.
Step 3: Get a proper website, even a simple one
Your Google Business Profile gets you found. Your website closes the job. It is where people check your work, your areas and your prices before ringing. Google also ranks businesses with a real website above those without one, because it treats a website as a sign of a legitimate, established business.
It does not need to be fancy: what you do, where you work, photos of real jobs, and a way to contact you. You can build that in a weekend with a simple website builder, and we have covered whether it is worth it in our guide on whether a trade business needs a website.
Step 4: Use a proper domain and matching email
Two details that quietly build trust with both Google and customers. A domain name like smithplumbing.co.uk tells Google you are a real UK business, and an email address to match, like jobs@smithplumbing.co.uk, looks far more established on a quote than a personal Gmail. Business email costs a few pounds a month and pays for itself the first time a customer chooses you because you looked more professional.
Step 5: Say your area, everywhere
Google can only rank you for “roofer in Chester” if it knows you work in Chester. Name your main towns on your website, in your Google Business Profile service areas, and naturally in your page text. If you cover several areas, list them all. This is the simplest ranking factor there is, and most small trades never do it.
What to expect, honestly
Local search is not instant. A new profile and website take weeks to bed in, and climbing the map results takes months of steady reviews. But the effort compounds: every review, photo and page you add keeps working for you around the clock, unlike an advert that stops the moment you stop paying. For the longer game, our SEO tools can help you push further once the foundations are in.
If you want the foundations sorted without the faff, that is exactly what we do: domain, website, business email, all in one place with UK support. Have a look at our small business website FAQs or get in touch for a straight answer.