SEO for Tradesmen

Most web designers build your site and vanish. That's the problem. A website only earns its keep if people find it, and being found is not a one-off task — it's a loop. We build the site, plug it into your real Google data, and keep improving it month after month.

What SEO actually means for a tradesperson

Forget the jargon. For a tradesperson there are three places you can be found, and they need different things:

• The map pack — the three local businesses with a map at the top. Won mostly by your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and how consistent and relevant your local information is.
• The blue links — the classic results underneath. Won by having pages that match what people search, on a fast, well-structured site.
• AI assistants — increasingly, people ask ChatGPT or Gemini "who's a good plumber in Didsbury". Being cited there is a new and very winnable channel.

The insight most trade SEO misses

From reading real Search Console data on the trade sites we manage: the money is in service-plus-area searches, not the trade name alone. "Boiler service [area]" out-pulls "plumber". "Painter and decorator [suburb]" out-pulls "decorator". People search for the job they need, in the place they live.

So we don't chase one vanity keyword. We make sure your site speaks — genuinely and specifically — to the services you offer and every area you cover, and we track exactly which of those terms you're close to ranking for.

What "managed" actually means

Every site we manage is wired into Google Search Console (what the outside world searches and where you rank) and Google Analytics (what visitors do, and whether they call). Then, every week:

• We pull your real rankings, clicks, impressions and click-through rates.
• We find the striking-distance searches — the ones where you're sat at position 4 to 15 and a small push moves you to page one.
• We find the click-through gaps — where you rank well but nobody clicks, which is usually a title fixed in ten minutes.
• We check that your calls and quote requests are actually being recorded, so we're improving the thing that pays, not just traffic.
• We act on the top one to three items, then watch what moved.

You get plain-English reports. No jargon, no monthly mystery, no 40-page PDF nobody reads.

SEO, AEO and GEO — and why we do all three

SEO is ranking in Google's blue links. AEO (answer engine optimisation) is winning the answer boxes, featured snippets and voice results. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is being cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Copilot when someone asks them to recommend a tradesperson.

They share the same foundations: a fast, clean site; structured data so machines understand your business; answer-first content that directly answers real questions; and an llms.txt plus AI-crawler-friendly robots file so the assistants can read you accurately. Do the substrate properly once and you compete in all three at the same time.

The local levers that matter most

• Google Business Profile — set up properly, categories right, service areas right.
• Reviews — the single biggest local ranking and conversion lever for a tradesperson. We wire a review link straight into your site.
• Consistent name, address and phone everywhere Google can see them.
• Real local relevance on the page — the towns and suburbs you genuinely cover, not a keyword-stuffed list.

Honest expectations

Long-tail local searches can move in weeks. Competitive city-wide terms take months and depend on how established your competitors are. We'll tell you which is which before you spend a penny, and we'll show you the real numbers either way. See a live example, or start with a website built to rank.

Frequently asked questions