Search tips for local trades

Most trades get found in the same way. Someone has a problem (a leaking tap, peeling weatherboards, wasps under the eaves, a switchboard that trips) and they search for help nearby, usually on a phone, often in a hurry. The businesses that win those searches are rarely the ones with the flashiest websites. They are the ones that make it easy to see, in a few seconds, that they do this exact job in this exact area.

This note gathers the search basics that apply across plumbing, painting, electrical, building, pest control and similar trades.

Get the map listing right first

For "near me" style searches, the map block at the top of the results often matters more than the website. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that you cannot pay to rank higher in them.

Most trades are service-area businesses: they go to the customer rather than the customer coming to them. Google's guidelines say service-area businesses should hide their address and list the areas they serve. That also keeps your home address off a public map.

Three more rules trip up tradespeople regularly:

• Name. Use the business name on your van and invoices, nothing more. "Smith Plumbing" is fine. "Smith Plumbing Emergency Plumber Hamilton 24hr" breaks the guidelines and risks suspension.
• Category. Pick the most specific category that describes the business, and as few extra categories as you can. List individual jobs as services, not categories.
• Hours. If you offer after-hours call-outs, say so accurately. Claiming to be open around the clock when you are not leads to angry reviews.

One page per job type

A single "Services" page listing twenty jobs makes it hard for anyone, person or search engine, to see that you are the right choice for a particular one. A page per main job type works better: hot water cylinder replacement, blocked drains, bathroom renovations, and so on. Firms that sell to other businesses can do the same by customer type; a commercial pest control site such as facilityhygiene.co.nz gives cafes, warehouses and body corporates a page each.

Each job page should cover:

• what the job involves, in plain words;
• typical price ranges or what drives the price, if you can give them;
• how long it usually takes;
• the areas you cover for that job;
• photos of real examples, with permission where needed;
• what the customer should do before you arrive.

That last point is surprisingly useful. "Clear the area under the sink" or "keep pets inside" shows experience and saves time on the day.

Name the places you actually serve

People search with place names: suburbs in the cities, towns and districts elsewhere. List the places you genuinely cover, on the job pages and on a short areas page. Avoid creating dozens of near-identical pages that differ only by suburb name. They help no one and can look like an attempt to game results. A single page that says honestly "we cover Hamilton city, Ngāruawāhia, Te Awamutu and Cambridge, with a travel charge beyond that" is more useful.

Show the trust signals customers look for

When choosing a tradesperson, people look for reasons to trust a stranger with their home. Make those reasons easy to find:

• licence or registration numbers where your trade has them, so customers can check a public register;
• membership of a trade association, if you belong to one;
• the guarantee or warranty you offer, in plain terms;
• whether you carry public liability insurance;
• real reviews, gathered fairly.

Make contact quick on a phone

Many trade searches happen on a phone at the moment something breaks. Put the main contact method at the top of every page, make it tappable, and keep any enquiry form short. If you cannot answer the phone on a job, say how quickly you return calls, and then do it.

Common mistakes

• A homepage that talks about the business's history but never says what it does or where.
• Photos that are clearly stock images of another country's houses.
• Out-of-date hours or a disconnected number on an old directory listing.
• A website built years ago that is hard to read on a phone.

None of these needs a big budget to fix. Most need an afternoon and an honest look at your site from a customer's point of view.