SEO For Trades

Your Google Business Profile (the bit that shows up on the map with your reviews) is the single most important part of local search. It’s free, it’s what customers see first, and if you do nothing else, you should claim and complete yours. We see it as the absolute minimum for any trade business that wants to be found online. It gets your pin on the map and gives customers a quick way to call you.

But it’s not enough on its own. Think of your Google profile as rented space. Google controls the layout, they can change the rules overnight, and they list your main competitors right alongside you. Your website is different. It’s the one piece of online ground that you own completely. It's where you prove you're a serious business, show the full range of your work, and explain why a customer should choose you. The profile is the signpost; your website is the workshop.

Showing proof of your work is vital, but a gallery of images with no text tells an incomplete story. A good write-up turns a picture of a finished job into a powerful case study that convinces both customers and search engines. It’s about adding the context that a photo misses.

Don't just write “New fence, Dunfermline”. Try this instead: “Garden fence replacement for a terraced house in Dunfermline. The old larch lap panels had failed after the winter storms. We cleared the old fence, installed new concrete posts and gravel boards for longevity, and fitted 6ft closeboard panels for privacy and strength.”

See the difference? It tells a story. It mentions the customer’s problem (“failed panels”) and your specific solution (“concrete posts”, “closeboard panels”). It also naturally includes the service and the location, which is exactly what Google needs to see to rank you for “fence replacement in Dunfermline”. Do this for every job, and you’ll build a library of undeniable proof.

It can be frustrating. You search for your trade in your town, and the entire first page of Google is dominated by big-budget national directories like Checkatrade, Rated People, or MyBuilder. Trying to out-rank them for a broad term like “plumber in Glasgow” is a long and expensive fight.

So, you don't fight them head-on. You go around them. Those big sites are a mile wide but only an inch deep. They have one generic page for every trade in every major city. Your advantage is being an inch wide and a mile deep. You can be the local expert on the services you actually provide. While they have a page for “Plumbers”, you can have a page specifically about “Unvented cylinder installation in Bearsden” or “Emergency leak repairs for tenement flats in the West End”. The directories can't compete at that level of detail. You win by being more local, more specific, and more helpful.

Our founder, Robert, trained as a motor mechanic. He knows that if you get the foundations wrong, the whole job is a bodge. The same is true for your online reputation. Google is a machine, and it looks for consistency. Your business's Name, Address, and Phone number (known as your 'NAP') are the technical foundations of your local SEO.

These details must be identical everywhere. The name on your website, your Google profile, your Facebook page, and any other directory should match exactly. If your van says 'Jim's Joinery' but your website is 'james-clark-carpentry.co.uk' and your Google listing is just 'James Clark', you're splitting your authority and confusing customers and Google alike. Getting this wrong is like having three different phone numbers on three different business cards. We always start by making sure your online identity is consistent, because all other SEO work is built on top of it.