How Google picks local results
Google says it ranks local results on three things: relevance (how well your listing matches what was searched), distance (how far you are from the searcher or the place they named) and prominence (how well known and well reviewed you are, online and offline). Everything below is a way of improving one of those three.
1. Your Google Business Profile does most of the work
The map results come from Google Business Profile, not from your website. For most trades it brings in more calls than the website itself, so it deserves real attention.
- Claim and verify the profile, and keep the business name exactly as it appears on your van and invoices. Stuffing keywords into the name (“Smith Plumbing Southampton Boilers”) breaks Google’s rules and gets listings suspended.
- Choose the right primary category. It is the single biggest ranking factor on the profile. “Plumber” and “Heating contractor” are different categories; pick the one that matches most of your work, and add the others as secondary.
- Fill in services, service areas, opening hours and a description that reads like a person wrote it.
- Add photos regularly: the van, the team, finished jobs. Profiles with recent photos get more clicks.
- Use the Q&A section to answer the questions you get on the phone every week.
2. Reviews: the habit that compounds
Reviews drive prominence and they drive clicks. The businesses with the most recent, detailed reviews win the map, and a steady trickle beats a burst. Build asking into the job: a text with your review link when you send the invoice, and a follow-up a week later if nothing arrives. Reply to every review, including the bad ones, briefly and politely. Never buy reviews or ask friends to leave them; Google is good at spotting both.
3. A website that says where you work
Your site tells Google which services you offer and where. Two things matter most:
- A page per service. “Boiler installation”, “Boiler repairs” and “Bathrooms” are different searches; one “Services” page with three paragraphs cannot rank for all of them.
- A page per main town you cover, with something real on it: the areas within that town you work in, jobs you have done there, parking or access notes, which trade bodies you are registered with. Five town pages that only differ in the town name are duplicate content and do nothing.
Beyond that: your name, address or service area, and phone number should be identical everywhere; the phone number should be tappable on mobile; the site must load fast on a phone on 4G, because that is where your customers are; and it should carry LocalBusiness structured data so Google can read your details without guessing.
4. Citations and trade directories
Listings on other sites confirm to Google that you exist and where. The ones that matter for trades are the ones customers actually use: Checkatrade, Trustatrader and Yell, plus the registers for your trade (Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, MCS, FENSA and so on). Make sure the business name, phone number and website match your Google profile exactly on each one. A few good listings beat a hundred spam directories.
5. Links from real local sources
A mention from a local news site, a supplier, a sports club you sponsor, or a trade association counts for far more than paid links from blogs nobody reads. You do not need many. One or two a year from genuine sources is a realistic target for a small trade business.
What to measure
- Google Business Profile performance: calls, direction requests and website clicks from the profile, month by month.
- Google Search Console: which searches show your site, and where you rank for the “service + town” phrases that matter.
- Enquiries, not just traffic. Track calls and form submissions, and ask every new customer how they found you.
Mistakes we see most often
- Keywords in the business name on Google.
- A fake or virtual office address to appear in a town you are not in. Service-area businesses should hide the address and set service areas instead.
- Town pages copied and pasted with only the town name changed.
- Asking for reviews in a burst after reading a guide like this, then never again.
- A homepage title that is just the business name, with nothing about what you do or where.