Local SEO for tradies

They are business listings, not websites. Every business can have one on Google for free, and Google calls it a Google Business Profile. It shows your name, your stars, your hours and a call button, and the three Google trusts most sit above every website, so they get most of the calls.

Local SEO is about your Google listing: getting it into the three at the top when someone nearby types your trade, like "plumber near me". It runs on the listing, your reviews and the suburbs you cover, and it is the quickest way to win local call-out work. SEO is about your website: getting it into the list of websites under those three, for everything else people type about your trade. Most trade businesses want both, which is why we also do SEO for tradies.

It comes down to two things: how competitive your area and trade are, and how much needs fixing to begin with. Local SEO is an ongoing monthly service rather than a one-off, because the listing, the reviews and the places your business details are listed across the web all need to keep moving. As a rough guide it usually runs in the low thousands a month for a small trade business, but the honest answer is that it should be scoped to your suburbs and where you're starting from, which we work out with you on a call. There's no lock-in.

The results are named on this website. Quick Mick's Plumbing went from word of mouth to page one for around 40 searches, taking about 10 new clients a month from being found, without ad spend. The reviews further up this page are from businesses we've done this work for.

The basics, yes, and they're worth doing. Claim your free Google listing and fill it all in, keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere online, and ask every happy client for a review. That alone puts a lot of tradies ahead. Our Google Business Profile guide walks the whole listing field by field. The harder part is the ongoing work: keeping your business details matching everywhere online, building a real page for each suburb, and keeping reviews coming while you're on the tools.

You can tell Google the suburbs you work in rather than a single address, and show up for the suburbs you drive to. Google wants that list kept to the areas you actually cover, up to 20 of them and roughly a couple of hours from your base. Listing suburbs you never work in reads as spam and can work against you. The Australian rules in full, including what to do about your address, are on local SEO in Australia.

In our experience the three listings start moving in about 4 to 8 weeks in a less competitive area, and 3 to 6 months in a busy metro one. It's slower than ads, but once you're there the enquiries keep coming without paying per click, and they build from there.

Neither is better, they do different jobs. Local SEO builds an enquiry source you own, so once you're in the three listings the calls keep coming without paying per click. Google Ads is instant: it puts you at the top of your suburbs today, which is the move when you need work coming in this week. Plenty of our clients run both, ads for enquiries now and local SEO for the growth that compounds.

No. What's changed is that Google now answers a lot of questions itself with AI. But local searches still end in a phone call or a booking, and the three listings still decide who gets it. Being the business Google trusts in your area matters more now, not less.

Claim your free Google listing, tell Google the suburbs you work in, pick the right type of business, list every service you do, add photos of real jobs and ask every client for a review. That is the do-it-yourself version, walked through step by step in our Google Business Profile guide. Done for you, it is this page.

Yes, a bit. A mention or a link from a local website, a supplier, a club you sponsor or an industry body tells Google you are a real local business, and directory listings with your exact name, address and phone do a similar job. It counts for less than your listing and your reviews, so we do those first.

We work with trade businesses right across Australia, and everything runs by phone, email and a monthly report, so we do not need to be in your suburb. What matters more is that we only work with trades, and that our results are named on this website.