If you're a plumber, electrician, roofer, painter, or any other trade looking for work in your local area, most of your enquiries start with a Google search. "Plumber Cork." "Emergency electrician near me." "Roofer Limerick." The people searching for these terms are ready to hire — they just need to find someone they trust.

The good news is that local SEO for trades is not complicated. The businesses that show up consistently are almost always the ones that have done a small number of things properly, not the ones doing everything. Here's where to start.

1. Google Business Profile is the most important thing you can do today

Before thinking about your website, think about your Google Business Profile. This is the listing that shows up in Google Maps and in the "local pack" — the three businesses that appear with a map when someone searches for a local service.

If you haven't claimed your profile, do it now at business.google.com. If you have claimed it, check that the following are accurate and complete:

  • Business name (exactly as it appears elsewhere — consistency matters)
  • Phone number (a local number performs better than a mobile-only listing for some searches)
  • Address or service area (if you work from home and serve customers at their location, set your service area rather than a home address)
  • Business hours, including whether you offer emergency call-outs
  • Services listed — add each specific service individually, not just a generic category
  • Photos of your work, your van, your team — real images perform significantly better than no images

The one thing most trades skip: The business description. Write two or three sentences about what you do, where you work, and what makes you worth calling. It reads to people and it signals to Google what searches you're relevant for.

2. Reviews are ranking factors — and sales tools

The number and recency of Google reviews is one of the strongest signals Google uses to determine local rankings. A business with 40 recent reviews will almost always outrank one with 8 old ones.

The most effective way to get reviews is simply to ask — ideally right after a job is finished, when the customer is happy and the experience is fresh. A text message with a direct link to your Google review page removes all the friction. "Hi [Name], thanks for having me out today. If you have a moment, a Google review really helps the business — here's the link: [link]."

Respond to every review, good and bad. It signals to Google that the listing is active, and it shows prospective customers how you handle situations when things don't go perfectly.

3. Your website needs to mention where you work

A lot of trade websites say "serving Munster" or "covering Cork and Kerry" — which is vague enough that Google doesn't know whether to show you for searches in Macroom, Mallow, or Midleton. If you work in specific towns, name them.

Your homepage should clearly state the towns and counties you cover. If you want to rank for specific locations, consider a separate page for each one — "Electrician in Ballincollig," "Electrician in Carrigaline" — with content that's genuinely relevant to that area rather than duplicated boilerplate.

Your phone number and address (or service area) should appear on every page, ideally in a consistent format. This is called a NAP citation (Name, Address, Phone) and consistency across your website, Google Business Profile, and other directories is a local ranking signal.

4. Local citations — boring but effective

A citation is any online mention of your business name, address, and phone number. The major ones for Irish businesses include Golden Pages, Yelp, Yell, Bing Places, Apple Maps, and relevant local directories. Each consistent citation tells Google that your business is real and established in the location you claim.

You don't need hundreds of citations. Getting the top 20–30 right — with consistent, accurate information — is enough to make a meaningful difference for local search visibility.

5. A slow, badly structured website undermines everything else

If someone finds your Google Business Profile and clicks through to your website, what do they find? If your site takes five seconds to load, looks broken on mobile, doesn't have a phone number visible, or doesn't make it immediately clear what you do and where you work — they'll go back and call the next business on the list.

Your website doesn't need to be elaborate. For a trade business, you need: a clear description of your services and service area, a prominent phone number on every page, a few photos of real work, and some genuine reviews or testimonials. That's it. Get those things right and your site will do its job.

Where to start tomorrow

If you do nothing else, do these three things this week:

  1. Claim or update your Google Business Profile and make sure all information is accurate
  2. Text your last five happy customers and ask for a Google review with a direct link
  3. Check that your website mentions the specific towns and counties you work in

These three things alone will put you ahead of the majority of your local competitors, most of whom have done none of them properly.

If you'd like help getting your local SEO sorted properly, get in touch.