How to Get Your Trade Business Found on Google (UK)

Begin with what prevents a suitable customer finding you or making contact. Fix an incorrect number, unresolved verification or broken enquiry route before writing more pages.

1. Claim the real business profile and follow the verification method Google offers.
2. Keep categories, services, hours and coverage accurate.
3. Invite genuine customers to leave voluntary reviews, without rewards or a requested rating.
4. Make your website answer the services you actually provide, with evidence of real work.
5. Check the site on a phone and verify where an enquiry arrives.
6. Correct outdated public details and measure suitable enquiries, quotes and bookings separately.

Google identifies relevance, distance and prominence as the main local ranking factors. It says you cannot pay for a better local rank. Use the audit below to choose the next task; completing it is not a ranking forecast.

A local search can show business listings in Search and Maps as well as website results and adverts. The exact display varies. Your Business Profile and website need separate checks.

A service-area setting describes where you attend; it does not move your business or guarantee positions across that area. Avoid fixed promises about weeks to rank or a rival you will outrank.

Search for the business first so you can manage an existing listing rather than create a duplicate. Use your real trading name and the category that accurately describes the business.

If customers do not visit your operating address, use the appropriate service-area setup and keep that address off the public profile. Do not use a borrowed office address to target another town.

Follow the verification method actually offered in your profile. The video-verification guide includes a preparation record for location, genuine business assets and proof that you manage the business. Record the submitted date and Google's actual status separately. If a verified listing is missing, use the profile-status diagnosis before treating it as a ranking problem.

Choose the most specific accurate primary category from the choices Google currently offers. Add further categories only where they describe the business. Do not invent a category label or add unrelated work.

• Services: actual work you take, with accurate descriptions and any stated price basis.
• Description: a plain account of services and coverage within the limit shown in the profile editor.
• Photos: your own permissioned work, team or equipment; remove outdated images that misrepresent the business.
• Hours: attendance and contact hours you can honour, including changes for holidays.
• Contact: current phone number and the correct website page; check them from the public listing.

Use the profile setup guide for the field-by-field record. Changing a field is not proof that it has been published; check the public result.

Google says review count and positive ratings can help local ranking. That is not a rule that a particular review count or rating always beats another business.

Invite customers to review genuine work consistently, including customers whose feedback might be critical. Send a direct link and let them choose whether to review and what to say. Do not offer a discount, gift or free work for a review.

Use the existing neutral request and review ledger to record requests and reviews separately. Replies should address the feedback without revealing private customer or job information. The negative-review guide covers resolving a concern directly.

Your own website lets you explain your services and show real work on pages you control. A directory or paid platform can still be one enquiry source; compare its current terms and the suitable jobs it brings rather than assuming all platforms sell work in the same way.

• A working phone link and a short enquiry route.
• Clear services, actual coverage and what is needed to quote.
• Permissioned job photos and genuine reviews with their source.
• Current registrations where held, with a way to check them.
• Accurate business details, including required company information where applicable.

Use the website task check before buying a replacement site. If the existing site does not appear in search, start with the indexing checklist.

Improve the page that already answers the customer's question. Give a distinct service its own page when the scope, evidence and enquiry information justify one. There is no required page count or word count.

A useful page explains the work, inclusions, exclusions, how you assess price, actual coverage and the next step. Use permissioned examples of work you really performed. If you publish a price range, state its basis, check date and VAT treatment.

Make an area page only when it adds useful local evidence, such as a real job, genuine attendance limits or access information you know. Do not multiply near-identical pages by town or postcode. Google's spam policies cover doorway and scaled content abuse.

Link related services where it helps the reader decide what to ask for. Use the real-job proof fields to collect the evidence before creating a page.

Use a descriptive page title and heading, then answer the customer's question plainly. Search results may show wording chosen by Google; a fixed character count is not a ranking target.

If your builder supports business structured data, make it match the visible information. For AI search, use the separate ChatGPT and Claude observation sheet.

Make public sources describe the same real business: trading name, current contact routes, services and coverage. Formatting differences in a phone number are less urgent than a number that no longer works.

Check your website, business profile, relevant trade register where registered and directories where you actually hold a listing. Keep any required registered-company information distinct from the address customers use to contact or visit you.

Copy this correction record: source URL ___; wrong fact ___; correct fact/evidence ___; owner ___; requested date ___; visible change/date ___; next action ___. Do not publish a home address merely to make every listing match.

If Local Services Ads are available for your trade and area, check Google's current eligibility, screening, charging and dispute terms before choosing a budget. Do not assume a badge, price or lead-credit rule from another trade or an old article applies to you.

Choose a spending limit and review date. Record the actual cost, suitable enquiries, quotes, bookings and time spent dealing with them. An enquiry is not a booked job. Compare paid sources with the same lead ledger used for profile, website and referral enquiries.

Do not buy fake reviews, links intended to manipulate rankings or large batches of interchangeable town pages. Google identifies review incentives and link, doorway and scaled-content abuse in its policies.

When buying marketing work, specify the deliverable you can check: a repaired enquiry route, a factual service page, a real job example or a documented indexing issue. Reject a guaranteed local ranking. Google says payment cannot secure a better local position.

Official ranking guidance checked 3 October 2026. Copy this audit and prioritise faults that block suitable enquiries. The priorities are a work order, not estimated ranking impact.

Record the date window and source for your measurements. Search Console impressions and clicks describe website search performance. Business Profile performance describes profile interactions; a call-button tap is not proof of a completed conversation or a booking. Ask the customer how they found you and keep their wording, including unknown sources.

Use the first-customer lead ledger for suitable enquiries, quotes, bookings, completed work and payment. Compare those stages alongside actual source fees and your time, rather than a fixed review quota or months-to-rank promise.

Keep the enquiry, agreed scope, quote and job record together. That lets you see which source brought suitable work and answer a later customer question from the saved facts.

Tradehand is a business app for winning work, running jobs and getting paid. Check current pricing before choosing how to run the admin. Start with the highest-priority fault in your audit, fix it and record the public result.