Has anyone found local SEO more important to tradespeople sites?

From some recent results, local SEO tends to - when optimised - boost any results like customer queries, traffic spikes and emails. But what have you found that best works in SEO?

On-page SEO has definitely also helped rank many trades sites. It seems a combi of local SEO and on-page may work better than expanding to lots of inbound links.

I'm interested to hear from any freelancer or agency who worked with a tradesman site and found local SEO work the better option.

 

Yes, local SEO is most important to focus on for a business servicing a local area. It does not help you if your service area is in California and you rank for queries in New York.

Local SEO is far easier to rank and with less competition. You would want to focus on creating your content around a specific service area (cities/towns), using NAP (name, address and phone number) on every page, local citations (Angi, Home Advisor, Yellow Pages), local backlinks (Newspapers, Businesses in the area), Google reviews are also very important.

Local service (tradesman) businesses usually lack proper SEO. They overpay for a "pretty" website from a web designer that has zero experience in SEO or getting sites to rank. If you create a complete topical authority map you can outrank most businesses pretty easily.

 

Yes. I agree. It does seem to be best to do a mix of local SEO and inbound links. I have managed to rank pages using just on-page SEO edits but hard to say that is enough even if the business only sells locally.

 

I’ve also noticed that local SEO combined with on-page optimization really delivers great results. It seems that focusing on local queries and quality on-page content is more impactful than just building inbound links. It would be great to hear how other professionals have succeeded with these methods!

 

Local SEO is essential for businesses with physical locations as it helps them appear in local search results.

 

Yes, local SEO is particularly crucial for tradespeople and local service providers for a few reasons

Targeted Reach and Competitive Advantage: Local SEO enables tradespeople to target specific geographic areas where they operate. By optimizing for local search, they increase visibility when potential customers search for services like plumbing or electrical work nearby. This targeted approach not only enhances relevance but also gives them a competitive edge against larger, national companies that may not have as strong a local presence.

Customer Trust and Cost-Effectiveness: Local SEO strategies such as optimizing Google My Business profiles, managing local citations, and encouraging customer reviews help tradespeople build trust and credibility within their community. Positive reviews and accurate business information on local directories not only improve local SEO rankings but also attract high-quality leads. Moreover, these strategies are often more cost-effective than broader SEO tactics, making them a practical investment for tradespeople looking to grow their business locally.

I hope this helps, if you want premium help shoot me an email at or check out my company seotrafficpro.com where we have an advanced focus for LocalSEO, we can give you a free consultation and possibly a special offer.

 

Yes, I do view inbound link building as being important. However a focus on local search terms and on-page changes to reflect those location and trade focused terms, really does come up on top.
Thanks all from Steve at wildwooddigital.co.uk

 

I've been focusing on this for the past few years with my clients who provide plumbing and electrical services. GMB optimization has had the biggest impact. Building local links and ensuring consistency of information across directories like Yelp and Angie's List also helped.

 

Most websites don't maximise on-page SEO anywhere near well enough, and get seduced by off-page SEO, such as backlinks, which are ridiculously difficult to acquire (good ones anyway)

We have had outstanding success by mastering on-page SEO, even in highly competitive industries.

I would estimate 95% of websites in the SME space have inadequate on-page SEO

 

In my experience, a strong focus on local SEO combined with well-optimized on-page content has made a noticeable difference for tradesmen. It not only enhances visibility in local searches but also builds trust with customers, leading to more inquiries and engagement.

 

Local SEO and on-page SEO often work best in combination for tradesmen or service-based businesses with a local client base. I’ve found several strategies that have proven to be particularly effective for boosting search rankings and customer inquiries for these types of businesses:

1. Google My Business (GMB) Optimization

• Setting up and fully optimizing a Google My Business listing is crucial for local SEO. Tradespeople often find that a well-optimized GMB profile—complete with accurate business details, high-quality images, customer reviews, and posts—drastically improves visibility in local search results.
• GMB Reviews: Encouraging satisfied clients to leave reviews helps build trust and contributes significantly to local SEO. Google's algorithm favors businesses with more positive reviews, pushing them higher in local searches.

2. Localized On-Page SEO

• Including local keywords such as city, neighborhood, or region-based terms in headings, titles, meta descriptions, and content helps a site rank for local searches. For example, “Plumbing Services in [City]” or “Roofing Experts near [Suburb]” tend to perform well.
• Service Area Pages: Many successful local SEO campaigns use dedicated service area pages targeting specific cities or neighborhoods. For example, a plumber may have pages titled "Plumber in [City]" for multiple cities.
• Optimizing schema markup for local businesses further boosts visibility in search engines.

3. NAP Consistency

• Having consistent Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) information across the web is critical. This means ensuring that the business's NAP is uniform across the website, GMB, and all local directories or citation websites (e.g., Yelp, Yellow Pages).
• Even small inconsistencies can harm rankings, so maintaining accuracy is key.

4. On-Page Content for Local Intent

• Trades websites benefit from creating content with local intent in mind. Adding blog posts about local events, case studies of projects in specific neighborhoods, or guides relevant to the area are ways to boost local search rankings and engage a local audience.
• Content must be high quality and provide value to the local community, rather than simply stuffing keywords.

5. Citations and Directories

• Building citations on relevant directories that target local and industry-specific listings can help boost authority and rankings for local searches. This often works better than focusing on a large number of inbound links.
• Major platforms like Yelp, HomeAdvisor, and Angie's List are crucial for trades, but niche local directories are often even more valuable.

6. Mobile and Voice Search Optimization

• Many people search for local services via mobile devices or use voice search (e.g., “Plumbers near me”). Optimizing a site for mobile experience and voice search can improve local SEO performance.

7. Localized Link Building (Quality Over Quantity)

• Rather than expanding to tons of inbound links, focusing on a few high-quality local links works well. Collaborating with other local businesses for guest posts, sponsoring local events, or earning press mentions from local news outlets are effective ways to build backlinks that boost local authority.

Examples of Success from Agencies/Freelancers
Many agencies and freelancers who work with tradesmen have found that concentrating on these local SEO strategies yields better ROI than traditional link-building efforts. For instance, an electrician in a small city saw more customer calls and leads after optimizing GMB, local citations, and on-page content with local keywords than from link-building campaigns targeting broader audiences.

In summary, local SEO is indeed often more impactful for trades than expanding into extensive inbound link strategies. Combining local SEO with on-page optimization, GMB enhancement, and ensuring mobile readiness tends to offer the best results in terms of leads, traffic, and customer engagement.

 

Yes, yes, yes. Combining local SEO with on-page optimization often yields excellent results. if include optimizing for location-specific keywords, ensuring consistent NAP information, and building local links because you have less endorsement.