How to get your business found on Google

When a customer needs a tradesperson, the search usually starts the same way: the trade, plus the town. "Plumber in Leeds", "roofer near me", "electrician open now". The businesses that get the call are the ones Google can show with confidence: a complete profile, a website that says plainly what they do, and recent proof that customers are happy. None of that is a secret, and none of it needs a big budget. It needs doing, in the right order, and then keeping up.

Finish your Google Business Profile properly

This is the first thing a searcher sees, and it is free. Pick the category that matches your main trade, not a vague one. List every service you actually offer, in the words customers use. Fill in your hours, including holiday changes, and keep them honest: a customer who drives over on a bank holiday to find you closed will not come back. Write your description in plain words: what you do, who you serve, and which towns you cover. Add photos of your real work, your van, your team, a finished job. Stock photos of strangers do not build trust, and customers can tell.

Say what you do, and where, in words Google can read

Google can only rank words it can read, so your website has to say the plain things out loud. A page for each main service, written for customers rather than for other tradespeople. The towns and neighbourhoods you genuinely serve, named on the page, not hidden in a footer. Your phone number and contact details the same everywhere: on your profile, on your website, and in any directory you are listed in. If those details do not match, Google is less sure all the listings belong to the same business, and less sure which one to show.

Earn reviews, and answer every one

Reviews are the part customers read before anything else. A business with a steady run of recent reviews looks tested, and a business with none looks like a gamble. Ask happy customers soon after the job, while the work is fresh in their mind, and make it easy: a short link, sent by text, works better than a long request. Then reply to every review, good or bad, briefly and like a person. Thank the happy ones by name where you can. Answer the unhappy ones calmly, offer to put it right, and keep it short. The reply is read by the next customer as much as by the reviewer.

Keep the profile alive

A profile that has not changed in a year looks like a business that may not be trading. Post now and then about real work: a job finished, a service you are booking, a seasonal reminder customers actually need. Add new photos when you have them. Answer the questions customers ask on your profile, and keep the questions and answers section honest. Update your hours when they change. None of this takes long, and it is the difference between a listing that looks open and busy and one that looks abandoned.

Make it easy to contact you

Getting found is only half the job. The customer who finds you has to be able to reach you in seconds, or they move on to the next listing. A phone number that is tapped, not copied. A simple form for the customer who would rather write than call, with a clear note of when they will hear back. And then reply promptly, because a customer with a leak or a broken boiler is not waiting around for three days. The fastest reply often wins the job, even when it is not the cheapest quote.

Do it in this order

• Complete your Google Business Profile: category, services, hours, description, photos, and the towns you serve.
• Match your name, address, and phone number exactly across your profile, your website, and your listings.
• Put a plain page on your website for each main service, naming the towns you cover.
• Ask your last few happy customers for a review, and reply to every review you already have.
• Post about a real job, add a real photo, and check your hours are still right.
• Test it yourself: search your trade plus your town, and see what a customer sees.

That is the whole method. There is no shortcut that lasts, and there is no step here that needs an expert to start. The businesses at the top of the search did not get there in a week, and most of them got there exactly this way, one completed profile, one honest page, one review at a time. Our Online Presence Score runs through ten published checks covering everything in this post, so you can see which ones your business is already passing and which are costing you calls.

Your online presence should make you look as good as the work you do.