Local SEO for tradies: a 20-minute check

Why this is worth 20 minutes

When a tap bursts or a switchboard fails, most people do not type your trading name. They type “emergency plumber” or “electrician near me” and the suburb. Google then has to match that search to a business it understands: a clear name, a matching phone and hours, and some sign that you actually serve that suburb.

The problems we keep finding on Australian trades websites and listings are small and checkable. A Google listing that shortens or misspells the name. A website title that cuts off mid-word. A phone number that does not match the one on Google. A “best electrician in [suburb]” search that names three competitors with dedicated suburb pages, and not you. None of that is fixed by buying a backlink or writing an llms.txt file.

The 20-minute check

1. Search your exact business name on Google. Open the Google Business listing (the panel on the right on a computer, or the listing at the top on a phone). Read the name carefully. If it is missing letters, cut off, or written as a short form your customers would not recognise, that is the first fix. Google’s own guidelines say the name should be the one customers know, without extra suburbs, slogans or keyword lists packed into it (Google Business Profile name guidelines). If the public name is long, Maps often shows a shorter version on the pin; a slightly shorter, still-accurate trading name is usually clearer than one that gets cut mid-word.
2. Search the way a customer would. In a private or signed-out window, search “best [your trade] in [your suburb]”, “[your trade] near me” (while you are actually in the area, if you can), and “emergency [your trade] [your suburb]” if you offer that. Write down who is named, and whether you are. Do this once; results vary, and a single search is not a ranking report.
3. Line up your name, phone, hours and address. Compare your website, Google listing, Facebook page and any directory you still use (Yellow Pages, True Local, ServiceSeeking and similar). The name should be the same spelling everywhere. The phone should be the same. If you advertise 24/7 in one place and office hours in another, pick the wording that is actually true and use it consistently. Many trades hide a home address and use a service area instead; that is fine, but the suburbs you list should be suburbs you really cover.
4. Look at your homepage title. Read the text in the browser tab, and the blue title on your Google search result. If it is truncated, misspelt, or names a different suburb to the one you work from, fix it. A clear title looks like “Smith Electrical — 24-hour electrician in [suburb]”, not a packed list of every service and postcode.
5. See whether you have a page for the work people search. If emergency call-outs, hot-water repairs or switchboard upgrades are a real service, they should have a short, specific page or a clear section, not only a line in a menu. The businesses that appear for suburb searches often have a page that says, in plain language, that they do that job in that suburb. We will not tell you to publish pages for suburbs you do not serve.
6. Check your reviews, not just the star rating. Note the number of Google reviews, the date of the most recent one, and whether you have replied. A 4.9 from 12 reviews last year will often lose a “near me” decision to a 4.7 from 200 reviews with replies from this month. Do not buy reviews or offer incentives for a rating; that is against Google’s rules and Australian consumer law. Ask every customer the same way, and reply to the ones you get.
7. Make sure search engines can read the site. Open yourwebsite.com.au/robots.txt. If you see Disallow: / under User-agent: *, or under msnbot or bingbot, you may be asking crawlers to stay away. Here is a 2-minute Bing check. Then search site:yourwebsite.com.au in Google and see whether your important pages appear.

What this will not do

It will not guarantee a number-one ranking, a full booking calendar, or that an AI assistant will recommend you. We do not sell those promises. It will tell you, in half an hour, whether the public information about your business is accurate and complete enough to be used.

Questions

Will fixing these things get me to the top of Google?

No, and we will not claim that. These checks remove common, fixable problems: a name that is cut off, details that do not match, a suburb missing from a page title, or a listing that has gone quiet. Rankings are decided by Google, and nobody honest can promise them.

Do I have to show my home address?

No. Many tradespeople use a service-area profile and hide the address on Google. What still has to be right, and consistent, is the name, phone, hours and the suburbs you actually serve. We never ask you to publish a private address.

Does this only apply to plumbers and electricians?

The steps are the same for most local trades: builders, HVAC, locksmiths, roofers and similar businesses that customers search with a suburb or “near me”. The examples below use plumbers and electricians because those are the searches we have been checking.

Can you do this for me?

Yes. A free Quick Look is one page, written, with three specific findings from your public listings and website. No call, no obligation. Paid packages, if you want the work done, are listed with exactly what is included.

Written by the Pitch & Panel Team. We have no client case studies yet and we will not invent any. Source for business-name rules: Google’s Business Profile guidelines, linked above.