How Aussie tradies can win more local jobs online without wasting money

Most tradies we talk to have the same problem. They’re flat out on the tools all day, the phone rings when it rings, and marketing is something they’ll “get to eventually.” Meanwhile the bloke down the road with a worse reputation keeps showing up first on Google.

We’ve worked with trades businesses across Australia for years, from paintless dent repair in Perth to painters, builders and electricians. Here’s what we’ve seen actually move the needle.

Your Google Business Profile is your shopfront

When someone searches “electrician near me” or “roof repairs Joondalup,” the first thing they see is usually a map with three businesses on it. Being in that map pack is worth more than almost anything else you can do.

• Claim and verify your profile, and keep the login yourself
• Choose the most accurate main category (“Electrician,” “Painter,” “Roofing contractor”)
• List your service areas properly
• Add photos of real jobs, your ute, your team. Before and after shots work brilliantly for trades
• Keep your hours accurate, including if you take emergency calls

Then do the same on Apple Maps through Apple Business Connect. Heaps of your customers are on iPhones, and a lot of tradies have never claimed their Apple listing.

Reviews win jobs

People choosing a tradie are mostly worried about one thing: will this person turn up, do a good job and not rip me off? Reviews answer that better than anything you can say about yourself.

Make asking part of finishing every job. When the customer is happy and you’re packing up, ask if they’d mind leaving a quick Google review, then text them the link that night. Reply to every review, good or bad, politely.

A website that gets the phone ringing

Your website doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to do a few things really well:

• Load fast on a phone, because that’s how most people will see it
• Show your phone number at the top, as a button they can tap
• Say clearly what you do and which suburbs you cover
• Show real photos of your work and real reviews
• Have a short quote form, with an option to upload a photo of the job
• Show your licence number, insurance and any memberships

A separate page for each main service (say, “switchboard upgrades” or “hail damage repair”) helps you show up for those searches specifically.

Be careful with ads

Google Ads can bring in work fast, but it can also burn through a few thousand dollars before you notice. If you run them, keep them tight: only the suburbs you actually service, only the hours you can answer the phone, and a list of words to exclude (like “jobs,” “course” and “DIY”) so you’re not paying for the wrong clicks.

Google’s Local Services Ads, where available for your trade, can also be worth a look, since you pay per lead rather than per click.

What it looks like when it works

Diarmuid at Dent & Scratch Direct in Perth came to us for SEO. Since then the business has seen search traffic up 158%, sales revenue up 163% and 43% more keywords on page one of Google. Phil Lloyd at Design 2 Build Construction wrote in his review that leads went up 79% in a single year, with the business sitting securely on page one for its most important keywords.

Neither of those came from one clever trick. They came from getting the basics right, consistently, month after month.

Start here

If you only do three things this month: sort out your Google Business Profile, ask every happy customer for a review, and make sure your phone number is easy to tap on your website. That alone puts you ahead of most of your competition.

Want a hand? See what our clients say, or book a free 30 minute chat and we’ll have a look at how you’re showing up locally.