Summary
- One dedicated page per service, with real prices and your own photos.
- A complete local business profile is the biggest single lever.
- Fix speed, mobile and indexing before writing more content.
- Measure enquiries, not rankings.
Quick answer
Fix the technical basics, claim and complete your local business profile, build one strong page per service you sell, and earn links from real local sources. Most small businesses see movement in three to six months.
1. Start with what people actually search
Write down the words customers use, not the words you use. "Emergency plumber near me" outsells "domestic water systems specialist" a hundred to one. Use free tools — search suggestions, "people also ask", your own enquiry emails — to collect the real phrasing, then group them by intent: informational, comparison and ready-to-buy.
2. One page per thing you sell
A single "Services" page listing eight trades will rank for none of them. Give each service its own page with:
3. Local search is the biggest lever
For any business serving a geographic area, the map results outrank everything else. Claim your Google Business Profile and complete every field: categories, service area, hours, services, photos and a description. Keep name, address and phone identical everywhere they appear online. Ask satisfied customers for reviews consistently — a steady trickle beats a burst.
4. Technical health you cannot skip
| Check | Target |
|---|---|
| Mobile usability | Passes on a real phone, not just a resize |
| Largest Contentful Paint | Under 2.5 seconds |
| HTTPS | Enabled sitewide |
| Indexing | Every important page indexed in Search Console |
| Sitemap | Submitted and current |
| Structured data | LocalBusiness and FAQ where relevant |
5. Content that earns links
Links still decide competitive rankings. The realistic sources for a small business are local: suppliers, trade bodies, sponsorships, local press, partner businesses and genuinely useful data you publish yourself. Buying links is a risk that outlives the ranking.
6. Measure three things, not thirty
Ranking position without enquiries is vanity. Enquiries without a source is guesswork.
Realistic timeline
Months 1–2: technical fixes, local profile, service pages.
Months 3–4: content for comparison and pricing queries, first links.
Months 5–6: measurable movement on the queries that matter, if the fundamentals held.