The short version
- A local search shows two lists. The map results, which are Google Business Profiles, and the regular results, which are pages from websites.
- The work is the same for every trade. A verified profile, a page for each service and town, reviews, the license number, and one name and phone everywhere.
- Start with the profile, then the site, then reviews, because each step leans on the one before it.
A homeowner in Kirkland with a brown stain on the ceiling types "roof repair Kirkland" into a phone. Google answers with two lists on one screen. A map with a few businesses pinned on it, and under the map, a run of web pages. Local SEO is the work of getting your business into both lists, in the towns where you work.
It is not a trick, and most of it is not technical. It is a short list of jobs, done in order and then kept up. I build sites for contractors in Washington and Oregon, and every build starts from this list.
Two kinds of results on one screen
Google calls the map results local results. Its help page on local ranking (opens in a new tab) says customers find them on Google Maps and Search when they look for a business near them. Each business on the map is a Google Business Profile, with its stars, photos, hours, and a call button. The regular results under the map are pages from websites.
| Map results | Regular results | |
|---|---|---|
| What is listed | Google Business Profiles | Pages from websites |
| What the homeowner sees | Stars, photos, hours, a call button | A page title and a line of text |
| Where a tap goes | A call, directions, or your site | A page on your site |
| What you work on | The profile, reviews, replies | A page for each service and each town |
The same help page names the three things behind the map results. Relevance is how well a profile matches the search. Distance is how far each business is from the person searching. Prominence is how well known the business is, and Google says it is based partly on how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have. The page also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
So a contractor needs both halves. The profile puts you on the map. The site is what shows in the regular results, and it is where the homeowner goes after tapping the website button on your listing.
First, the Google Business Profile
Claim the profile, or create one if Google has none, and verify it. Google's ranking page says verifying tells Google you are authorized to represent the business, so it is more likely to show up in search results.
Then set the four fields that decide what the profile is. Google's guidelines for representing your business (opens in a new tab) cover each one.
- Name. Use your real business name as it appears on your truck, your invoices, and your site. The guidelines say unnecessary words in the name are not permitted and can get the profile suspended. No town, no trade, no slogan.
- Category. Pick the primary category that says what the business is. The guidelines ask for the fewest categories that describe your core business.
- Service area. If you go to the customer, hide the street address and list the towns you serve. The guidelines say the whole area should stay within about two hours of driving from where you are based.
- Phone. One number, the one that gets answered, and the same one on the site and your invoices.
One business gets one profile. The guidelines say there should only be one profile per business, and a business that travels to its customers gets one profile for its whole service area. A second profile for a second town breaks that rule.
After those four, add your hours, your services, a short description, and photos of your own jobs. My profile checklist goes field by field, in the order I set them up.
Next, a page for each service and each town
The profile is one listing with one base location. The regular results list pages, and one page can only answer so many searches. A kitchen remodel page answers kitchen searches. A Renton page answers Renton searches.
So the site gives each service its own page and each town you work in its own page. As an example, a roofer based in Vancouver, WA might have these pages.
- Service pages for roof replacement, roof repair, storm damage, and inspections
- Town pages for Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Battle Ground, and Ridgefield
A town page has to be about the town. Put the jobs you did there, photos from those jobs, a review from a customer there, and the neighborhoods you go to. A page that drops a new town name into the same three paragraphs is not worth publishing, and a homeowner who reads two of them can tell.
Every site I build has a page for every town the contractor serves. A Site has 20 town pages, a Site with Tools has 40, and a pack of ten more pages is $600.
Then, reviews after every job
Reviews count twice. Google counts them toward prominence, and its ranking page says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. They are also the part of the profile a homeowner reads before calling.
The method is plain. Ask at the final walkthrough, text the direct review link the same day, and reply to every review in a sentence or two. Google's ranking page says a reply shows customers that you value their feedback. How to ask, what to text, and the rules Google enforces are in my guide to getting more Google reviews.
On the sites I build, the reviews sit next to the work they describe, so a homeowner reading about a roof in Camas sees what the Camas customer wrote about it.
The license number, where homeowners look
A homeowner who wants to check you starts with the number. In Washington, RCW 18.27.100 (opens in a new tab) says advertising that shows your name or address must show your current registration number. In Oregon, the CCB number goes in the same places, and my guide on where the license number goes covers the Oregon rule and how to write the number.
Put it in the footer of every page, on the about page, and next to the quote form. That is where it goes on every site I build. A number that is easy to find, and matches the state record, answers the first question a careful homeowner has.
One name and one phone number, everywhere
Google's guidelines say the name on your profile should reflect the name you use on your storefront, your website, and your stationery. Washington's contractor law goes a step further. The same RCW 18.27.100 says advertising, contracts, and other documents that show your name or address must show them as registered with L&I.
So pick one version of the name, the one on your L&I registration or your CCB license, and use it on everything. The profile, the site, the truck, the invoices, the yard sign, and every directory listing. Two spellings of one business read like two businesses.
The phone works the same way. Use one main number on the profile, the site, and every listing. If you work from home and hide your address on Google, leave the street address off the site and the listings too, and name the same town everywhere.
What to do first, in order
This is the order I would work in for a contractor starting from nothing, or from a profile and a site that were set up years ago and left alone.
- Claim and verify the Google Business Profile, then set the name, category, service area, and phone.
- Look up your own record on L&I's Verify tool or the CCB license search, and make the name on the profile match it.
- Put the license number at the top of the site, in the footer, and next to the quote form.
- Give each service and each town you work in its own page, with jobs and photos from that town.
- Ask every customer for a review on the day the job ends, and reply to every review.
- Add photos from real jobs to the profile every month.
- Make the name and phone match on every listing you already have, then claim the ones you are missing.
If you need the phone ringing in a town sooner than reviews and pages can build, that is when Google Ads makes sense. Ads are a separate, paid placement, and Google says paying cannot buy a better local ranking, so the profile work still has to happen.
What I would not pay for
Some local SEO offers sound good on a sales call and do not survive a read of Google's own pages.
- A promise of the top spot on the map. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking, so nobody can sell you one.
- Keywords in the business name. "Best Roofer Tacoma" added to the name breaks the guidelines and puts the profile at risk of suspension.
- A profile for every town. One business gets one profile. Towns get pages on the site.
- Pages for towns you do not work in. A page for a town three hours away brings calls you will turn down.
When a seller pitches local SEO, ask which Google help page backs each promise, and read that page yourself before you sign.
