Local SEO for electricians, in plain English

Local SEO sounds like something you need an agency for. It is not. For an electrician it comes down to one question: when somebody two miles away searches for a spark, does Google know you exist, know what you do, and trust you enough to put you in front of them.

That is it. Everything below is just the practical version of those three things, in the order that gets results fastest.

The map and the blue links are two different competitions

Search for electrician and your phone shows two things. First a map with three businesses on it, called the map pack. Underneath, the ordinary list of websites. They are ranked by different rules, and for a local electrician the map is the one that pays.

So the order is obvious. Get the free, fast one right first. Then build the slower one underneath it so you are not relying on a listing you do not own.

What Google is actually judging

Google says it ranks local results on three things, and for once the official answer is the useful one.

1. Relevance

Does your listing say you do the thing that was searched for. If your profile says electrician and nothing else, you are relevant to the word electrician and to nothing else. Every service you offer, EICRs, consumer unit upgrades, EV chargers, fault finding, rewires, emergency call outs, needs listing as a service in its own right.

2. Distance

How far you are from the person searching. You cannot fake this, and you should stop trying. What you can do is be genuinely present across your service area with real pages for the towns you cover, and make sure your profile’s service area is set properly.

3. Prominence

How well known and well regarded you look. Reviews, how recent they are, how often you post, whether your details match everywhere else on the internet. This is the one most electricians ignore and the one that separates the three businesses in the map from the twenty underneath.

The Google Business Profile checklist

Work down this list once, properly, and you will beat most of your competitors within the month.

• Categories. One primary that matches what you want to be found for, plus the sensible extras. Do not stuff it with things you do not do.
• Services. Every job type listed separately with a real description. Ten to fifteen is normal, not three.
• Service area. The towns you actually travel to, not the whole county.
• Hours. Correct, including whether you take emergency calls.
• Photos. Your own work, your van, your face. Add a few every month. Stock images do nothing.
• Reviews. Ask every satisfied customer, send them the direct review link, and reply to every single one, good or bad.
• Posts. A short update every week or two. It tells Google the listing is alive.
• Website link. Pointing at a page that matches the search, not a dead link or a holding page.

Then the website, built the boring way

A single page saying qualified electrician covering Kent will not rank for anything, because it matches nothing anybody types. What ranks is a page per real thing people search for.

• A page for each main service, written like you would explain it on a doorstep.
• A page for each town you genuinely work in, with actual jobs you have done there.
• Answers to the questions customers ask before they book. What does an EICR cost, how long does a rewire take, do I need to upgrade my fuse box.

Each page needs one clear job to do, one obvious way to get in touch, and enough substance that a human would happily read it. Google is trying very hard to rank the page a person would prefer. Write for the person and you have done most of the work.

Keep your details identical everywhere

Your business name, address and phone number should be written the same way on your website, your Google profile, your Facebook page and any directory you are listed on. Different versions make you look like two half businesses instead of one solid one. It takes an afternoon to tidy up and it is a genuine ranking factor.

How to tell if it is working

Do not judge it on where you appear when you search your own name, because Google knows where you are standing and who you are. Judge it on three numbers in your profile each month: how many people saw you, how many asked for directions, and how many clicked through to the website. If those three climb, you are winning, whatever the ranking looks like on your own phone.

If you want the short version to keep in the van, there is a free local marketing cheatsheet that puts the whole thing on one page.