SEO has a marketing-bro reputation problem. Most tradespeople have heard the word, been pitched by an agency, and decided it's either a scam or too complicated. Both are wrong.
Here's the practical version, in the order you should actually do it.
1. Google Business Profile (do this today, it's free)
Go to google.com/business. Claim or create your profile. Add your address (or service area), opening hours, phone, website, services, and ten photos minimum. Verify it (Google will post a code or call you). This single step puts you on the map — literally — for "[your trade] near me" searches in your area.
2. Consistent NAP across the web
NAP = Name, Address, Phone. Make sure it's identical everywhere it appears: your website, Google Business Profile, Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Bing Places, Checkatrade, TrustATrader. Google uses NAP consistency as a trust signal. "Dave's Plumbing Ltd" on one site and "Dave Plumbing" on another costs you ranking.
3. Get to 10+ Google reviews fast
Reviews are the single highest-leverage local SEO factor for trades. After every paid job, ask. Send a text the same day with the review link. The Google review threshold most customers visually scan for is "10+ reviews, 4.5+ stars". Get past that bar and you stop losing clicks before you've even competed.
4. Build a proper website (not Wix)
Your website is the only marketing asset you fully own. Wix, GoDaddy, and the £20-a-month builders are fine for a brochure but they're not built for ranking. You want a fast, SEO-optimised site with proper schema markup, clean URLs, and a sensible information architecture. If you're going to rank for "[trade] [town]", the site has to be technically capable of ranking.
5. Target "[service] + [location]" keywords
Don't target "plumber". You'll never beat British Gas. Target "boiler repair Sittingbourne" or "emergency plumber ME10". Long-tail keywords like these convert at 5–10× the rate of broad terms because the searcher knows exactly what they want and they want it locally.
6. Build area landing pages
One page per major town or postcode district you serve. Each page has its own H1, its own service list, its own local content (mention nearby landmarks, local context). Don't keyword-stuff — write it for an actual customer. Done well, area pages are the single biggest source of organic local traffic for trades.
7. Be patient
SEO takes 6–12 weeks to start moving and 6–12 months to mature. Anyone promising you page-one rankings in 2 weeks is lying or about to take your money. The work compounds — reviews build on reviews, content on content, links on links. Stick with it.
Or skip the DIY entirely. BuzzBold handles every step above — Google Business Profile, citations, reviews, area pages, schema, all of it — for less than the cost of one missed job a month.