What a trade website is for
For a trade working at customers' homes or premises, the website sits between a search and a phone call. Someone finds you, checks that you cover their postcode and do the job they need, and then calls or sends a message. Every page on the plan should help with one of those steps. If a page does not, park it.
Write the goal in one sentence before you list any pages. A goal such as "calls from homeowners within 15 miles for boiler and bathroom work" tells a builder far more than "a modern website".
Questions callers ask first
Before planning pages, list the questions you hear on the phone. For a trade they may include:
- Do you cover my area?
- Do you do this kind of job, and what does it involve?
- How soon could you come out?
- How do you charge: a fixed price, an hourly rate or a call out fee?
- Are you insured, and do you belong to any trade scheme?
- How do I get hold of you outside working hours?
Each answer becomes a section of a page. Do not publish an answer you cannot keep to, such as a response time you will not always meet.
Pages for a trade website
| Page | What it must answer |
|---|---|
| Home | What you do, where you work, how to get in touch, in the first screen on a phone |
| Services | One section per job type, saying what the job involves |
| Areas covered | The towns, postcodes or radius you cover, in words a visitor will search for |
| About | Who does the work, qualifications and memberships you can evidence |
| Prices or how pricing works | Fixed prices where you have them, otherwise how a quote is worked out |
| Contact | Phone, email, a short form and your working hours |
| Privacy notice | What the form collects and what you do with it |
A gallery of finished work is useful if you have photos you took yourself, with the customer's agreement where their home is recognisable. If you do not have them yet, put the page on the later list.
Features a trade site may need
The feature selector lists sixteen features. For a trade, the ones to decide first are:
- A tap to call phone number. On a phone, a number written as a link opens the dialler. Ask your builder to make every phone number on the site work this way.
- A short contact form. Name, phone or email, postcode and a description of the job are enough. Each extra field is one more reason to give up.
- Online booking. Only if you want customers choosing time slots. If every job needs a look before it can be priced, a form serves better.
- Reviews. If you plan to show reviews, read the section on the rules below first.
Local search and your Google Business Profile
Google's help pages say local results depend on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well a profile matches the search; distance is how far the business is from the person searching; prominence is how well known it is. Google also says that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results.
A Business Profile is separate from your website, but the two should agree. To be eligible, Google expects a business to meet its customers face to face during the hours it lists, and a trade does that at the customer's address. Make sure the name, phone number, hours and service area on your profile match the website exactly. The local search guide goes through the rest.
Rules for trades to check
Company details. If you trade as a limited company, the 2015 trading disclosure regulations require your registered name on your website, plus the part of the UK where the company is registered, its registered number and its registered office address. Put them in the footer or on the about page.
Reviews. Since 6 April 2025, UK consumer law bans fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews, and it bans publishing reviews in a misleading way, such as hiding the negative ones. The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance, CMA208, explains what a business that publishes reviews must do. The reviews guide covers it in plain terms.
Privacy. A contact form collects personal data, so the site needs a privacy notice. The legal pages guide lists what it should say.
Next steps for your trade site
Open the planner, write your goal and your callers' questions, and tick the pages above that apply. Then use the feature selector to decide on booking and reviews before anyone quotes.
Sources checked for this page