Local SEO for contractors: the review-first playbook

What matters most for contractors in Google Maps?

Three things, in Google's own words: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher) and prominence (how well known you are). Google adds that “there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking”.

Prominence is where most contractors lose. You finish fewer, bigger jobs than a café or a salon, so reviews arrive slowly unless you ask every time. In our study of 1,652 local businesses, the median roofer got 4.2 new Google reviews a month, the lowest of the four trades we checked. A contractor who turns most finished jobs into a review can stand out quickly.

How should contractors set Google Business Profile categories and service areas?

Pick the most specific primary category for the job you most want, add a few extra categories for real services, and list only the areas you actually cover. Google's help pages set the rules:

• Primary category: Google says to choose the one that “best describes your business” and to be specific. Its example is “Nail salon” rather than “Salon”; for you, that means “Roofing contractor” or “Electrician”, not just “Contractor”.
• Extra categories: use “a few”, for real departments or services, not one for every job you've ever done.
• Service areas: you can list up to 20 (towns, cities or postcodes), and the whole area shouldn't be more than about two hours' drive from your base.
• Address: if customers don't come to you, Google says to remove your address and show only your service areas.
• Business name: your real trading name only. Google's guidelines say the name must not include location or service information, and that unnecessary information can get a profile suspended.

Then fill in the services list with the jobs people search for (boiler repair, flat roof replacement, rewiring) and add recent job photos. Our guides to choosing Google Business categories and setting a service area go step by step.

How do contractors get reviews between jobs? (timing, text and QR scripts)

Ask every customer at the same moment in every job, usually the final walk-round or sign-off, and text the link the same day. Make it a step in the job, like the invoice, so it doesn't depend on anyone remembering.

QR codes suit the places customers see you: the back of the van, a yard or site board, a leave-behind card with the warranty and the invoice. Google lets you copy your link or download your QR code from your Business Profile (Read reviews, then Get more reviews), and our free Google review QR code generator makes a printable card.

Stay inside Google's rules. Its policy on fake engagement bans incentives (“payment, discounts, free goods and/or services”), asking only happy customers, pressuring people to review while you're on site, review quotas for staff and asking for specific content. Ask everyone, the same way, and let them write what they like.

How do you get service and town words into reviews without coaching?

Name the job and the area in your own message and your replies, and never tell the customer what to write. Google's policy forbids asking for specific content, so “please mention boiler repair in Leeds” is out. What you can do is make the job easy to remember:

• Describe the job in your request: “Thanks for having us replace the boiler in Didsbury this week.” That's your message, not theirs, and it reminds them what was done.
• Send a photo of the finished work, so the job is fresh in their mind when they write.
• Reply to every review naming the service and the area, never the street or house number: “Glad the new consumer unit's sorted, and thanks for having us in Bexley.”
• Keep your services list and website pages specific, so Google already knows what you do and where.
• Never write, edit or pre-fill a review for a customer. That's a fake review under Google's policy and consumer law.

Be realistic about why this helps. Google doesn't say review wording affects ranking. It does help the next homeowner see that you've done their kind of job near them, and that's what turns a profile view into a call. For reply wording, try our review reply generator.

Which trade guide should you read next?

The basics above work for every trade. Each guide below adds the timing, scripts and searches for one trade:

• Roofers: roofing SEO and the Google map pack, including asking after storm repairs.
• Plumbers: local SEO for plumbers, with emergency-call timing.
• Plumbers' websites: plumbing website design, from tap-to-call to licence numbers.
• Roofing leads: roofing lead generation, with every lead source compared.
• HVAC: the HVAC marketing plan, from the profile to seasonal ads; local SEO for HVAC, including the licences to show; and HVAC lead generation, from maintenance plans to bought leads.
• Pest control: local SEO for pest control, with discreet review requests and the licences to show.
• Electricians: local SEO for electricians, including showing your licence or scheme.
• Electricians' websites: electrician website design, from emergency call paths to scheme logos.
• Remodelers: the remodeling marketing plan, from project pages to in-home cooling-off rules.
• Electricians and roofers: how to get more calls from Google.
• Paid leads: Google Local Services Ads, and how reviews affect what you pay.

Our industry pages show how Flexi Local works for roofers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC firms, landscapers, painters and decorators, solar installers and home services in general.

Want to see where you stand first? Get a free review report: your rating, review count and how recent your reviews are, next to the contractors around you. If you'd rather automate the asking, Flexi Local's Reviews plan texts your link after every job and drafts each reply, with a 14-day free trial (card needed; cancel before day 14 and you pay nothing).