How customers find a tradesperson now
People rarely browse for a roofer or an electrician. They have a problem, and they search: "roofer near Lüneburg", "emergency electrician", "leaking roof who to call". They decide from the Google local pack, Google Maps, a few trade directories, and, more and more, an AI answer. For a trade business, being visible at that moment is almost everything, because the job goes to whoever shows up first and looks trustworthy.
You are probably a service-area business
Most trades do not have a shop customers visit. Your address is an office, a yard or a van. That makes you a service-area business, and it changes how you set up Google. Instead of showing an address customers cannot come to (which is against Google’s rules and can get your profile suspended), you hide the address and define your service area with the towns you actually cover. On the website, the equivalent is areaServed in your schema and clear text listing your region.
The pages that win trade searches
Two kinds of page do the heavy lifting:
- A real page per service. Not a thin list, a proper page for roof renovation, for repairs, for each trade you offer, with concrete text about how you work.
- An emergency page. "Emergency roof damage" or "storm damage" is the strongest buying intent there is: someone with a problem right now. A dedicated, findable page for it is often the highest-value page on a trade site.
Town or service-area pages for your strongest surrounding places help too, as long as they carry real content and are not thin copies.
Schema for trades
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Specific type (RoofingContractor, Electrician, Plumber) | Places you as the right trade, not a generic business |
| areaServed | Names the towns you cover, key for a service-area business |
| Service / makesOffer | Ties your services to your business on each service page |
| openingHours / telephone | Availability and the one-tap call that most jobs start with |
The general idea is in our structured data guide; for trades the specific type plus areaServed is what to get right first.
Reviews and the directories that count
Reviews decide trust for a trade even more than for a shop, because the customer is letting you into their home. Ask for them steadily and keep your details consistent across the places that matter: your Google Business Profile first, then Das Örtliche, 11880, the Handwerkskammer or trade-association listing, and job platforms like MyHammer or Blauarbeit. Same name, address and phone everywhere.
AI names tradespeople too
Ask Perplexity "a recommended roofer near Lüneburg" and it names a shortlist. Whether you are on it comes down to the same signals: a clear service-area setup, real service pages, reviews and consistent data. Do the groundwork and you get named in AI answers, right when someone needs the job done.
Frequently asked questions
Should I show my address or hide it?
If customers do not come to your address, hide it and set a service area with the towns you cover. Showing an address people cannot visit is against Google’s rules and risks a suspension.
Do I need a separate page for every town?
Only if each page carries real, useful content. A handful of genuine service-area pages for your strongest towns help; a stack of thin, near-identical copies can hurt.
Is an emergency page really worth it?
For most trades, yes. Emergency and storm-damage searches are the highest buying intent there is. A clear, findable page with a one-tap call often pays for itself quickly.
How important are reviews for a trade?
Very. A customer is letting you into their home, so trust matters more than for a shop. Steady, honest reviews and quick replies are among your strongest signals.