Your website backs up your profile
Your Google Business Profile does most of the heavy lifting in the Maps top 3. But Google checks your website to confirm what the profile claims.
If your profile says “roofer in Chilliwack” and your website’s title tag says “Home”, Google has nothing to confirm. If your website says “Best Roofer Chilliwack” in the title, the heading, the footer and the schema, the two sources agree. Agreement is what Google trusts.
Most trade websites were built to look good. Very few were built to rank. A designer sets the title to “Home”, puts the phone number in an image, and calls it done. That costs you rankings every single day.
The basics: one hour, big difference
This is the first pass on every site. For a lot of businesses, this alone moves the needle.
Title tag
The title tag is the blue headline in Google’s results, and one of the strongest on-page signals you have. Mine follow a simple formula:
BEST + main category + city + business name + main services + “near me”
Something like: “BEST Roofer Chilliwack - Roof Repair & Metal Roofing near me - Example Roofing Co.” (Made-up business, real formula.)
A lot of SEO people will tell you to keep titles under 60 characters. Google does cut off what it shows around there, so the important words go first. I still use the rest of the space for your services, because it gives Google more to match.
H1 heading
Your homepage gets one H1, and it says your main category and your city. “Roofer in Chilliwack.” Not “Welcome to our website.” Not three H1s because the designer liked the font.
H2 headings
Your H2s list your main services. Roof repair. Metal roofing. Gutters. Each one tells Google another thing you do.
NAP in the footer
NAP is your name, address and phone number. It goes in the footer of every page, written exactly the way it appears on your Google Business Profile. Same spelling, same phone format, same everything.
If you’re a service-area business without a public address, your name, phone and service area go there instead.
Google map on the homepage
An embedded map of your Google Business Profile on your homepage. One more signal that ties your website to your location.
Schema markup
Schema is code that Google reads and visitors don’t see. LocalBusiness schema tells Google your business name, phone, address or service area, hours and website in a format it can’t misread. Most small business sites have none. You can check yours at validator.schema.org.
Page count: the part nobody wants to hear
Search Google for site:yourwebsite.com and look at how many results come back. That’s roughly how many pages Google has indexed.
Most trade websites have five. Home, About, Services, Gallery, Contact.
I want to see at least 30. Not 30 pages of fluff. Thirty pages that each answer a real question someone types into Google. The businesses holding the top spots in competitive markets usually have far more.
There are two kinds of pages that get you there.
Service pages
Every main service gets its own page. Not a bullet point on one “Services” page. A full page.
Roof repair gets a page. Metal roofing gets a page. Gutter installation gets a page. Each one is 1,000 to 2,500 words of genuinely useful content: what the service is, what it costs to get wrong, what to expect, the questions customers actually ask.
The structure looks like this:
Your homepage, ranking for your main category and city.
A main services page linking to your core services.
One page per core service.
Pages for the smaller services, linked from the core ones.
That’s how Google learns you’re the expert on the whole topic, not just one keyword.
Area pages
Then Google needs proof you actually work in the places you say you do.
If you’re based in Abbotsford but take jobs in Mission and Chilliwack, each of those gets an area page. Real content about working there: the neighbourhoods, the local conditions, the kind of jobs that come up, how to reach you. Not your homepage with the city name swapped out. Google spots copy-paste pages, and they do more harm than good.
An “Areas we serve” page links to all of them, and it sits in your main menu.
What a good service page includes
A service page isn’t a paragraph and a phone number. Here’s what goes on every one I write:
A heading that names the service and your city.
A plain explanation of what the service is and when someone needs it.
The signs that something’s wrong, in the words customers actually use.
What the job involves, step by step, so people know what to expect.
What affects the price, without making up numbers.
Photos from real jobs.
The questions customers ask on the phone, answered.
Links to the areas you serve and the related services you offer.
One clear way to get in touch.
Written that way, a page answers the question someone typed into Google. That’s what Google is looking for, and it’s what turns a visitor into a call.
Common trade website mistakes
These come up over and over on trade websites:
Phone number in an image. Google can’t read it, and customers on a phone can’t tap it.
No city anywhere. Not in the title, not in the headings, not in the footer.
All services on one page. One page can’t rank for twelve different jobs.
A slider instead of a headline. Rotating banners look nice and say nothing to Google.
Stock photos. Customers can tell, and so can anyone comparing you to a competitor with real job photos.
Contact form only. Many people would rather call. Make the number obvious on every page.
No HTTPS. Browsers warn visitors that the site isn’t secure. That’s a lost customer before the page even loads.
Each one is a quick fix. Together, they’re often the difference between a website that helps your rankings and one that drags them down.
Linking it all together
Service pages and area pages only work if they’re connected. I follow a few simple rules:
Every service page links to 2 to 4 relevant area pages.
Every area page links to 3 to 6 service pages.
The homepage links to all the area pages and the main services.
Links go inside the text where they help the reader, not crammed into the footer.
The link wording changes from page to page.
No more than 8 to 10 links on a page.
The test is simple. If a link doesn’t help the person reading, it doesn’t go in.
What I won’t do
I don’t stuff keywords into your text until it reads like a robot wrote it. I don’t build 200 near-identical city pages. And I don’t hide text on the page for Google to find.
Every one of those tricks can get your site pushed down instead of up. I write pages people actually want to read, because Google is very good at telling the difference.
Where this fits in the 12 weeks
On-page work runs in weeks 5 to 8, after your profile is done.
Week 5: the basics. Title tags, headings, NAP, schema, map embed.
Week 6: a full inventory of what Google has indexed and what’s missing.
Week 7: service pages and area pages written and added.
Week 8: linking, checks, and a review of what changed.
Then it’s on to citations, so the rest of the internet agrees with your website.
Whatever your site is built on
WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow, Framer. All of this works on any of them. If you have a web designer, I’ll work alongside them. If you don’t, I’ll handle it.
You don’t need a new website to rank. In most cases your existing site is fine once the basics are fixed. If it’s genuinely holding you back, I’ll tell you on the strategy call.
Check your own website in five minutes
Does your homepage title tag include your main service and your city?
Is there exactly one H1 on your homepage, with your service and city in it?
Is your name and phone number in the footer of every page, matching your Google profile exactly?
Does validator.schema.org find LocalBusiness schema on your site?
Does site:yourwebsite.com show at least 30 pages?
Does every main service have its own page?
Two or more “no” answers and your website is working against your profile.
We also serve these areas
Questions people ask
Do I need a new website?
Usually not. Most of the gains come from fixing what’s already there and adding the right pages. If your site is truly holding you back, I’ll say so up front.
Will you change how my website looks?
Barely. Titles and schema are invisible to visitors. Headings get reworded, not redesigned. New pages match your existing design.
Who writes the service and area pages?
I do. You check them for accuracy before they go live, because you know your trade better than anyone.
How long are the pages?
Long enough to properly answer the questions customers ask, and no longer. For most service pages that’s 1,000 to 2,500 words. Area pages usually land around 1,000 to 1,500.
Can I just put all my cities on one page?
You can, and it won’t do much. One page with ten city names gives Google nothing to work with for any of them.
What if I already have an SEO company working on my site?
Then we talk before I touch anything. Two people editing the same title tags is a mess.
How do I know it worked?
The same heatmap from week one, run again. You see the grid change. That’s the only measure that matters.
Find out what your website is missing
Book a free strategy call. I’ll look at your site the way Google does and tell you exactly what’s costing you rankings.