What a trades website should include, page by page
A trades website has one job: to turn a homeowner who has just found you into a phone call or a quote request. Everything on it either helps that or gets in the way. This guide walks through each page a trade business needs, what belongs on it and why, so you can brief a designer properly or judge the site an agency is proposing.
Before any page: the three things every screen needs
Whatever page a visitor lands on, and most will not land on the homepage, three elements should be visible without scrolling on a phone.
A tappable phone number at the top. Most trade enquiries still start with a call, and most visitors are on a mobile. If they have to hunt for the number, some will not bother.
Your area. 'Electrician in Stockton and Teesside' in the header or just below it tells the visitor in two seconds whether you are relevant. Leaving it off is the single most common mistake on trade sites.
Proof you are legitimate. A Gas Safe, NICEIC, FMB or TrustMark logo, a review score, a years-in-business line. One or two, not a wall. The visitor is deciding whether to trust you before deciding whether to call you.
The homepage
The homepage is a sorting page. Its purpose is to confirm what you do, where you do it and why you are safe to call, then send the visitor to the right service page or straight to the phone.
In order down the page: a headline that states trade and area in plain words, a short line on what makes you worth calling, the phone number and a quote button, a grid of your main services each linking to its own page, three or four recent reviews, a short section on the towns you cover, and a final call to action. Photos should be of your work and your van, not stock images of smiling models in clean overalls.
What does not belong: a slideshow nobody waits for, a paragraph about your passion for excellence, or a news section you updated once in 2022.
Service pages: one per job type
This is where most trade sites fall short. A single 'Services' page listing twelve things in bullet points ranks for nothing and persuades no one. Each service you want to be found for needs its own page.
For a plumber that might mean separate pages for boiler installation, boiler repair, bathroom installation, leak repair and emergency plumbing. For a roofer: new roofs, roof repairs, flat roofing, fascias and guttering, chimney work. Each page should explain what the job involves, what affects the price, how long it takes, what the customer should expect on the day and what accreditations apply. Then photos of that specific work, a review from that type of job, and the call to action.
Write for the homeowner, not for Google. If the page genuinely answers what a worried homeowner wants to know about getting their roof repaired, it will tend to rank, because that is what the search engine is trying to find.
Location pages: one per town you want work in
If you cover ten towns, you need to be findable in ten towns. A location page for each one, such as 'Plasterer in Yarm', gives Google a page to show for that search and gives the homeowner confirmation that you actually come out that far.
The trap is the template. Ten pages that are identical except for the town name help nobody and Google treats them accordingly. Each page should carry something genuinely local: jobs you have done there with photos, the areas within the town you cover, typical property types and the problems they bring, travel time and whether callout charges apply.
Agencies that build these pages well are worth paying for. Several in our website designers for tradesmen ranking make service-and-location structures the core of their build.
The reviews page, and reviews everywhere else
A dedicated reviews page pulling in your Google reviews gives the visitor one place to see the full picture. More important, reviews should appear on every service and location page, chosen to match. A bathroom fitting review on the bathroom page, a Middlesbrough job review on the Middlesbrough page.
Where possible the reviews should be live from Google rather than typed in, so they update and so visitors can see they are real. Our opinion piece on why reviews have become the new word of mouth explains why this is worth more effort than most trades give it.
About, gallery and the pages that build trust
The about page is read more than you would expect, usually by someone deciding between you and one other firm. It should have a real photo of you and your team, how long you have been trading, your qualifications and memberships, and a few honest sentences about how you work. Skip the mission statement.
A gallery or recent projects page shows the work. Before-and-after pairs are the most persuasive format for most trades. Label each with the job type and the town, which also feeds your service and location pages.
If you offer finance, guarantees or insurance-backed warranties, give each a short page of its own. These are often the details that tip a large job your way.
Contact and quote pages
The contact page should offer every route: phone, a short form, email, and your opening hours. The form should ask for name, phone, postcode and a few words about the job. Every extra field costs you enquiries.
A separate quote request page can go a little deeper for considered jobs, asking for photos and preferred dates. Whatever arrives, it should notify you by text or app immediately and be acknowledged automatically, because a homeowner who hears nothing for a day has already called someone else.
Behind the pages: the things you cannot see
The site should load in under three seconds on a mobile connection, be secured with HTTPS, and have each page's title and description written to say what the page is and where. Structured data marking you as a local business, with your address, hours and reviews, helps Google show the right information in results.
Your Google Business Profile should link to the site and the site should link back. Call tracking, if you use it, should be set up so the number shown is consistent with what Google holds for you.
And ownership. The domain in your name, the hosting account in your name or with clear export rights, and the site files yours if you leave. Our guide to switching agencies without losing your rankings explains what goes wrong when this is overlooked.
| Page | Must include | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Trade + area headline, phone, services grid, reviews | Slideshow and generic copy |
| Service page (one per job) | What the job involves, price factors, photos, matched review | One page listing everything |
| Location page (one per town) | Local jobs, local detail, coverage within the town | Identical text with the town swapped |
| Reviews | Live Google reviews, also placed on relevant pages | Three typed testimonials from 2019 |
| About | Real photos, years trading, qualifications | Mission statement, stock imagery |
| Contact / quote | Phone, short form, instant notification | Ten-field form, no auto-reply |
Using this as a brief
Hand this page to whoever is building or proposing your site and ask them to show where each element lives. Then compare what you are offered against the features we expect from the best trades web designers. If the proposal has a 'Services' page and no location pages, you are being sold a brochure. If it has both and the agency asks you for your own photos and job list before writing a word, you are probably in good hands.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages does a trades website need?
A homepage, about, contact and reviews page, plus one page per main service and one per town you want work in. For most small trades that lands between 15 and 40 pages.
Do location pages really work?
They do when each carries genuine local content. Pages that only swap the town name tend to be ignored by Google and look thin to visitors.
Should I use stock photos?
Avoid them where you can. Photos of your own vans, team and finished jobs build trust in a way stock images cannot, even if they are less polished.
How fast does the site need to load?
Aim for under three seconds on a mobile connection. Slow sites lose visitors before the phone number appears.