How long does it take to go through the checklist?

About an evening if you have your Google profile login and your website open. Fixing what it finds takes longer, from an afternoon to a couple of months.

Which section matters most?

For most trades, the Google Business Profile, because it is what people see in the map results. But a strong profile pointing to a weak website leaks calls, so score every section.

Can I get a perfect score?

You can, and it still does not promise a ranking. Distance from the searcher and what your competitors do also matter. The checklist makes sure you are not losing for reasons you control.

How often should I redo it?

Twice a year, and after any move, rebrand, phone number change or new service.

Local SEO Checklist for Trades: 40 Lines to Tick

Local SEO is the work of showing up when someone near you searches for your trade. For most trades businesses it comes down to five areas: your Google Business Profile, your website, your listings elsewhere, your reviews and your tracking. This checklist gives you 40 lines across those five areas. Score each line, add up the points, and the lowest section is where you start.

Print the page. Sit down with your Google Business Profile open in one window and your website on your phone in the other, because that is how most customers will see it.

How to score

Give each line one of three scores:

2 points: done properly
1 point: partly done, out of date or unsure
0 points: missing

The maximum is 80. Write the section totals in the box at the end of each table. Do not round up out of optimism. A 1 is a perfectly honest score.

Section 1: Google Business Profile (12 lines, 24 points)

#	Check	Score
1	Profile is verified and you can log in to it yourself	___
2	Business name is exactly your real trading name, with no added keywords	___
3	Primary category is the one that describes your main money-maker	___
4	Secondary categories cover your other real services, and no more	___
5	Every service you want more of is listed in the services section	___
6	Service area lists the towns you actually want to drive to	___
7	Home-based? Street address is hidden and only service areas show	___
8	Hours match when someone actually answers the phone	___
9	At least 20 real photos: crew, vans, finished work, no stock images	___
10	New photos added within the last 60 days	___
11	Description says what you do, where, and since when, in plain words	___
12	Phone number on the profile is your main business number	___
	Section total (out of 24)	___

Section 2: website (10 lines, 20 points)

#	Check	Score
13	Phone number is visible at the top of every page on a phone	___
14	Tapping the number on a phone starts a call	___
15	Each main service has its own page, not one page listing everything	___
16	Each service page says which towns or areas you serve	___
17	Pages load in a few seconds on a phone with mobile data	___
18	Page titles name the service and the area, for example "Furnace Repair in Red Deer"	___
19	Real photos of your own work appear on service pages	___
20	Licence or registration numbers your trade requires are shown where customers expect them	___
21	Business name, phone and town match the Google profile exactly	___
22	If you serve Quebec customers, the site is available in French	___
	Section total (out of 20)	___

Line 22 is a legal matter in Quebec, not just good manners. The Quebec page explains why. If you do not serve Quebec, score it 2.

Section 3: listings and consistency (6 lines, 12 points)

#	Check	Score
23	Business name, phone and website are identical on every directory you know of	___
24	No old phone numbers or old addresses remain on any listing	___
25	Listed on your suppliers' or manufacturers' dealer locators where offered	___
26	Listed with your trade association or local chamber, if you are a member	___
27	Duplicate Google profiles (old locations, old names) are removed or merged	___
28	Bing Places and Apple Business Connect listings are claimed	___
	Section total (out of 12)	___

Section 4: reviews (6 lines, 12 points)

#	Check	Score
29	You ask every satisfied customer for a review, in person or by text	___
30	You have a short link that opens your review page directly	___
31	At least one new review in the last 30 days	___
32	You reply to every review, good or bad, within a week	___
33	Replies to negative reviews are calm, factual and offer to fix things offline	___
34	No paid, swapped or family reviews, ever	___
	Section total (out of 12)	___

Line 34 matters more than it looks. Fake reviews break Google's rules, and in Canada the Competition Bureau enforces the Competition Act's rules against false or misleading representations. A small number of honest reviews beats a large number of doubtful ones.

Section 5: tracking (6 lines, 12 points)

#	Check	Score
35	You can see how many calls came from your Google profile last month	___
36	Website calls use a different tracking number from profile calls	___
37	Missed calls are recorded and returned the same day	___
38	Every new customer is asked how they heard about you	___
39	Website analytics is installed and you know who has access	___
40	You own the logins to your Google profile, website and analytics	___
	Section total (out of 12)	___

Line 40 surprises people. If a former web designer or agency owns your profile or domain, you could lose them. Fix that first, before anything else.

Worked example: reading a score

An invented electrical contractor scores themselves:

Section	Score	Out of	Share
Google Business Profile	15	24	63%
Website	9	20	45%
Listings	8	12	67%
Reviews	5	12	42%
Tracking	2	12	17%
Total	39	80	49%

Compare sections by share, not raw points, because they have different maximums. Tracking is lowest at 17%, so this owner cannot tell whether any fix works. Step one is setting up tracking. Step two is reviews (42%), because they need weeks to build up and help both the map listing and the decision to call. Step three is the website: one page per service and a tappable phone number are often a weekend's work.

Your summary box

Section	Your score	Out of	Share	Rank (1 = fix first)
Google Business Profile	___	24	___%	___
Website	___	20	___%	___
Listings	___	12	___%	___
Reviews	___	12	___%	___
Tracking	___	12	___%	___
Total	___	80	___%

Rough guide: under 40 means basic gaps are costing you calls; 40 to 60 means the foundation is there and the gains are in the details; above 60 means it is time to look at competition, content and the ROI worksheet rather than more checklist work.

Mistakes to avoid while fixing things

Changing everything at once. If you change categories, name and service area on the same day, you will not know what helped.
Keyword-stuffing to "help." Adding town names to your business name or packing service pages with repeated phrases risks suspension and reads badly.
Copy-paste town pages. A page for each town is only worth having if it says something true about working there.
Forgetting the phone. All this work produces calls. If nobody answers, it was wasted.

If you would like a second opinion, including how you compare with nearby competitors, that is our local SEO checklist audit. The checklist above is complete without it. Trades.Tools is a marketing and business consulting service, not a contractor, and nothing here is advice about your licensing or trade regulations.

Local SEO checklist: 40 lines to tick with a pencil