What a Trade Business Website Needs (and What Google Says Doesn’t Matter)

The pages most trade sites need

• Home: what you do, where you work, and how to call or request service, near the top.
• Services: one clear section or page per main service (for example, water heater repair, panel upgrades, roof repair).
• Service area: the cities or counties you actually cover, matching your Google Business Profile.
• About: who owns and runs the business, license and insurance details, and real photos of your crew and trucks.
• Contact: phone, email or a short form, and your hours.
• Privacy policy: especially if you use a contact form, analytics or ads.

What Google says matters, and what doesn’t

Google’s SEO Starter Guide, written for site owners, says there are “no secrets here that’ll automatically rank your site first in Google.” It focuses on making a site easy for Google to find and understand and useful for people. Some myths it addresses directly:

Google’s guidance on helpful content also asks whether content is clear about who made it and how. It warns against fake credentials and “fabricating creator profiles.” For a trade business, that means real names, real photos of your own work, and honest claims.

Your license number in advertising

Many states have rules about contractor advertising, and a website counts as advertising in some of them.

California: The Contractors State License Board’s advertising guidelines say a licensee must include the license number in all forms of advertising, which includes “any website or post that solicits business on the Internet”. The guidelines also say not to advertise that a contractor is bonded. Other states have their own rules, so check with your state’s licensing board.

Keep the website and its accounts secure

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s cybersecurity guidance for small businesses includes these basics, which apply to your website, email and domain accounts:

• Turn on multi-factor authentication. The SBA suggests checking with your vendors to see whether they offer it for your accounts.
• Give each person their own account, and limit admin access to the people who need it.
• Keep software up to date, using automatic updates where you can.
• Back up your data regularly; the SBA suggests weekly cloud backups if possible.

In our view, also make sure the business, not a former web designer, owns the domain name and has the logins for the website and hosting.

Quick checklist

• Can a visitor tell what I do, where, and how to reach me within a few seconds?
• Do my service areas match my Google Business Profile?
• Are the photos my own work and crew?
• Is my license number shown where my state requires it?
• Do I own the domain and have every login, with multi-factor authentication on?