If you search your own trade plus "Plymouth" and can't find your business on the first page, one of five things is usually the reason. Here's how to check each one.
Your Google Business Profile isn't doing its job
This is the single biggest lever for local visibility, and it's free. If you haven't claimed and fully filled out your Google Business Profile, that's very likely reason one.
Check three things: the category is specific ("Electrician" not "Contractor"), the service areas list every town you actually work in, and there are photos of real jobs, not stock images. An incomplete profile tells Google you're not an active business worth ranking.
You don't have pages for the areas you actually serve
A single homepage that mentions "Plymouth and surrounding areas" doesn't give Google anything specific to match against a search for "roofer Plympton" or "plumber Saltash".
One page per area you genuinely cover, with real detail about the work you do there, gives search engines something concrete to rank. It also reads as more credible to a customer who lives in that exact area.
Your reviews have gone quiet
Review count and recency both factor into local ranking. Five reviews from two years ago tell Google less than five reviews from the last two months.
Ask for a review at the moment a job finishes, while the customer is still pleased with the result. A simple text with a direct link removes most of the friction that stops people bothering.
Your website is too slow on a phone
Most local searches happen on a phone, often standing in a driveway or a client's kitchen. If your site takes more than a couple of seconds to load, people bounce before they see anything, and Google notices that bounce.
Heavy image files and bloated page builders are the usual culprits. A lean, purpose-built site loads faster and holds attention long enough to convert.
Nothing else on the web points back to you
Google treats other sites linking to yours as a vote of confidence. Trade directories, local news mentions, supplier and trade association listings all count.
You don't need dozens. A handful of genuine, relevant links, from places like Checkatrade, your trade body, or a local business directory, meaningfully strengthens how Google sees your site.
- Your Google Business Profile is unclaimed, incomplete, or filed under the wrong category
- Your website has no dedicated pages for the areas you actually cover
- You've got no recent reviews, or you're not replying to the ones you have
- Your site loads too slowly on mobile, where most local searches happen
- Nothing else on the Plymouth web links back to you
Questions, answered
How long does it take to start showing up after fixing these?
Usually 4 to 8 weeks for meaningful movement, since Google needs to recrawl and re-rank your site. A completed, correctly categorised Business Profile can shift within days.
Do I need to pay for ads to be seen locally?
No. Ads buy you a slot at the top for as long as you keep paying. Organic local SEO like this is slower to build but keeps working after you stop touching it.
