Free Business Listings For Tradesmen In The UK

Free listings are worth doing because they are where people look you up, and because Google and the AI assistants check them against each other. If your name, number and area say the same thing in six places, you look like an established business. If one says you are in Croydon, another has an old mobile number and a third spells the business differently, you look less certain, and a customer comparing three plumbers notices that too.

None of this takes long. A sensible set of listings for a sole trader or a small firm can be done in an afternoon, and most of them only need checking a couple of times a year after that.

Google Business Profile Comes First

If you only do one, do this one. Your Google Business Profile is what shows up in the map results and on the right of the page when someone searches your business name, and for most trades it is where the phone calls come from. It is free to set up and free to keep.

A few things matter more than the rest. Pick the most specific primary category Google offers for what you actually do, so “Electrician” rather than something general like “Contractor”. Add your services one by one. If you work from home and go out to customers, set it up as a service-area business: Google lets you hide your home address and list the towns or postcodes you cover instead, so you do not need a shop front to appear on the map.

After that it comes down to steady effort. Ask happy customers for a review while the job is fresh, reply to the reviews you get, and add photos of your own finished work every so often rather than stock pictures. Our local SEO service goes into what moves a profile up the map results if you want the longer version.

Apple Maps And Bing

Apple Maps is the default map on every iPhone, so a fair share of your customers will see it whether you think about it or not. Apple Business Connect is Apple’s free tool for claiming and editing your listing there. Apple has historically been more set up for businesses with an address customers visit, so if you are mobile only, check what it offers you when you sign up.

Bing Places is Microsoft’s version. It is free, and it can import your details straight from your Google Business Profile, which makes it one of the quickest jobs on this list. Bing has a small share of UK searches, but the listing is free and takes a few minutes, so there is little reason to skip it.

Facebook And Nextdoor

A Facebook business page is free and a lot of people still use it to check that a tradesman is real before they ring. It does not need daily posts. Keep the phone number, area and opening hours right, put up photos of jobs now and then, and make sure someone sees the messages.

Nextdoor is where neighbours ask each other who they would recommend for a boiler service or a fence panel. A free business page there means that when a past customer recommends you, people can click through to your details instead of being given a first name and a guess at your number.

Yell And The General Directories

Yell still offers a free basic listing for UK businesses. It is fine to have, and it is one more place your details agree. Expect a sales call offering paid upgrades soon after you sign up, and read any trial terms before handing over card details.

Beyond that there are dozens of general directories. A handful of ones people genuinely use is worth having. Hundreds of them is not, because nobody searches them, and every extra listing is another place your details can go out of date when you change your number or move. We cover this in more detail in our guide to link building for local SEO.

Your Trade Body And Your Suppliers

This is the one most trades forget. If you are on the Gas Safe Register, registered with NICEIC or another competent person scheme, or a TrustMark registered business, the scheme has a public search where customers can find members. You are already paying for that registration, so check your entry is complete and your details match your Google profile.

The same goes for manufacturers and suppliers with approved installer lists, such as boiler, window or flooring brands. These lists are trusted by customers and often have you on them already with an old address or no website link.

The Trade Sites That Are Not Free

Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People and Bark come up whenever tradesmen talk about getting listed, but they are not free listings. Checkatrade charges a membership fee and vets members before they go on. MyBuilder is free to join and charges you when a customer shortlists you for a job. Rated People and Bark also charge for leads.

They can be useful when you are starting out and have no reviews yet. The downside is that you pay per enquiry, other trades are usually quoting for the same job, and the reviews you collect there stay on their site. Reviews on your own Google profile keep working for you whether or not you renew anything, which is why we would always build those up alongside.

Keep Your Details The Same Everywhere

Before you start, write your details down once in a note on your phone and copy them from there every time. That means the exact trading name, one phone number written the same way, your website address, and either your business address or the areas you cover. Use the same name your van and invoices use, and do not add town names or keywords to it, because Google treats that as spam and can suspend the profile.

When something changes, such as a new number, a move or a new van, go back through the list and update each one. That is the part most businesses skip, and it is why so many listings online are wrong.

The Order We Would Do It In

• Google Business Profile, set up properly with categories, services and areas.
• Bing Places, imported from Google.
• Apple Business Connect, if it fits how you work.
• Facebook page and Nextdoor business page.
• Your trade body or scheme entry, and any supplier installer lists.
• Yell, and a small number of other directories people actually use.

If you are an electrician, plumber or any other trade and want to see how this fits with the rest of your marketing, our page on marketing for trades and home services covers the bigger picture, and the trade pages such as SEO for plumbers go into what wins work in each trade.

See Where You Show Up Now

If you have already set up a Google profile and are not sure whether it shows up for the searches that matter in your area, we can check it for you. The free scan shows where you appear on Google Maps street by street, and if you would rather hand the profile over, our Maps Plan looks after it every week.