Picture a joiner in Chichester holding a quote with three lines on it: "local SEO", "content" and "reporting". It is a made-up example, but the shape is real, and it is the shape of most quotes a UK tradesman is handed.
Each of those words is a noun. None of them says what turns up in your inbox after four weeks, and that is the part you are paying for. A line that names a thing but not the proof of the thing lets a supplier bill for effort you cannot see and cannot check, in a trade where the customer is usually standing on a wet driveway deciding who to ring.
So instead of a list of services, this is a scorecard. For every line a local package should contain, it gives what the line means, what you should be able to open when the month ends, and what should make you pause. It finishes with my own package marked against it, including the places it does not score.
The seven lines a local SEO package should contain
A package earns its fee when each line produces something you can open: a profile change, a live page, a review count, a named search with a position, or a report. If a line has no such item, ask what it actually is.
| Line | What it should mean | What you can open at the end of four weeks | Pause if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Google Business Profile work | Categories, services, photos and posts checked against how you describe the job | The profile itself, with dated changes and posts | It says "profile optimisation" and nothing changed |
| 2. Service and town pages | A page for each job and each town you cover, written about real work | Live page addresses you can click | Articles that name no town and no job |
| 3. A review process | A way of asking every customer after a finished job, within Google's rules | Your review count and the requests sent | Reviews are bought, or you are told to offer rewards |
| 4. Named searches in a named area | The exact terms and towns the work is aimed at, agreed in writing | The list itself, with the area | The target is "roofer" or "joiner" with no place |
| 5. Consistent business details | The same name, address and phone number on your profile, site and main listings | A short check of where they appear | Your number is swapped for a tracking number on Google |
| 6. A map position check | Where you actually show across your patch, not from one spot | A grid scan or an equivalent, dated | One screenshot from the supplier's desk |
| 7. A report you can read | What went out, what moved, what is next, in plain English | The report, and the calls and direction requests behind it | A PDF of keyword positions with nothing else |
The fourth column is the useful one. Every row is a place a quote can stay vague, and the vague version is always the cheaper one to write. Ask for the third column in the contract wording, and a supplier who delivers has no reason to refuse.
Why the profile and the pages come first
Google describes local ranking as relevance, distance and prominence, so a UK package should be working on the first and third, because the second is where your van is parked.
Relevance is how well your listing matches the search. Google's help page asks for complete, detailed business information so it can match your profile to the right queries, which is lines 1, 2 and 5 in the table. Prominence is how well known you are, which Google ties to the number of reviews, their ratings and links from other websites. That is line 3, plus the useful pages from line 2. Distance is the searcher's gap to you, and no fee changes it, which is why a firm based in West Sussex should not be sold a package promising Hampshire.
It also settles what a fee cannot buy. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Anything sold as a bought position is, on Google's own account, not for sale.
What is not a package, whatever the quote calls it
Padding is any line that can be listed but not checked: bulk directory submissions, bought links, content that names no town, and a promise of a position with no named search behind it.
None of these is illegal, and some suppliers believe in them. The point is that each fails the open-it test. A bulk directory run gives you a spreadsheet of sites you have never heard of. Articles that could belong to any trade in any county give you a count of words. A guaranteed position gives you a sentence. Compare that with line 6 in the table, which hands you a dated map of where you appear.
Citations deserve a fairer word, because many UK packages list them and the underlying idea, that your details match everywhere, is sensible. What to ask is which directories, why those, and what changed after. If the answer is a number of listings, you are being sold volume.
Worked example: scoring a made-up quote
Take the three-line quote from the start and run it down the table: it scores one of seven, with one more unclear, and the gaps are exactly the questions to send back.
The made-up joiner's quote says "local SEO", "content" and "reporting", at a fee that is not important here. "Content" might mean pages on line 2, but no town or job is named, so it scores nothing. "Reporting" scores on line 7, provided the report is more than rankings. "Local SEO" might cover the profile on line 1, but it does not say so, so that one is unclear. Nothing mentions reviews, named searches, details or a map check.
Scorecard for the made-up quote
| 1. Profile work stated | Unclear, ask |
| 2. Service and town pages named | No |
| 3. Review process | No |
| 4. Named searches and area | No |
| 5. Consistent details | No |
| 6. Map position check | No |
| 7. Report | Yes, if more than rankings |
An invented quote, used to show the method. It is not a rating of any real supplier, and a low score means the quote is silent, not that the work would be bad.
That is the use of the scorecard. A low score is not a verdict on the supplier. It is a list of emails to send before you sign anything, and the replies tell you more than the price does.
My own package against the same seven lines
My SEO plan covers lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 in writing, and it does not sell directory submissions, so line 5 is a check I do rather than a deliverable I charge for.
The SEO and Map Pack plan is £300 every four weeks on a website you already have, or £350 with a website I build and host. A £150 deposit comes off the first payment, and it runs twelve weeks minimum, then rolling. Every four weeks it includes twelve search-led posts (three a week), Google Business Profile posting each week, a review system, fortnightly map grid scans on the agreed search, keyword research and on-page improvements, a weekly summary and a monthly report. The bundle adds four town and service pages every four weeks. If a profile is ever suspended, there is a separate guide on whether to pay someone to fix a suspended Google Business Profile.
Marked against the table: lines 1, 3 and 6 are the profile work, the review system and the grid scans. Line 2 is the twelve posts and the town pages. Line 4 is the agreed searches behind the Maps guarantee, which is top 3 in 90 days for up to three agreed searches and one area, or billing pauses and the work continues. Line 7 is the weekly summary and monthly report.
What a year of it comes to
| SEO and Map Pack, £300 every four weeks | £3,900 |
| With a website built and hosted, £350 every four weeks | £4,550 |
| Deposit, taken off the first payment | £150 |
Thirteen payments a year rather than twelve. This is arithmetic on my own published prices, not a market survey. Sitework is not VAT registered, so these are the full amounts.
It will not suit everyone. If your site cannot take new pages cleanly, I would say so before you pay anything, and if you only need your profile set up once, an evening of your own time covers it. If most of your work comes by recommendation, is SEO worth it with word of mouth work has a test to run before you pay. For a wider comparison of what UK suppliers charge, SEO agency or freelancer for a trade business sets the options side by side.
Five questions that make a supplier show their package
Put these five to any UK supplier in writing, and judge the answers on whether each one names something you can open.
- Which named searches, in which towns, are you aiming at? If the answer is a trade with no place, there is no target.
- What will I be able to open at the end of week four? Ask for the profile changes, the live page addresses and the report.
- Whose name is everything in? The profile, domain and website should be yours, so the work leaves with you if you do.
- How is my map position measured? A grid across your patch beats a single screenshot.
- What happens if the named searches have not moved by an agreed date? Ask for a remedy in the contract, not a reassurance.
The longer version of these is in what to ask an SEO company before you sign, and why cheap SEO packages do not work for trades covers what a very low fee usually leaves out.
Bottom line: a local SEO package for a UK tradesman is worth what you can open at the end of the month. Score the quote on the seven lines, send back the gaps, and pay the supplier whose answers name something you can check.