Most tradesmen I talk to have no idea whether their SEO is working. They're paying someone every month, they know their website exists, but they couldn't tell you if it's generating any business. That's a problem, because if you don't know what's working, you don't know where to spend your money.
The only metric that matters: phone calls
Traffic, rankings, impressions, clicks. These are all useful numbers, but they're not the point. The point is whether your phone is ringing more than it was before. Everything else is just a way of explaining why.
Track your phone calls. It doesn't need to be complicated. A notebook next to your phone where you write down every enquiry and where it came from is enough. "Google search," "referral from Dave," "Google Maps," "Checkatrade." After a month, you'll have a clear picture of where your work is coming from.
If you want something more automated, you can set up call tracking. We do this for some of our clients at SEO 4 Tradesmen. It uses a different phone number for each marketing channel so you can see exactly which calls came from your website, which came from your Google profile, and which came from elsewhere.
Google Search Console is free and useful
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows you how your website is performing in search results. It tells you how many times your site appeared in Google searches, how many people clicked through, and what search terms they used to find you.
You can see whether your impressions and clicks are going up over time, which pages are getting the most traffic, and which search terms are bringing people to your site. If your "boiler repair Manchester" page is getting 200 impressions a month but only 5 clicks, that tells you the page title and description need work.
Setting it up takes about 10 minutes. Search for "Google Search Console," sign in with your Google account, and add your website.
Google Business Profile insights
Your Google Business Profile has its own analytics section. Log into your Business Profile dashboard and click on "Performance" or "Insights." You'll see how many people saw your profile, how many clicked to call you, how many asked for directions, and how many visited your website.
Pay attention to the "calls" number and the "direction requests" number. These are the actions that lead to actual jobs. If your calls are going up month over month, your SEO is working.
Good Results
In months two and three, you start seeing more impressions and a few more clicks. By months four to six, the clicks turn into calls, and the calls turn into jobs.
Bad Results
If you've been paying for SEO for six months and your calls haven't increased, something is wrong. Ask your provider to show you the data.
A real example
A bathroom fitter I worked with in Cheadle started at about 300 impressions a month and 15 clicks. After six months, he was at 2,500 impressions and 120 clicks. More importantly, his phone calls from Google went from 2 a month to 14 a month. At an average job value of £6,000, those extra 12 calls were worth tens of thousands of pounds in booked work.
Start measuring today
Set up Google Search Console if you haven't already. Check your Google Business Profile insights. Start tracking where your phone calls come from. These three things will give you a clear picture of what's working and what isn't.
If you want someone to handle this for you and show you the results every month, get in touch with Martin at SEO 4 Tradesmen. We send our clients a monthly report that shows exactly what's happened: calls, clicks, rankings, and what we're working on next.