Local SEO for Australian tradies: a 90-day playbook

From "we don't show up on Google" to top-3 in the Map Pack — the exact 12-step plan we run for tradie clients in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Nothing fancy, no AI nonsense. Just the moves that actually move rankings in the AU local market.

Day 0–7: claim, clean, anchor

1. Claim the Google Business Profile. If a previous "marketing guy" set it up, recover ownership through the official process — don't create a duplicate.
2. Lock NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency across the website footer, GBP, Yellow Pages, True Local and Hipages. Inconsistent NAP is the #1 ranking blocker for tradies.
3. Service-area setup. List the 5–10 suburbs you actually service. Don't list 50; Google penalises spam radius.
4. Categories. Pick the most specific primary category (e.g., "Emergency Plumber" over "Plumber") and add 2–3 secondary.

Day 8–30: content + reviews flywheel

5. Per-suburb landing pages. One page per priority suburb, 600+ words, photos of real jobs in that suburb if possible.
6. Service pages. One page per service line (e.g., "Hot Water System Repair Sydney"), with FAQ schema and price ranges where you can.
7. Review request automation. SMS or email after job completion. Aim for 1 new Google review per active job. Tradies who get to 50 reviews dominate.
8. Photo uploads to GBP. Weekly. Geo-tagged photos move the needle more than people realise.

Day 31–60: links + posts

9. Local citations. AU-specific directories: Yellow Pages, True Local, StartLocal, Hotfrog AU, Word of Mouth. Submit accurately and once.
10. GBP weekly posts. Use them — Google rewards active profiles. Job photos, before/after, seasonal offers.
11. Local sponsorships. Sponsor a local junior cricket team or community newsletter — you'll get a real backlink from a high-authority local domain.
12. Internal linking. Every service page should link to the relevant suburb page and vice versa. Anchor text matters.

"Within 90 days we went from page 2 for 'plumber Glen Iris' to position 2. Most months now, GBP brings in more leads than HiPages — at zero per-lead cost."

Plumbing client · Melbourne · 2025

What to skip

• Mass blog spam. A weekly listicle on "10 plumbing tips" doesn't rank in 2026. Quality over quantity.
• Buying directory backlinks. The cheap PBN pages on Fiverr will hurt you, not help.
• Reviewer incentives. Against TOS — you'll get the profile suspended.