What Makes a Good Trade Website?

7 February 2026 by Connor London

Not every website is the same. A photographer needs something completely different from a plumber. A lawyer's site looks nothing like a landscaper's. So what does a trade website specifically need to bring in work?

Here's the checklist. If your site doesn't tick most of these boxes, it's probably not pulling its weight.

1. Your Phone Number, Front and Centre

When someone needs a tradie, they want to call. Right now. Not fill in a form and wait two days for a reply. Your phone number needs to be visible on every page -- ideally in the header so it's the first thing they see.

On mobile, that phone number should be tappable. One tap and they're calling you. If someone has to copy and paste your number into their dialler, you've already lost them.

2. A Clear List of Services

People need to know what you do. Not a vague "we offer a range of services" -- the actual specific things you do. If you're a plumber, list it out: blocked drains, hot water cylinders, bathroom renovations, leaky taps, gas fitting.

Each major service ideally gets its own section or page. This isn't just good for visitors -- it's good for SEO. Separate pages for separate services mean you can rank for more specific search terms.

3. Where You Work

This is one of the most overlooked things on tradie websites. Your customers want to know if you work in their area. If you cover West Auckland, say it clearly. List the specific suburbs and areas you serve.

This also helps you show up in local searches. When someone Googles "electrician Henderson", Google looks for websites that mention Henderson. If your site just says "Auckland" with no specific suburbs, you're competing with every sparky in the entire city.

4. Mobile-Friendly Design

This isn't optional. Most of your visitors are on their phones. Your site needs to look and work perfectly on a phone screen. That means:

• Text that's readable without zooming
• Buttons big enough to tap with a thumb
• No horizontal scrolling
• Fast loading on mobile data
• Tappable phone number

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it looks at the mobile version of your site first when deciding how to rank you. If your mobile experience is rubbish, your rankings will suffer.

5. Fast Loading Speed

People won't wait. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, they're gone. Back to Google, clicking on your competitor instead.

The biggest culprits for slow sites are oversized images, too many plugins, and bloated code from website builders. A well-built trade website should load in under 2 seconds.

You can test your site speed using Google's PageSpeed Insights -- it's free and tells you exactly what's slowing things down.

6. Photos of Your Work

Nothing sells a tradie's skills better than photos of completed jobs. Before and after shots are gold. A newly tiled bathroom. A freshly painted house. A rewired switchboard.

Take photos on site. They don't need to be professional photography -- phone photos are fine as long as they're clear and well-lit. Just make sure you've got permission from the customer before posting photos of their property.

7. A Contact Form That Works

Not everyone wants to call. Some people prefer to send a message, especially outside business hours. A simple contact form -- name, phone, email, message -- lets people reach out at 9pm on a Sunday.

Test your form regularly. Make sure submissions arrive in your inbox. You'd be surprised how many websites have broken forms that send messages into the void.

8. Google Business Profile Integration

Your website and your Google Business Profile should work together. Your GBP listing links to your website, and your website should have consistent business information (name, address, phone number) that matches your GBP.

This consistency helps Google trust that your business is legitimate and serves the areas you claim to serve.

9. Reviews or Testimonials

People trust other people's opinions. If potential customers can see that real people have hired you and been happy with the work, they're more likely to call.

The best approach is to build up your Google reviews and then display them on your website. Real reviews from real customers are worth more than any marketing copy.

10. Basic SEO

Your site needs to be set up so Google can find it and understand what it's about. At a minimum, this means:

• Title tags that include your trade and location (e.g., "Plumber West Auckland | Smith Plumbing")
• Meta descriptions that tell people what the page is about
• Heading tags (H1, H2, H3) that are structured properly
• Alt text on images describing what they show
• Clean URLs that make sense to humans and search engines

This doesn't have to be complicated. Basic SEO done properly is better than advanced SEO done badly.

11. No Unnecessary Clutter

A trade website doesn't need a blog with 50 articles, an Instagram feed widget, a weather widget, a live chat bot, a popup newsletter signup, and a video background. That stuff slows your site down and distracts from the one thing that matters: getting the visitor to contact you.

Keep it clean. Services, contact info, photos of your work, areas you cover. That's what converts visitors into customers.

The Quick Version

A good trade website does these things:

• Shows your phone number on every page
• Lists your services clearly
• Says where you work
• Works perfectly on phones
• Loads fast
• Shows photos of your work
• Has a working contact form
• Links to your Google Business Profile
• Displays reviews
• Has basic SEO sorted
• Doesn't have unnecessary clutter

If your current website ticks all of these, you're in good shape. If it doesn't, it's time for a rebuild. Check out our tradie website packages -- we build every site to hit every point on this list.