SEO for trade businesses: why "electrician Traunstein" on Google page 1 brings less than you think

When trade businesses come to us and talk about Google rankings, we usually hear the same sentence: "I want to be on page 1 for 'electrician Traunstein'." The goal is understandable. But in many cases, it is not what actually moves the business forward.

Not because Google rankings would be unimportant. But because what really happens after that one keyword position almost always looks different from what was expected.

What actually happens in Traunstein when someone searches for "electrician"

Google today distinguishes very clearly between local and supra-regional search queries. "Electrician Traunstein" is a local search query. What appears is primarily the local pack — the map with three entries from Google Business Profile — and only after that organic search results.

Anyone in first place in the organic results for "electrician Traunstein" is still perceived by most users only after the three map entries. The click-through rate to the local pack typically lies between 40 and 60 percent of the clicks — depending on industry and search query. Organic results share the rest.

That means: anyone who as an electrician in Traunstein wants more enquiries should first optimise their Google Business Profile — not build a landing page for "electrician Traunstein".

What an optimised Google Business Profile really takes

We worked with an electrical business in the Rosenheim area on its Google presence over a six-month period. Starting position: the business profile existed but had not been updated for two years. No photos of current employees, no current services, no posts, 14 reviews with an average of 4.1 stars.

What we changed:

• Uploaded 23 new photos (job sites, vehicle fleet, team)
• Filled in the service catalogue completely, including specific services like wallbox installation and photovoltaic connection
• Added opening hours and an emergency number
• Weekly posts with completed projects (images + short text)
• Actively replied to new reviews — including the critical one

Result after six months: 31 new reviews, average rose to 4.7. Visibility in the local pack for 23 relevant search queries within a 15-kilometre radius. Enquiries via Google: from three to four per month to nine to twelve.

Why organic rankings still matter for tradespeople

That doesn't mean a website is irrelevant. For two goals, organic SEO for trade businesses still makes sense:

Build trust. Anyone clicking on a Google Business Profile and finding an outdated three-page website hesitates. A professionally built website — with service pages, references, explainable price models — increases the closing rate. Not the number of clicks, but the conversion rate.

Cover niche keywords. "Electrician Traunstein" is fiercely contested. "Wallbox installation Traunstein" or "photovoltaic connection trades Chiemgau" are less so — and have a significantly higher purchase intent. Anyone who builds a dedicated page for these more specific queries pulls in qualified enquiries.

For one of our web design customers in the plumbing field we pursued exactly this approach: not a generic "Plumbing Bavaria" page, but 14 specific service pages for concrete problems — "Replace heating Berchtesgaden", "Bathroom renovation without moving out Freilassing", "Replace hot water tank Prien". Three months after launch, 70 percent of organic enquiries came via these long-tail pages.

What trade businesses don't need

A blog. Not at the start. Trade businesses rarely have the capacity to produce relevant content regularly, and Google does not reward half-heartedly maintained content. Better five very good service pages than 40 blog articles that go dormant after three months.

Also: backlinks from generic industry directories en masse. That used to work. Today quality counts — an entry in the Chamber of Crafts, an editorial link in a regional newspaper, a mention on a supplier's website weigh more than a hundred generic directory entries.

Anyone who wants to know how this could concretely look for their own business will find the starting points for an initial conversation on our pages on Web design & web development and on Advertising & Marketing.

---