How to appear higher in the Checkatrade search

It goes without saying that all tradespeople want to be front and centre for customer searches.

And that means that your Checkatrade profile needs to be on point.

Setting up your Checkatrade profile is one first things you’ll need to do upon joining. But doing this isn’t as simple as entering your details and then letting it sit there untouched.

In fact, if you do this, you’ll probably not appear in any searches at all.

Optimising your Checkatrade profile properly

In order to get the most out of your Checkatrade membership and profile, you want to properly optimise it.

This means you’ll need to do two key things:

• Make your profile description stand out by being clear and distinct
• Optimise your profile for customer searches

Ready to get started? Keep reading to learn all the important elements when it comes to building your Checkatrade profile properly.

Making a clear and distinct profile description

Did you know that 90% of Checkatrade members who’ve optimised their profile achieve their expected leads or more vs those who haven’t optimised their profile?

So, first things first, you want to make sure your business profile stands out from the crowd.

This means showing off what your business can offer to potential customers, while not overwhelming them with information.

For example:

• You want to write a Checkatrade profile description that captures what your business is about
• This should not be reams upon reams of text
• Keep your description brief
• Highlight your key USPs (unique selling points)
• Set your customer’s expectations in terms of abilities and coverage

Simply put, customers don’t have time to read your business’ entire history.

That’s why you want to keep things simple but clear in your profile description. Then let the rest of your profile do the talking.

Optimising your profile for search

If you’ve never made a website or optimised content before, you might not be familiar with optimising for search. But don’t worry, it’s not nearly as complicated as it might sound.

Generally speaking, the search function on the Checkatrade website uses various ‘signals’ to deliver the most relevant results to homeowners. So, the more signals you flag, the more likely you are to get enquiries.

Think of it as a simplified version of the algorithm used by Google to provide you with search results.

Of course, the true magic is knowing what information needs to be included in your profile to meet these flags. In other words, how to optimise your profile.

How to optimise your Checkatrade profile

When it comes to optimising your Checkatrade profile, there are 7 key points to be aware of. Put these into place, and it can only benefit the growth of your trade business.

We’ve outlined all of them below:

1. Highlight your reviews

First, you’ll want to make sure that your profile includes 1 or more search-relevant reviews. So, if you want to appear in homeowner searches for ‘boiler repair’, make sure you have several high-rated boiler repair reviews.

Studies show that collecting reviews is one of the key ways to get your profile seen on Checkatrade search.

• It shows customers that you know what you’re doing
• Helps build trust with people even before they’ve seen you
• Building a bank of customer reviews takes time
• Any efforts collecting reviews will be well worth it

At their best, online reviews are the modern-day equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing.

The more reviews you have, the more credibility you instil in potential new customers. It helps provide social proof for your business and encourages the ‘bandwagon’ effect.

Not every customer will leave a review

But it never hurts to ask. Just make sure you ask them to include the type of job you did in the heading or in the review itself.

Top tip: you can use the Checkatrade Trades app to ask customers for reviews at the tap of a button. This will politely nudge them to rate you and save you a nice little bit of time and effort.

2. Select the appropriate categories

We’re constantly evolving our search engine to make sure it matches the right trades to the right homeowner. Which makes selecting the right trade categories for your business very important.

Fortunately, this is relatively easy to do. It just requires the following:

• Make sure you’ve ticked the main category that applies to your business’s primary function
• Have at least 50% of subcategories ticked for that category
• Make sure that category and subcategory are relevant to your business

By doing this, you can be sure that your business will appear in the right searches. Meaning you’ll get put in front of potential customers more often.

And if you’re not sure about which categories to select, then you can get in touch with our membership advice team. They’ll be happy to help explain everything!

3. Set your location and radius

Much like picking the appropriate categories for your business, it’s also important to set your location and work radius. In many cases, customers will be searching for tradespeople in their local area, so you want to flag where you’re based. That way, you’ll appear in their searches.

Therefore, when setting up your profile, check you’ve done the following:

• Double-check that you’re using the correct postcode on your profile
• Add nearby and relevant locations to your work area so you can reach a wider network of customers

Once you’ve done this, you can move on, safe in the knowledge that you will now appear in local searches.

4. Choose the right membership options

Here at Checkatrade, our memberships are unique to every account. Our fixed membership option lets you build the plan that’s perfect for you and your business needs.

Every Checkatrade member will get the same benefits package, but the number of leads and cost will vary based on a number of factors such as:

• Lead expectations
• Category
• Sub-categories
• Location
• Additional products or services

Anyone who signs up to join Checkatrade automatically becomes an approved Checkatrade member. Fixed membership from Checkatrade means you can expect a certain number of leads throughout the year.

For more information on exactly what your membership covers, you can speak to our membership advice team. They’ll help you choose a membership that suits the needs of your business.

5. Upload consistent and high-quality photos

Another core way to ensure your profile is optimised is to regularly upload sets of high-quality photos of your work.

In fact, if possible, our membership advisors recommend you upload 1-3 new photos each week to your profile.

• Regularly uploading new photos shows that your business is active
• Photos showcase the work you’ve done.
• Photos and reviews help to inspire customers through your work
• Seeing results online will make people more inclined to use your business

Obviously, you want to ask for the homeowner’s permission before you take photos. But you should get into the habit of taking ‘before and after’ shots to show customers what you can do.

And if you want to, you can also create feature albums on your profile to showcase certain types of work.

For example, if you’re a painter and decorator, you can create feature albums for ‘front doors’, ‘kitchen/diner’, ‘bedroom’ etc…

Did you know: 90% of Checkatrade members who’ve optimised their profile achieve their expected leads or more vs those who haven’t optimised their profile.

6. Invest in public liability insurance (PLI)

Last, but not least, it’s worth noting that all Checkatrade members must have public liability insurance.

And this insurance must be active. If it’s not, then your profile will be hidden and will not appear in search results.

Fortunately, making sure you’re covered is included in our vetting process, so you shouldn’t need to worry about this. So, take the time to check your PLI is up to date.

To help you out, we’ve also included 20% off the cost of PLI with our partner Superscript. And while you’re at it, why not see what other tradespeople insurance you can pick up to increase customer trust?

7. Managing your profile with the Checkatrade Trades app

Bonus tip!

At the end of the day, to get the most out of your Checkatrade profile, you need to invest time in it. And this can be tricky to do if you’re constantly on the move or out on a job.

This is why we recommend downloading the Checkatrade app! With our app, you can log in wherever and whenever you want (including a desktop or tablet if you’d prefer), making it easy to manage your profile.

It also includes plenty of additional features, such as:

• A quoting/invoicing tool
• Quick review collection
• The ability to update pictures
• Direct messaging to customers
• Instant access to new offers/discounts
• An easy way to amend your details

Either way, by showing our algorithm and potential new customers that you’re active, you’re more likely to appear in searches.

Start building your Checkatrade profile today

By now, you should have a good idea of how to optimise your Checkatrade profile to appear higher in searches.

Still not a member? If you’ve read this far, that probably means you’re ready to sign up and create your Checkatrade profile ASAP.

Of course, we offer Checkatrade members more than just a platform for customers to find them through.

• Free marketing materials
• Access to our trades app
• Guaranteed work if booked through us (T&Cs apply)
• Enjoy more leads coming your way
• Partnership discounts on training and gear
• Savings on PLI with Superscript
• Referral scheme to use with your contacts
• Offers and discounts on business essentials like tools, materials, workwear, vans and fuel

We can help you save money on your business. Get in touch with our team to learn more about our 12-point vetting process and get the sign-up process started.