Trades marketing agencies for Google Business Profile optimisation: a UK shortlist

What good GBP optimisation involves

A Google Business Profile that ranks and converts needs more than a claimed listing. The categories must be right, the service areas set to the towns you actually cover, the services and descriptions filled in, photos added regularly and, above all, reviews arriving steadily with replies to each one. Google also rewards activity, so posts and updated photos help.

The review element is where most tradespeople fall down. Asking in person works for a while and then stops. Agencies that automate review requests after each job, and reactivate past customers who were never asked, tend to produce the most durable result.

We assessed each agency on whether GBP is a core deliverable or a line item, whether review generation is included, how it is priced and what else comes with it.

1. Riley Marketing

Best for: Sole traders and small firms who want GBP optimisation and automated reviews bundled with their website and CRM on one fee

Riley Marketing includes Google Business Profile optimisation and Google review automation as standard parts of its foundational growth system, priced at £149 a month at the time of writing. The review automation also reactivates past customers, which addresses the backlog most tradespeople have of satisfied clients who were never asked. Alongside the profile work the fee covers an SEO-focused website with service and location pages, missed call text back, and a CRM with lead status tracking and branded quote pages on the trade's own domain.

The pairing of location pages on the website with service areas on the profile is what makes this work as a local search package rather than a listing tidy-up. The system is built before the client pays, with unlimited revisions, no setup fee and cancellation at any time.

The agency is based in the North East and works UK-wide. Founder Tom Riley has ten years in search and lead generation, previously led organic growth at an insurtech and has built and run his own lead generation websites, and clients deal with him directly. Published builds include Anglia Decor, an industrial painting and roofing contractor, and SET Building & Brickwork, an Essex building firm. Trades served include electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, roofers, builders, window and door fitters, decorators, landscapers, plasterers and kitchen fitters. Local SEO beyond the base package, along with Google Ads and Meta ads, is an add-on.

2. SanXpert Digital

Best for: Trades wanting Google Ads plus GBP and local SEO on a fixed fee with trade-by-town landing pages

SanXpert Digital says it works exclusively with trade businesses and has done so for 12 years, claiming coverage of more than 80 UK towns and cities, though its headquarters is not stated. Google Business Profile management sits alongside Google Ads and PPC, local SEO, AI automation for out-of-hours lead capture, AI visibility work aimed at ChatGPT and Gemini recommendations, and web development. It builds campaigns around trade-specific sales cycles, distinguishing emergency from replacement work.

Trades named are roofers, plumbers, electricians, builders, gas engineers and boiler installers, landscapers, drainage engineers, solar installers, EV charger installers and glaziers. The entry point is a free live strategy audit of the client's trade in their area. Pricing is a fixed monthly fee with no percentage of ad spend, rolling monthly with no contracts, but figures are not shown. Case studies are limited to a roofing testimonial with a headline growth figure and a results page link.

3. Leads 4 Local

Best for: London tradespeople wanting Google Maps SEO on a published tiered retainer

Leads 4 Local is based in Tooting with a South and South West London focus. It describes itself as specialising exclusively in local SEO for trades and service businesses and aims for top-three Google Maps positions within months. Services include local SEO, Google Maps SEO, website design, SEO audits, reputation management, PPC, citation building and schema.

It is one of the few agencies here with published pricing, at £349, £599 and £999 a month. Trades named are roofers, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, cleaners and junk removal, though the client list also includes dentists, estate agents and restaurants. No case studies are published.

4. Local Leads Accelerator

Best for: Electricians wanting map pack work combined with Google Local Services Ads and missed-call automation

Local Leads Accelerator does not state a UK base but publishes case studies in Manchester and Kent. Its 12-week programme blends local SEO and map pack work with Google Local Services Ads, conversion-focused websites, missed-call text back, automated follow-up and lead tracking, measured on cost per booked job.

Electricians are the primary trade, with joinery and carpentry, cleaning, waste removal and exterior services also named. Before-and-after ranking results are published for a cleaning business and a carpentry business. Pricing is not published.

5. Trustmark Trades (marketing arm)

Best for: Sole traders in less competitive towns wanting a flat-fee website-plus-local-SEO system with review tools

The marketing arm of Trustmark Trades, based in Hove, runs on its own software and charges a flat £299 plus VAT a month with no setup fee, no contract and no per-lead charges. The service covers custom websites with service and town SEO pages, local SEO and directory profiles, call tracking through a local landline forwarded to mobile, a members dashboard, review request tools, completed-job posts to the website and Facebook, hosting and maintenance, and an optional jobs CRM.

Its stated strategy is to target less competitive towns outside big cities by building many small-town pages, and it avoids guaranteeing rankings or call volume. It says it does not sell leads or share enquiries and cites a network of more than 170 members. Trades named include builders, roofers, solar installers, demolition contractors, electricians, drainage, plumbing and heating, and paving and landscaping, and it says it works with every UK trade. Case studies publish page-count and call-volume results for an electrician, a drainage, plumbing and heating firm, and a paving, landscaping and roofing firm.

How they compare on GBP specifically

Choosing the right one

If reviews are your weak point, and for most tradespeople they are, narrow the field to the two agencies that include review tools in the fee: Riley Marketing and Trustmark Trades. Riley Marketing is the lower price and includes missed-call text back and quote pages; Trustmark adds call tracking and a members dashboard at £299 plus VAT.

If you want GBP as part of a paid advertising programme, SanXpert Digital and Local Leads Accelerator both offer that in different forms, with LSAs the particular draw for electricians. Leads 4 Local is the choice for a London firm that wants a map pack retainer with the price known in advance.

Whichever you pick, the review management shortlist covers the review side in more depth, and agency transparency should be standard explains why we favour published fees. For background, the Leads 4 Local profile, the SanXpert Digital profile and the UK buyer's guide set out the fuller picture.

Frequently asked questions