When a Melbourne trades business came to us, they had a working website and a Google Business Profile that had accumulated reviews over several years. They were getting some organic traffic but the conversion rate was low and the volume had plateaued. Paid ads were generating leads but at a cost per lead that was not sustainable at growth volumes.
The goal was clear: build an organic lead channel that could eventually carry a significant share of the lead volume without ongoing ad spend.
The situation before
The site had a reasonable homepage and a single "services" page that listed everything they did. There were no dedicated service landing pages — "switchboard upgrades", "emergency electrical", and "commercial wiring" all lived on the same page under a single URL.
The Google Business Profile was set up correctly at a basic level but had not been actively managed. The service list was incomplete, photos were outdated, and the profile had not had a new post in over a year.
Schema markup on the site was absent. Local citations — directory listings with consistent NAP (name, address, phone) data — were scattered and inconsistent. The business appeared in some directories with an old phone number and in others with different address formatting.
Backlinks were minimal. The site had no blog or supporting content.
What changed
The program was sequenced over six months, with foundational work first and content growth building on the improved technical and entity foundation.
Month 1–2: Entity signal alignment
Every reference to the business — on the site itself, in the GBP, across directory listings — was brought into alignment. This meant the same business name, address, phone number, and service description across every surface.
Local Business schema was added to the site with complete, accurate information. Service schema was added to each service page. FAQ schema was added to the pages with FAQ sections.
The Google Business Profile was fully optimised: all service categories completed, service list expanded to cover every relevant service type, photos updated with current job site images, and a posting schedule established.
Twelve priority directory citations were built or corrected: Yellow Pages, True Local, Hotfrog, ServiceSeeking, and others. Inconsistencies in the existing citations were resolved.
Month 2–4: Service page build
Six dedicated service landing pages were built, each targeting a specific service-intent keyword:
- Emergency electrician Melbourne
- Switchboard upgrades Melbourne
- RCD safety switch installation Melbourne
- Smoke alarm installation Melbourne
- EV charger installation Melbourne
- Commercial electrical services Melbourne
Each page was built with a specific keyword target, a conversion-focused structure (service description, process, proof points, contact CTA above the fold), and FAQ content targeting the most common pre-contact questions for that service.
Internal linking was established between the service pages, the homepage, and the supporting blog content.
Month 3–6: Content cluster and suburb expansion
A content cluster was published to support the service pages and build topical authority. Topics included: suburb-specific service pages for the inner Melbourne suburbs with the highest search volume, FAQ and guide content targeting common electrical queries, and a case study page documenting a recent switchboard upgrade project.
Each content piece was written to include named sources, specific statistics, and FAQ sections — structured for AI overview citation readiness as well as standard organic ranking.
Results
Measured at the six-month mark against the same six months in the prior year:
- Organic leads increased by 3x — measured by form submissions and tracked phone calls attributed to organic search in GA4
- The main service page conversion rate improved by 27% — attributed to the structured conversion design and the removal of the single-page "all services" format
- Map pack visibility increased significantly for priority suburb queries — tracked with BrightLocal
- The site began appearing in AI overview citations for several local electrical service queries, generating brand impressions independent of click-through
"We stopped guessing and made the site act like the single source of truth for our core service areas."
What this means for other trades businesses
The three changes that drove the result — entity signal alignment, dedicated service pages, and a supporting content cluster — are available to any trades business operating in a competitive metro market. None of them require technical complexity. All of them require consistency and specificity.
The compounding effect is real: the same investments that produced a 3x improvement at six months continued to generate lead growth through months seven to twelve as the content cluster matured and the new suburb pages accumulated ranking history.