Rank on ChatGPT as a Local Tradesperson | Practical Guide for Trades

I was at a barbecue in Letchworth last summer (my wife would say I was hiding from the washing up, she'd be right) when a mate's neighbour cornered me. He's a plasterer. Good one, too. Busy enough through word of mouth for years.

"My son asked ChatGPT who the best plasterer in North Herts is," he told me. "It gave three names. I wasn't one of them."

He looked genuinely wounded.

And look, I understood. Twenty-two years in the trade, reputation built job by job, and a computer he's never interacted with just... doesn't know he exists. That stings.

But the thing is, the three plasterers ChatGPT did recommend weren't necessarily better. They were just more visible in the places ChatGPT actually looks.

ChatGPT is not Google with a personality

This is the first thing to get your head around.

When someone types "best electrician in Stevenage" into Google, they get a list of ten websites. They click around. They compare. They choose.

When someone asks ChatGPT the same question, they get a name. Maybe two or three. That's it. No list to browse. The AI has already made the decision for them.

Completely different game.

Google rewards websites that play by Google's rules. ChatGPT recommends businesses it can confidently identify as relevant, real, and trustworthy. It pulls from its training data, from live web searches when it does them, and from structured sources it considers reliable.

Which means a lot of the old SEO playbook still matters (don't burn your website down just yet), but the emphasis shifts. Hard. You're not trying to rank on a page anymore. You're trying to be the answer.

The stuff that actually moves the needle

Your online presence needs to tell a consistent story

I'm going to say something boring.

Name. Address. Phone number.

These three things need to be identical everywhere you appear online. Your website, Google Business Profile, Checkatrade, TrustATrader, Facebook, Yell, any directory you've ever been listed on.

Identical means identical. Not "close enough." Not "well, one says Smith Plumbing and the other says Smith's Plumbing, it's obvious they're the same." It's not obvious to AI. AI is literal. It sees two different strings of text and treats them as two different businesses.

Had a builder in Baldock who was invisible on ChatGPT for months. Turned out he had four different variations of his business name across various sites. We standardised everything. Took maybe an hour.

Six weeks.

That's how long before ChatGPT started recommending him for building work in his area. Six weeks after fixing something that took an hour.

You need to answer questions, not just list services

People don't say "plasterer Hitchin" to ChatGPT. They say things like "the plaster in my hallway is cracking and bubbling, do I need to get it all redone or can someone just patch it?" or "how much should I expect to pay for skimming a ceiling in a three-bed semi?"

ChatGPT is an answer engine. It wants to give specific, helpful responses. If your website has content that directly answers those kinds of questions, you become a source it can pull from.

If your website just says "We provide high-quality plastering services throughout Hertfordshire" ... that's bloody nothing. That's air.

Write about what you actually know. Common problems you see. What things cost and why. How long jobs take. What customers should look out for. The stuff you explain to people on the phone every day, put that on your website.

We've got a whole post on writing FAQs that ChatGPT actually uses if you want the nitty-gritty on how to structure these.

Reviews are your secret weapon (but only the right kind)

"Good job, would recommend, 5 stars."

Nice.

Useless.

Compare that with: "Had Dave out to replaster our dining room after a leak damaged the wall. He came within three days, stripped the old plaster, patched the brickwork where it needed it, and reskimmed the whole room. Charged us four hundred and fifty quid which felt fair for a full day's work. Neat job, barely any mess."

That second review is packed with stuff ChatGPT can use. Service specifics. Timeframe. Pricing context. Quality signals. The first one? The AI reads it, nods, and moves on.

So ask for detailed reviews. Not just "leave us a review please." Say something like "would you mind mentioning what the job was and how it went?" People generally will. They just need pointing in the right direction.

And reply to every review. Add context when you do. "Glad it worked out, those Victorian terraces in Hitchin can be tricky with the lime plaster underneath." That gives AI more geographic and expertise signals. Free of charge.

Get yourself mentioned on sources ChatGPT actually trusts

ChatGPT doesn't treat every website equally. It weighs certain sources more heavily.

For tradespeople, the big ones are:

• Google Business Profile (keep it complete and current, not just set-and-forget)
• Checkatrade, TrustATrader, Bark
• Trade association memberships (Gas Safe, NICEIC, FMB, whatever applies to your trade)
• Local news mentions
• Proper business directories (not the spammy ones)

Getting a mention in your local paper is easier than most people think. Done a particularly interesting job? Community project? Sponsored the under-12s football team in Royston? Local journalists are always looking for stories. One article mentioning your business name and location can carry real weight with AI.

The technical stuff (I'll keep it brief)

Your website needs schema markup. That's code that labels your information so AI can read it like a structured database rather than trying to interpret free text.

LocalBusiness schema on your homepage. Service schema on your service pages. FAQPage schema if you've got an FAQ section. Most website platforms have plugins that do this. If yours doesn't, a developer can set it up in a couple of hours.

Your site structure matters too. One page trying to cover everything is a mess for AI to parse. Separate pages for separate services. We wrote a full guide on structuring your website for AI visibility if you want to go deeper on this.

Clean URLs. Mobile-friendly. Loads fast. You know the drill. This stuff mattered for Google and it still matters for AI search.

What to do this week

Stop overthinking it.

Write one piece of genuinely useful content. Answer a question your customers actually ask you. "How much does it cost to replaster a room?" or "how long does a rewire take on a three-bed house?" Pick the question you get asked most and write a proper, honest answer.

Update your Google Business Profile. Make sure it's complete. Add a recent photo. Write a post about a job you've just finished.

Check your NAP consistency. Search your own business name and look at every listing that comes up. Make sure the name, address, and phone number match exactly everywhere.

That's it. That's your starting point.

The plasterer from that barbecue? He did those three things over a couple of weekends. Nothing complicated. Just actually did them. Two months later his son asked ChatGPT the same question again.

This time, his dad was on the list.

If you want help getting your trade business showing up in ChatGPT and other AI search tools, get in touch. I work with tradespeople across North Hertfordshire on this stuff every week. You can also check out our AEO services for local businesses to see how it all fits together.