When we start with a new tradie client, the question comes up on day one: should we build more pages covering our services, or more pages covering the suburbs we serve?
This is the most important structural SEO decision you’ll make with your website. Get it right and you rank for the searches that actually bring in jobs. Get it wrong and you have a lovely site that nobody finds.
What each type does
Service pages (e.g. “Hot Water Repairs”, “Switchboard Upgrades”, “Bathroom Renovations”):
- Target: searches about what you do (“hot water repair cost”, “switchboard upgrade”)
- Customer intent: researching a specific service
- Conversion: medium-high for well-matched searches
- Competition: tends to be high
Suburb pages (e.g. “Plumber in Parramatta”, “Electrician in St Kilda”):
- Target: location-specific searches (“plumber Parramatta”, “electrician near me”)
- Customer intent: ready to book, need someone local
- Conversion: high (usually higher than service pages)
- Competition: varies wildly by suburb
The honest answer for most tradies: suburb pages first
For 70% of local trade businesses, suburb pages should be the priority after your core pages. Here’s why:
- Buyer intent is higher. Someone Googling “electrician Bondi” is ready to call someone. Someone Googling “how to fix a power point” might just want to DIY.
- Competition is often weaker. “Electrician Sydney” has 100 competitors. “Electrician Croydon Park” has 5. Easier to rank for, with better buyer intent.
- They reinforce your map pack rankings. A dedicated suburb page with schema markup, local landmarks, and consistent NAP helps your GBP rank better for that suburb’s map pack.
- They scale. Serve 15 suburbs? Build 15 pages. Each one targets a distinct search with low competition.
The exception: when service pages come first
Build service pages first if:
- Your trade has specialised, searchable services (solar install, bathroom reno, swimming pool cleaning)
- You’re in a regional area with only 1-3 suburbs you serve
- You’re targeting content-research traffic (commercial trades often do)
The right ratio
For a typical metro tradie serving 8-15 suburbs:
- 5-8 core service pages (your main services in depth)
- 8-15 suburb pages (one per suburb you serve)
- Plus: homepage, about, contact, FAQ, blog
Total pages: 20-30. This is the sweet spot for a 6-12 month ranking strategy.
For regional tradies serving 2-4 towns:
- 8-12 service pages (depth over breadth)
- 2-4 town pages
- Plus core pages
How to write a good suburb page
The #1 mistake with suburb pages: copy-paste the same content with find-replace on the suburb name. Google detects this instantly and filters the pages.
A good suburb page has:
- Unique H1: “Plumber in [Suburb] — [Unique qualifier]”
- 400-600 unique words minimum
- Specific local references: Landmarks, nearby suburbs, local context (“We often service properties near the [landmark] and adjacent streets”)
- A local testimonial: From an actual customer in that suburb, named
- Embedded map centred on that suburb
- Schema markup: LocalBusiness with the suburb in the address
- Service-specific relevance: Mention the services most common in that area (heritage suburbs = older pipes, newer suburbs = newer issues, etc.)
- Strong CTA: Phone number, form
How to write a good service page
Service pages are for depth. They should be longer (600-1200 words) and answer every question a customer might have before booking.
Structure:
- H1: “[Service] in [Main suburb]”
- 150-word intro explaining what it is and when you need it
- “What’s included” section with specifics
- “How long does it take” section
- “How much does it cost” section (even rough ballparks help)
- “Common issues” or “Common reasons for this service”
- FAQ section with 5-6 specific questions
- Gallery of completed jobs if you have them
- Strong CTA at top and bottom
Which suburbs to build first
Rank your suburbs by:
- Job volume in the last 12 months (more jobs = more authority)
- Search volume (check Google Keyword Planner for “[trade] + [suburb]”)
- Competition level (how many competitors have dedicated pages for that suburb)
- Your conversion rate from that suburb (some suburbs are better customers than others)
Build the top 5 first. Expand to 10 after those are ranking.
Common mistake: too many services
Some tradies list 40 services. This dilutes your authority — Google doesn’t know what you’re great at.
Pick 6-10 core services that represent 80% of your work. Build deep pages for those. Mention the others briefly on the homepage or FAQ but don’t give them dedicated pages.
How long this takes
Realistic timeline for a site with 8 service pages + 10 suburb pages:
- Month 1: Core pages live (home, about, contact, 3 service pages). Launch.
- Month 2: 5 more service pages written and published.
- Month 3-4: Suburb pages in batches of 3-5.
- Month 5-6: All 18 content pages live.
- Month 7-9: Rankings start materialising for suburb pages.
- Month 9-12: Service pages rank. Suburb pages cementing.
By month 12 you should be in the top 3 for several suburb pack searches and top 10 organic for primary service + main suburb.
The investment
If writing 18+ content pages yourself feels impossible, it’s typically a 50-80 hour project at reasonable quality. At your hourly rate as a tradie ($60-120/hour imputed), that’s $3,000-9,000 of time.
We include suburb page bundles ($790 for 5) and ongoing content as part of our SEO add-ons. Or we handle the full buildout as part of Growth and Pro tiers.
However you do it, the answer is the same: build suburb pages first (unless you have an obvious reason not to), build service pages alongside, and be consistent about it over 6-12 months. That’s how ranking works.
Tell us about your trade and we’ll map out the exact page structure that’ll work for you.