South London Trades
A local trades directory connecting homeowners with vetted tradespeople across 25 South London areas. We built a programmatic marketplace with 12 trade categories and 25 area pages, creating 300+ unique service-location pages that capture hyper-local search intent.
300+
Pages Generated
25
Areas Targeted
12
Services Listed
75,000 appearances in Google in 90 days
In the 90 days to 17 July 2026, the directory was shown 75,000 times in Google search results, with its average search position climbing from the mid-40s in April to the low 30s in July.
Google Search Console, 90 days to 17 July 2026
The Challenge
Why South London Trades Needed Programmatic SEO
South London Trades needed to compete with national directories like Checkatrade and MyBuilder, but with a hyper-local focus. Homeowners don't search for 'find a builder UK'; they search for 'builders in Dulwich' or 'electricians near Clapham', and a national directory can't match that local relevance.
Our Approach
How We Built It
We built a programmatic directory architecture with a trade-area matrix. Each combination (e.g., 'Builders in Dulwich', 'Plumbers in Tooting') gets its own page with locally-relevant content about the area's housing stock, common projects, and what to look for in a tradesperson for that specific type of work.
Site Architecture
Programmatic Sitemap Structure
www.southlondontrades.co.uk
/ (Homepage)
├── Services
├── /services/builders
├── /services/electricians
├── /services/plumbers
├── /services/bathroom-fitters
└── /services/kitchen-fitters
└── ... +7 more
├── Areas
├── /areas/dulwich
├── /areas/clapham
├── /areas/brixton
├── /areas/peckham
└── /areas/camberwell
└── ... ... 20 more areas
├── Service × Area Matrix
└── /services/builders/dulwich (300+ pages)
└── Static Pages
├── /list-your-business
├── /get-quotes
└── /about
Trade-area search with instant quote requests
Key Insights
What We Learned
- 1
The trade-area matrix (12 trades x 25 areas) creates 300+ unique pages, each targeting a specific hyper-local search intent
- 2
Interactive search on the homepage (select trade + area) provides instant value and captures user intent
- 3
Each area page includes local context about housing stock, common renovation projects, and what to expect from tradespeople in that area
- 4
The 'List Your Business' and 'Get Quotes' dual-sided marketplace model generates revenue from both tradespeople and homeowners
“We went from zero visibility to ranking for 'builders in Dulwich', 'plumbers in Clapham', and hundreds of other hyper-local searches. The directory pays for itself every month.”
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