Pages a roofing company's website should have

A thin roofing site, with a few pages, a phone number and a stock photo of a man on a ladder, gives a searcher little to go on.

So if you're after SEO for roofers, start here: the pages themselves. Not tricks, not tools. A roofer website that covers what you actually do, where you actually work and who you actually are stands a better chance than one that doesn't. Here's what to build, page by page, with what each should say and what to leave out. No promises on rankings, because nobody can honestly make them.

Purpose: tell a visitor in a few seconds who you are, what you do and where.

Say the trade (roofing), the main services and the area you cover. Put your phone number and a link to the quote page near the top. Keep it short and link out to the deeper pages.

Avoid vague claims like "quality service you can trust". Everyone says it. Say what you do instead.

Purpose: answer "can this firm do the job I need?" for one type of work.

Your list might include pitched roof repairs, flat roofing, chimney and leadwork, guttering and fascias, and emergency repairs. Build a page only for the work you really offer. If you don't do flat roofs, don't write a flat roofing page just because it gets searched.

Each page should explain what the work involves, what problems lead people to call you and how you go about it. Use plain words. Add a few photos from real jobs.

Give each page a descriptive URL too. Google advises URLs with words that are useful to users, so /flat-roofing beats /page-7. It helps people read the site.

Avoid cramming several services onto one page. And don't quote typical prices or timings. They vary too much, and a wrong figure costs you trust.

Purpose: show you genuinely work in a particular town.

One page per town you actually serve. Each needs real local detail from real jobs: the kind of housing you've worked on, a roofing problem common to the area, the sort of job you did there. If you've never worked in a town, don't give it a page.

Never copy one page and swap the town name. That's tempting, and it's a bad idea. Google's spam policies treat scaled content abuse (lots of pages made mainly to manipulate rankings, however they were created) as spam. That's why every area page has to carry something only you could write.

This takes longer than a template. It is also the only version worth doing. Five honest area pages beat thirty cloned ones.

Avoid listing forty towns in a block of text at the bottom of a page. It reads badly and says nothing.

Purpose: let your work prove itself.

Use real before-and-after photos from real jobs. Add a line under each saying what was done: what was wrong, what you did, what the result was. Keep it short.

Avoid stock images. Avoid photos that aren't yours. And don't name customers or show house numbers without their permission.

Purpose: show what past customers actually said.

Show real reviews only. Name the source where you can, and leave the wording as written. Don't tidy it up.

TrustMark's consumer guidance advises homeowners to take up references from previous customers. A reviews page makes that easy. It does some of the checking for them before they've even rung you.

Avoid invented testimonials, edited quotes and anything you wouldn't be happy for a customer to read about themselves. Fake reviews are a fast way to lose a customer's confidence. Don't go near them.

Purpose: let a worried homeowner check you out without having to ask.

List the schemes and bodies you really belong to, and say what insurance you carry. Link to the scheme's own register where one exists.

This matters because TrustMark advises homeowners to check that a tradesperson is registered with TrustMark for the specific trade needed. If you're registered, say so clearly and make it easy to verify. If you're not, don't imply you are.

Avoid logos for schemes you've left or never joined. Out-of-date badges do more harm than none.

Purpose: answer the questions people ask before they ring.

Build this page from real customer questions, the ones you hear on the phone or on site. Three obvious ones: how quotes are given, how long a repair takes, and what happens if it rains.

Answer them honestly and in your own words. Do not state typical prices or timings. Say instead what affects them, and that you'll confirm once you've seen the roof.

Avoid writing questions nobody has asked just to fill space. If you haven't been asked it, leave it out.

Purpose: make it easy to start a conversation.

Keep the form short: name, contact details, the address or area, a few words on the problem and a space for photos. Say what happens next and roughly when they'll hear from you.

TrustMark's guidance advises getting three quotes and a written contract. So be upfront that you give written quotes. That reassures people who've been told to look for exactly that.

Avoid long forms and asking for things you don't need. Every extra field loses someone.

Purpose: put a face and a name to the business.

Say who you are, how long you've been trading if you want to, and who actually turns up. A photo of the real team beats any graphic. Then give clear contact details: phone, email and the area you cover.

Avoid a page that reads like a brochure. People want to know who's coming to their house.

Purpose: meet your legal duties and show you're a proper business.

UK limited companies must show on their website the registered number, the registered office address, where the company is registered, and that it is a limited company. Put it in the footer so it appears on every page.

Avoid leaving it off because the site "looks cleaner". It's a requirement, not a design choice.

Your website isn't the only place customers find you. Google Business Profile matters too, especially if you go to customers rather than the other way round.

A service-area business visits customers and doesn't serve them at its business address. If that's you, remove your address from the profile and set your service areas instead. You can set up to 20. Edits to service areas can take up to 48 hours to show, so don't panic if nothing changes straight away.

Local results rely mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. There's no way to pay for a better local ranking. More reviews and positive ratings can help, which is another reason to earn real ones.

Keep the profile consistent with your site: same name, same services, same areas.

If you're starting from nothing, don't try to do it all at once. Build these in order:

1. Home page. The front door, with your services, your area and a clear way to get in touch.
2. Your main service page. Start with the work you do most and want more of.
3. Quote request page. So interest has somewhere to go.
4. Accreditations and insurance page, plus the footer details. Trust and legal basics, done once.
5. Your first genuine service-area page. For the town you know best, written from a real job.

Then add the gallery, reviews, FAQs and more area pages as you collect the material. That's the point: each page should rest on something real. It is slower than copying a template. It is also what holds up.

If you'd like a quick view of which topics your site doesn't cover compared with your competitors, Seracu offers a free snapshot. It's a free look at the gaps, and it's a sensible place to start before you decide what to build next.