Two Coastal Towns, One Big Opportunity
Rhyl and Llandudno sit barely twenty miles apart on the North Wales coast, but they could not be more different in character. Rhyl is a working town undergoing significant regeneration. Llandudno is a Victorian resort town with a strong tourism economy. Both need tradespeople. Both have homeowners searching Google every day for plumbers, electricians, builders, and every other trade you can think of.
What makes these two towns interesting from a local SEO perspective is that the competition is still relatively thin. Compared to cities like Manchester or Liverpool, the number of businesses actively optimising their Google presence in Rhyl and Llandudno is remarkably low. That gap is an opportunity. But it will not stay open forever.
If you are a tradesperson working in either of these towns, here is what the local search landscape actually looks like and what you can do to own it.
Rhyl and Llandudno have a combined population of over 50,000 — with only a handful of optimised trade GBPs
Local searches for trades in Rhyl have grown 35% year-on-year
What People Are Searching For
Let us start with the basics. The most common searches for tradespeople in this area follow predictable patterns. "Plumber Rhyl." "Electrician Llandudno." "Builder near me." "Roofer Colwyn Bay." These are the bread and butter queries that drive phone calls and booking requests.
But there are layers beneath the obvious searches. "Emergency plumber Rhyl" has real volume, particularly during winter when burst pipes spike. "Bathroom fitter Llandudno" picks up from spring onwards as homeowners plan renovations. "Gas engineer Colwyn Bay" runs steadily year-round because boiler servicing never stops.
The thing that catches many tradespeople off guard is the seasonal variation. Llandudno has a significant tourism economy, and that creates seasonal demand for trades. Holiday let owners need painters and decorators in March and April to refresh properties before the summer season. They need plumbers and heating engineers in autumn for pre-winter maintenance. If your Google Business Profile is not optimised for these searches during peak planning periods, someone else is getting those calls.
Rhyl has a different dynamic. The town's ongoing regeneration means there is consistent demand for builders, plasterers, and window fitters. New housing developments and renovation projects create a steady stream of work that shows up in search data as spikes in "builder Rhyl" and "renovation Rhyl" queries.
If you are a tradesperson in Rhyl or Llandudno, the competition on Google is shockingly low — most of your competitors haven't even claimed their profiles.
Who Is Currently Ranking and Why
When we run free audits for tradespeople in this area, a clear pattern emerges. The businesses ranking in the top three map pack positions almost always share the same characteristics.
First, they have a decent number of Google reviews. In Rhyl and Llandudno, the bar is surprisingly low. For many trades, the top-ranking business has fewer than forty reviews. Some have fewer than twenty. This is not Manchester where you need a hundred reviews to compete. Getting to thirty or forty genuine reviews puts you in serious contention for most trade searches in both towns.
Second, they have complete Google Business Profiles. That means a full set of categories, written service descriptions, recent photos, opening hours, and a proper service area that covers the towns they actually work in.
Third, and this is where the gap shows, most of the top rankers do not have strong websites, active Google Posts, or consistent citation profiles. They rank well because they got the basics right and the competition did not bother. That means if you get the basics right and then go further, overtaking them becomes very achievable.
The Coastal Tourism Factor
Here is something specific to Llandudno and the wider coast that affects local search in ways most tradespeople never consider.
During the summer months, the population of Llandudno swells dramatically with visitors. Those visitors are not searching for tradespeople. But the holiday let owners who serve them are. And those owners often search from their primary residence, which might be in Cheshire, Merseyside, or further afield.
This means a search for "plumber Llandudno" might come from someone sitting in Chester who owns a holiday property on the Great Orme. Google still shows local results based on the location in the search query, not the searcher's physical location. So your profile needs to be optimised for the town name as well as proximity-based "near me" searches.
The practical takeaway: make sure your Google Business Profile and your website explicitly mention the towns you cover. Do not assume "near me" searches are the only ones that matter. Named-town searches are a significant chunk of the volume, particularly from property owners who do not live locally.
Mention both towns in your GBP description and posts. Create separate service pages on your website for Rhyl and Llandudno. Ask customers from both areas to mention the town in reviews.
Covering Both Towns Without Spreading Too Thin
A common question from tradespeople in the area is whether they should try to rank in both Rhyl and Llandudno, or focus on one. The answer depends on your proximity to each town and how strong your profile is.
If you are based in one of the two towns, start there. Get your Google Business Profile fully optimised and establish strong visibility in your home town first. Once you are ranking consistently for your core trade in that location, expand your service area settings to include the neighbouring town.
If you are based somewhere between the two, Abergele, Colwyn Bay, Towyn, you have a natural advantage. You are roughly equidistant from both, which means Google's proximity factor does not penalise you heavily for either town. Pair that with a strong profile and you can realistically appear in the map pack for both locations.
The key is to set your service area accurately. Include every town you genuinely serve, but do not add towns you would turn down work in. Google can tell when a service area is unrealistically large, and it dilutes your relevance rather than expanding it.
Building Your Authority in the Area
Beyond the profile basics, there are things you can do to build genuine local authority that competitors in Rhyl and Llandudno are simply not doing yet.
Website content that mentions specific towns. If you are a roofer who works across both towns, having a page or section on your website about "Roofing services in Rhyl and Llandudno" gives Google additional relevance signals. It also gives you a page to link from your Google Business Profile, which strengthens the connection between your profile and your website. The impact of your website on your Google profile ranking is significant and often underestimated.
Local citations with consistent details. Your business name and phone number need to be identical everywhere they appear. Google, Yell, Thomson, FreeIndex, local directories. Inconsistency confuses Google and weakens your citation signals. This is one of the easiest fixes and one of the most neglected.
Photos from local jobs. Upload photos to your Google profile showing real work in Rhyl and Llandudno. Google reads image metadata, and customers recognise familiar streets and buildings. A photo of a completed kitchen refit in a recognisable Llandudno terrace is worth more than a stock image.
Regular Google Posts. Google Posts keep your profile fresh and give Google a signal that your business is active. Post about recent jobs, seasonal offers, or useful tips. Most tradespeople in this area post nothing at all, so even one post a fortnight sets you apart.
Common Mistakes We See in This Area
When we audit businesses along the North Wales coast, certain mistakes come up repeatedly.
No service area set. The profile shows a pin on the map but no defined service area. This limits your visibility to searches very close to your listed address.
Wrong or missing categories. A bathroom fitter listed only as "plumber" is missing searches specifically for bathroom fitting. A kitchen fitter with no secondary categories is invisible for related searches. Getting your GBP categories right is one of the highest-impact changes you can make.
Ignoring reviews. Businesses with three or four reviews sitting next to competitors with twenty-five. In a low-competition area like this, a focused review campaign over two or three months can completely change your ranking position. We explain the mechanics in our guide on how many reviews you need to rank.
No website or a very weak one. Your Google profile performs better when it is linked to a real website with relevant content. A one-page site with your phone number is better than nothing, but it is not doing the heavy lifting that a properly structured site can do.
What You Should Do This Week
If you are a tradesperson in Rhyl or Llandudno reading this, here are five things you can do right now.
- Check your Google Business Profile is fully completed. every field filled in, every category selected, service area set to cover the towns you work in.
- Count your Google reviews. If you have fewer than twenty, start asking every customer this week. Send them a direct link.
- Upload three to five recent photos of completed work, ideally in recognisable local settings.
- Search for your own trade plus "Rhyl" and "Llandudno" on Google. See who is in the map pack and compare their profiles to yours.
- Run a free audit with Local Markers to get a proper breakdown of where you stand and what to fix first.
The competition in these two towns is beatable. The businesses currently ranking have a head start, not an unassailable lead. A few months of consistent effort on your Google presence can change your position entirely.