How Checkatrade Works Differently From Search Engines: What It Means for Your Leads

Checkatrade is a paid directory where customers post a job and tradespeople pay to bid on it. Search engines like Google show your own website based on what they think a searcher is looking for. The two channels work in completely different ways, and the leads they produce behave very differently. If you've ever wondered why some leads close and others go cold the moment you ring back, the answer is often where the lead came from.

How Checkatrade actually works

You pay a monthly subscription to appear on the Checkatrade platform. Customers post jobs to the site, and you (along with several other trades in your area) get notified. To pitch for the work, you pay another fee per lead. Whether you win the job or not, the bid cost is the same.

The same customer enquiry usually goes to multiple tradespeople at once. Whoever responds fastest, or quotes lowest, tends to win. The customer is rarely loyal to any one business at the point of enquiry, because they're effectively running a mini auction.

You're paying Checkatrade twice: once for the right to be listed, and again for each individual lead.

How search engines work for trades businesses

When someone searches for "roof repair Crewe" or "kitchen fitter Solihull", Google decides which websites to show based on how relevant and trusted each one is for that exact search in that exact area. If your website is properly set up, it appears in the results. The customer clicks through, lands on your site, reads about your business, looks at your work, then decides whether to ring.

You're not bidding against anyone for that visit. They came to your site, on their own, after deliberately searching for what you do. When they pick up the phone, they've already chosen you as someone worth speaking to.

The difference in lead quality

This is where the two channels really separate. A lead from Checkatrade and a lead from Google search aren't the same product in different packaging. They behave differently from the first phone call onwards.

Typical differences we see:

• A Checkatrade lead has been sent to three to five other trades. A Google search lead is yours alone.

• A Checkatrade lead is often price-shopping. A Google search lead has usually compared a few websites and picked the one they want.

• A Checkatrade lead expects a callback in minutes. A Google search lead has accepted that they'll wait a day for a proper response.

• A Checkatrade lead is often vague about the job. A Google search lead has read your service page and knows roughly what they want.

• A Checkatrade lead might be a tyre kicker shopping the entire market. A Google search lead is usually further down the decision-making path.

The close rate on search engine leads is typically two to three times higher than on lead-app leads, and the average job value tends to be larger.

What about the cost?

Checkatrade looks cheap on the front of the pack. The monthly subscription is modest, and a single lead might cost twenty or thirty pounds. But you're also paying for every lead you don't win, which can add up quickly.

SEO costs more per month, but every pound builds an asset that belongs to you. Your website. Your Google Business Profile. Your reputation in search results. After 12 months of SEO, the leads keep coming whether you keep paying or not (though they slow over time without ongoing work). After 12 months of Checkatrade, you've spent the money and you have nothing to show for it the moment you stop.

That's the part most directors don't think about until they try to leave Checkatrade and realise the leads vanish overnight.

When Checkatrade might still make sense

Checkatrade isn't useless. There are situations where it's the right tool:

• You're brand new, you have no website, and you need work this week

• You want a steady drip of small jobs to fill quiet weeks

• You're using it as a top-up while a longer-term marketing channel builds (SEO typically takes three to six months to deliver consistent enquiries)

• You operate in a low-ticket trade where margins won't sustain the cost of building proper search visibility

For most established trades businesses with average job values above £3,000, the maths usually points away from Checkatrade and towards owning your own search visibility.

Want to know what your area looks like on Google?

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