Progressive Website Development Ltd

The search landscape has changed. Has your SEO strategy?

This is what the last three months look like for a local mortgage broker we work with:

451 clicks, up from 197
122,000 impressions, up from 33,100
Average position improved from 44.9 to 19.8

The traffic isn't massive. Nor do we want it to be.

They are something better.

They are increasingly made up of highly specific, bottom-of-funnel searches from people looking for mortgage services in the areas this business actually serves.

People with intent.

And that matters even more now.

Google search results are changing quickly. AI Overviews are taking up more space, local packs remain hugely important for local businesses, and generic informational content is fighting for attention in an increasingly crowded search result.

Publishing another vague blog about “5 things to consider when choosing a mortgage” is unlikely to move the needle.

Our Local SEO process starts somewhere completely different.

We align the website with the services and categories Google already associates with the business.

We build dedicated pages around the searches potential customers actually make.

We strengthen the relationship between service, location, website, Google Business Profile and external authority signals.

And we concentrate on getting the business visible where somebody is much closer to picking up the phone or making an enquiry.

The opportunity right now is not simply “get more website traffic”.

It is to make sure Google, the local pack and increasingly AI-driven search can clearly understand:

Who you are.
What you do.
Where you do it.
And why your business should be recommended.

If your competitors are building those signals while your SEO agency is still sending you a monthly blog post, there is a growing gap to close.

Could we do the same for your business?

Latest local seo and website project: GSM Construction & Property Maintenance

Really pleased to share our latest website project for GSM Construction, a family-run building company based here in Chesterfield.

Gaz and his team cover a lot more than most people probably realise.

From house extensions, kitchen renovations and bathrooms to roofing, driveways, landscaping, garage conversions and period property restoration.

The challenge was to bring all of that together without making the website feel cluttered or difficult to use.

The new site now gives GSM a much stronger place to:

Showcase the quality and variety of their completed work

Explain each of their services clearly

Highlight genuine customer reviews

Show the towns and areas they cover

Make it easy for homeowners to call, send an enquiry or start a conversation through WhatsApp

We have also built the site around GSM’s long-term local search strategy, with tonnes of dedicated service and location content to help Google better understand what they do and where they work.

Most importantly, the website now feels like GSM.

Local, experienced, straightforward and focused on doing the job properly.

Link to the website in the first comment.

And if you know someone planning an extension, renovation or other building work around Chesterfield or Derbyshire, please give the page a share.

Small business owners, STOP copying and pasting your ai written content directly to whatever social channel you are using! It’s not doing you any favours.

Let me explain why.

Sure, we all love using Claude, ChatGPT etc in our businesses and ai is an awesome tool.

However, every time you c&p your ai written content (I used to do this too) without proofing and amending it’s telling Google and your audience that you didn’t write this, it’s a strike against your business, it reduces trust.

Honestly, Google and your audience can see this stuff a mile off and will over time favour content that’s been written by a human for humans.

Google knows all the tell tale signs, emojis for bullets, over the top sentence structures, words that a human would never say out loud, overly processed images and more.

So, all you need to do is take the content and remove these signals, no emojis, break up the sentences, strip out the bs words, and finally, read it out loud and ask your self would I speak like this to a client or customer.

In world of ai slop, make sure your business represents you and your business and speaks to your human customers and clients.

How to get more leads for your local business.

This is an re-post from back in December but worth going over again.

We had an enquiry from a potential client about our Local SEO services this week, and I thought it would be a great idea to share what a typical local business can expect when working with us.

A lot of small businesses come to us in the same situation as this particular (potential) client – good at what they do, plenty of happy customers, but not getting the visibility they should be getting online.

Here’s the short version of the conversation we had:

Most local businesses rely on two key assets to generate leads online:

1️⃣ A properly optimised Google Business Profile
This is what gets you into the local map pack, the three listings that appear at the top when someone searches for things like “patio cleaner Chesterfield” or “carpet cleaning near me”.

This is where the majority of clicks go.

2️⃣ A website that MATCHES your Google Business Profile
Not just a general website…
…but one that supports every service listed on your GBP with its own dedicated page, correct wording, correct structure, and clear internal links.

When these two match, Google understands exactly what you do and the areas you serve, and that’s when rankings start to move.

In this business owners case case, he already ranks organically for terms like “patio cleaning Chesterfield”, but he’s missing from the map results. That’s the bit we fix.

So what does a Local SEO project look like with us?

Here’s what we typically do over 12–14 weeks:

✔️ Fix and align Google Business Profile categories
✔️ Add 20–30 services/products to the GBP
✔️ Build matching service pages on the website
✔️ Link all those pages from the homepage (so Google sees the structure clearly)
✔️ Optimise all existing pages for on-page SEO
✔️ Add review platforms (like Trusted Trader) to the website
✔️ Provide a full review-collection framework
✔️ Create 52 Google Post ideas and set them to schedule automatically
✔️ Build location-specific pages (e.g. “carpet cleaning Walton”)
✔️ Provide a baseline ranking report so you can measure progress
✔️ and a whole lot more!

If you’re a local business and feel like you’re “doing everything right” but still not showing up where customers are searching… this is usually why.

And the good news?
It’s fixable, predictably and repeatably.

If you want to talk about improving your local visibility, drop me a message.

I’m always happy to help and explain things in plain English.

Armed Forces Help to Buy Calculator

We recently built a lead magnet for a client that helps one of their target audiences work out how much they could borrow to buy a house under a specific government scheme.

The tool lives on its own domain, drives traffic to their main branded website, and is a great way of attracting highly qualified leads straight to their inbox.

Lead magnets are a powerful way to provide genuinely helpful information to your target audience, build trust, and generate more leads, without the hard sell.

What could you build for your business to attract more leads?

And if you know anyone in the Forces who might benefit from the free tool, check the first post for the link! 👇

Contractor Mortgage Calculator - built and shipped this week at https://www.contractormortgagecalculator.co.uk/

Day-rate contractors get told they "can't get a mortgage" or get quoted off two years of accounts - both wrong if you're talking to a specialist lender. So I built a single-page tool that takes a contractor's day rate and gives them a realistic borrowing figure in under 30 seconds, then routes the qualified lead straight to a contractor-specialist broker.

Fast, focused, ranks for a 3,500/month keyword cluster, and converts cold search traffic into pre-qualified leads.

If you run a brokerage or service business and want a lead-generation tool like this for your niche, drop me a message. I build them as standalone assets you own outright.

Thanks for the support Destination Chesterfield!

Our mission is to be the best Local SEO experts we can be and to support as many local businesses as possible grow their businesses online!

🏆 Meet our Chesterfield Champion of the Week, Simon Wilson of Progressive Website Development Ltd.

As someone who helps local businesses with their online presence and lead generation, Simon has been able to work with a wide variety of clients here in Chesterfield.

🗨️ "One day I might be helping an estate agent or financial adviser, and the next, collaborating with an electrician, joiner, or manufacturer. That diversity keeps things interesting and shows how many ambitious local businesses are investing in online growth."

His support for our town also involves being a season ticket holder at Chesterfield FC and appreciating our great walking routes on offer.

🗨️ "Linacre Reservoirs is one of my favourite spots for an evening walk with my two beagles – peaceful, scenic, and perfect for switching off."

Simon's full Champion of the Week column shares more ways he continues to support local and his greatest achievement over the past year: https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/destination-chesterfield/champions/champion-of-the-week/

We had an enquiry from a potential client about our Local SEO services this week, and I thought it would be a great idea to share what a typical local business can expect when working with us.

A lot of small businesses come to us in the same situation as this particular (potential) client – good at what they do, plenty of happy customers, but not getting the visibility they should be getting online.

Here’s the short version of the conversation we had:

Most local businesses rely on two key assets to generate leads online:

1️⃣ A properly optimised Google Business Profile
This is what gets you into the local map pack, the three listings that appear at the top when someone searches for things like “patio cleaner Chesterfield” or “carpet cleaning near me”.

This is where the majority of clicks go.

2️⃣ A website that MATCHES your Google Business Profile
Not just a general website…
…but one that supports every service listed on your GBP with its own dedicated page, correct wording, correct structure, and clear internal links.

When these two match, Google understands exactly what you do and the areas you serve, and that’s when rankings start to move.

In this business owners case case, he already ranks organically for terms like “patio cleaning Chesterfield”, but he’s missing from the map results. That’s the bit we fix.

So what does a Local SEO project look like with us?

Here’s what we typically do over 12–14 weeks:

✔️ Fix and align Google Business Profile categories
✔️ Add 20–30 services/products to the GBP
✔️ Build matching service pages on the website
✔️ Link all those pages from the homepage (so Google sees the structure clearly)
✔️ Optimise all existing pages for on-page SEO
✔️ Add review platforms (like Trusted Trader) to the website
✔️ Provide a full review-collection framework
✔️ Create 52 Google Post ideas and set them to schedule automatically
✔️ Build location-specific pages (e.g. “carpet cleaning Walton”)
✔️ Provide a baseline ranking report so you can measure progress
✔️ and a whole lot more!

If you’re a local business and feel like you’re “doing everything right” but still not showing up where customers are searching… this is usually why.

And the good news?
It’s fixable, predictably and repeatably.

If you want to talk about improving your local visibility, drop me a message.

I’m always happy to help and explain things in plain English.

Sometimes it’s not a rebuild, a rebrand, or a 50-page SEO plan.

It’s the simple stuff done properly.

Back on 9th September, this business wasn’t anywhere near the top 3 in Maps. No visibility, no leads, nothing.

Fast-forward to now, they’re holding the #1 spot across their target areas.

What changed?

• We aligned the H1 with the exact service + location (what Google actually needs).
• We sorted a legitimate, verifiable local address (the foundation of Local SEO).
• No gimmicks. No hacks. Just fundamentals done right.

If your business should be showing up locally but isn’t, it’s usually not a mystery, it’s misalignment.

Sort the basics and the results follow.

If you want help figuring out what’s holding your map rankings back, just shout.