John Wozniak, Director of Websites for Tradespeople, examines a year of UK Google search data to reveal when homeowners are looking for electricians, which domestic services attract the most interest and how contractors can improve their chances of winning work
Ask most electrical contractors where their domestic work comes from and the answer is a mix of word of mouth, a lead platform or two, and “Google, I think”. A year of UK search data shows what that last part looks like.
The figures below are Google Ads monthly search volumes for the UK, read through DataForSEO on 10 November 2026. Google rounds them into bands, so treat them as a guide to scale and timing rather than exact counts.
Google searches: the steady base
“Electrician near me” never fell below 60,500 searches a month in the twelve months to September 2026, and reached 90,500 in October 2025. That is the floor for direct domestic demand: people who want an electrician close by and have not yet chosen one.
Emergencies follow the dark months. “emergency electrician” ran at 3,600 a month from April to July 2026 and rose to 6,600 in November 2025. Advertisers pay around £8.54 a click for that phrase, which goes a long way to explaining what bought emergency leads cost.
The work that never stops
The most consistent search in the set is “eicr”. It never dropped below 18,100 a month between September 2025 and August 2026, and reached 27,100 in the autumn and again from January to April. “landlord electrical certificate” adds 720 to 1,900 a month on top.
The reason is regulation. In England, private landlords must have the electrical installation in a rented home inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years, and before a new tenancy starts. GOV.UK guidance published on 1 November 2025 confirms the rules now cover the social rented sector too. Every test done today is a test due again within five years, which makes a simple list of properties and due dates one of the most valuable things a contractor can keep.
The planned work peaks in spring
The bigger domestic jobs follow a different calendar. “ev charger installation” ranged from 9,900 searches in December 2025 to 22,200 in October 2025 and again in March and April 2026. “house rewire” ran from 1,000 in July 2026 to 1,900 in October 2025 and from January to March 2026. “solar panel installation” went from 2,900 in December 2025 to 8,100 in March 2026.
All three are strongest in the first months of the year, so the time to be visible for them is before January, not during it.
What being found on Google actually takes
None of this needs a large budget. It needs four things in place:
A complete Google Business Profile: Google says its local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help. The right primary category, the services you actually offer, a service area that matches where you work and accurate hours all count.
Reviews after every job, asked for the same way every time: Since 6 April 2025 UK law has banned fake reviews and reviews that hide an incentive, and Google’s own policy bans asking only the happy customers.
Scheme membership where customers can check it: GOV.UK says joining an electrical competent person scheme puts a contractor on the electrical competent person register, “a single place for householders to find registered electricians in their area”. That listing is free, and linking to it from your website and profile lets a careful customer check you in a minute.
A page for each kind of work you want more of: A homeowner searching for an EICR, a consumer unit change or a charger in a particular town is more likely to land on a page that names that job and that town than on a single page that lists everything.
Finally, ask every customer how they found you and write it down. Once a quarter, divide what each channel cost by the jobs it won, and the numbers will tell you where to spend next year.
John Wozniak is Director of Websites for Tradespeople
For more industry insight, click here.
