Local SEO for Landscapers To Rank Higher On Google Maps
The landscaping services market is worth over $150 billion, there are 647,741 businesses competing, and most are fighting over the same small pool of referrals.
Meanwhile, thousands of homeowners in your area are Googling lawn care services, landscape design, and tree service providers right now.
But if you’re not ranking in local search results, those homeowners will never know you exist.
Local SEO for landscapers fixes that. This is how…
Your Google Business Profile: The Foundation of Local SEO For Landscapers
Your Google Business Profile is the #1 tool that’ll get you some quick, high-value leads locally.
It gives you enough visibility to start showing up when potential customers search for keywords like “landscapers” or “landscape designer near me”.
And around 88% of the people who do a local search on their mobile device visit or call a business within 24 hours.
Right now, someone near you is searching “landscaping services near me” on their phone. They need help, they have money, and they’re ready to hire.
The question is whether they’ll find your business or someone else’s.
How Google Decides Which Companies To Show
Google uses three key factors: relevance, distance, and prominence.
- Relevance: How well your business listing matches what someone's searching for.
- Distance: Google shows businesses closer to where the search happens.
- Prominence: How well-known your business is online. Google looks at reviews, website mentions, social media activity, and branded searches.
The Google 3-Pack: Ranking On Google Maps
When you search for local services, you’ll see paid ads at the top, the Local 3-Pack with a map showing three businesses, and organic results below.
That 3-Pack gets 44% of all clicks. If you’re in it, you’re getting almost half the attention. If you’re not, you’re scrapping for leftovers.
Getting into the 3-Pack is the result of deliberate local SEO efforts: optimized Google Business Profiles, positive reviews, local citations, and quality website content.
Your Google Business Profile: The Foundation
Your Google Business Profile is free, takes 30 minutes to set up, and is the single most important thing you can do for local visibility.
Here’s what optimization means:
- Fill out every field. Business name, address, phone number, website, hours, service area.
- Choose the right primary category. "Landscape Designer" or "Lawn Care Service" depending on your main revenue source.
- Upload photos constantly. Businesses with photos get 42% more requests for directions and 35% more website traffic.
- List every service you offer. Irrigation installation, hardscaping, tree trimming, seasonal cleanup.
- Write a business description using keywords naturally. Don't stuff keywords. Write like a human.
Local Citations: Getting Your Business Listed Everywhere That Counts
A citation is any online mention of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).
Why do citations matter?
Because they prove to Google that you’re a real business.
The more consistent citations you have across reputable sites, the more Google trusts you, and that trust translates directly into better search rankings.
To create citations, you need to list your business on local business directories for contractors and landscapers. We created a short but impactful list of the top 10 most important business directories for landscapers. Check it here.
Keyword Research For Landscapers: Finding What Your Audience Searches
Keywords are the words and phrases people type into online to look for services.
For landscapers, these are “landscaper near me”, “landscape designer Colorado”, “lawn care Wichita”, “paver patio installation in Reno”, etc.
Use tools like Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, or Semrush to see what your audience actually searches.
What works for landscaping:
- Service keywords: lawn care, landscape design, patio installation, tree service
- Location + service: landscaping services in Phoenix, lawn care Austin, tree service near me
- Long tail keywords: best landscaping company in Miami, affordable lawn care services near me
We created our own tool to help our clients research some keywords themselves, without paying anything. It’s easy to use, fast, and free. It also has a quick video tutorial to show you around. Check out our tool here.
Building A Landscaping Website That Converts
- Make it mobile-friendly. Over 60% of searches happen on mobile.
- Speed matters. Three seconds is the max.
- Create separate pages for each service. Give lawn care, landscape design, tree service, and irrigation their own pages.
- Put your phone number everywhere. Top of every page, clickable on mobile.
- Show your service areas clearly. Create dedicated pages for major cities.
- Display your best work. Before-and-after photos build trust.
- Write clear calls to action. "Call Now For A Free Quote."
Link Building: Getting Other Websites To Vouch For You
When other reputable sites link to your website, Google sees it as an endorsement.
How to get backlinks?
Join local business associations, get listed in the local news, guest post on home improvement blogs, partner with related businesses, and create content worth linking to.
Don’t buy links. Google will penalize you.
Tracking Your Results
Set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Both are free.
Google Analytics shows you: website traffic, where visitors come from, which pages they visit, and where they drop off.
Google Search Console shows you: what keywords people search to find you, how often you appear in results, your click-through rate, and technical issues.
Check these monthly. Use this data to double down on what works.
We’ve helped landscaping companies all over the country dominate their local markets. Some doubled their lead flow in six months.
7 Mistakes Landscapers Make With Their Local SEO
We’ve helped dozens of landscapers show up higher on Google and get more leads with their Google Business Profile and website.
These are the most popular 7 mistakes we’ve seen landscapers make that hurts their local SEO.
- Keyword stuffing. Jamming keywords into every sentence makes content unreadable, and Google penalizes you
- Ignoring mobile users. Most people will visit your website from a phone. If the site is hard to use and navigate on a phone, you're losing leads
- No local citations. Having your business listed on Google Maps is great, but there are dozens of other places you want to list your business (Angi, Yelp, Facebook, Bing, Nextdoor, Apple Maps, etc.)
- Terrible or missing photos. Images of your work have a big impact on your SEO, but also on how your site converts
- Setting it and forgetting it. Local SEO is ongoing, not one-time. You'll need to spend some time every month to update & publish content
- Inconsistent business information. Your name, address, and phone must match everywhere, otherwise you're losing credibility
- Not getting reviews. Ask every satisfied customer to leave you a review wherever they found out about you. The most important place to get reviews is on Google Maps
How Long Does Local SEO Take?
Local SEO isn’t instant. You won’t rank #1 tomorrow.
Most landscaping businesses see measurable improvement within 2-4 months. You’ll notice increased website traffic first, then more calls. Rankings continue improving over 6-12 months.
The companies ranking at the top didn’t get there by accident. They invested time or money into building strong local SEO.
And now they’re booking projects weeks in advance while their competitors wonder why nobody calls.
Let Us Handle The Heavy Lifting
We’ve covered a lot here, but this is just scratching the surface. Local SEO evolves constantly with algorithm updates, new ranking factors, and shifting search behaviors.
As a landscaper juggling job sites, customer relationships, equipment maintenance, and payroll, adding “SEO expert” to your plate is asking a lot.
Here at Contracting Empire, we guide landscaping businesses through the entire local SEO process, helping you climb search rankings and attract the customers you actually want to work with.
Our approach is tailored specifically to lawn care and landscaping companies because we understand your industry, your challenges, and what drives real results.
Ready to work on growing your business instead of being stuck in the weeds?