Landscaping and lawn care website: what earns the estimate

A landscaper's site does two jobs. For mowing, cleanups and snow, people want to know you serve their street and what it costs a month. For patios, walls and plantings, they want proof you can build and a first visit. Most sites tried to do both on one page and did neither well.

In October 2026 we opened 31 independent landscaping and lawn care websites in 11 states, on a phone and on a computer. Eighteen had a number you could tap on the first phone screen. Only four showed a price, and four a license number, which several states require. This guide goes through them in order of how much they matter, with the steps to set each one up.

Make calling one tap

Thirteen of the 31 sites had no tappable number on the first phone screen, and two weren't built for phones at all.

1. Click Business info in the left menu and check your Phone.
2. Click Menu. Under Header button, turn on Call bar on phones. A Call button then stays at the bottom of every phone screen.
3. Put your town and what you do in the first line, like "Landscaping and lawn care in Ithaca, NY", with a rating or years in business under it.

Set your Regular hours too: 16 of the 31 sites gave hours. See Add a call bar on phones.

Ask for the address and a photo

"Free estimate" was the main button on nearly every site, but a plain contact form doesn't save you a trip.

1. Add a Form section to your home page and a Get a quote page. Under Start from, choose Quote request. It asks for a phone number, the project address and when they'd like to start.
2. Turn on Ask what they need help with and list your jobs as Topic choices, like "Lawn care", "Patio" and "Snow".
3. Turn on Let people attach photos. Only 3 of the 31 sites did.
4. In Thank-you message, say when you'll call. Put your phone number beside the form.

See Start from a ready-made form.

Name the jobs, and when they happen

People search for the job: "paver patio cost", "lawn aeration near me", "sprinkler winterization", "fall leaf cleanup". Name at least six in a Services section.

Give your biggest jobs their own page. Click Pages, then New page, and start from the Service page template: a patio page that says what you build, how long it takes and what it includes. Give each a search title like "Paver patios in Ithaca, NY". See Set a page's search title and description.

Say when each job is done: spring cleanup, aeration and overseeding in fall, sprinkler start-up and blow-out, snow from November to March. The work comes in seasons, and visitors search that way.

Say where you work

1. In Business info, under Location, list your towns in Service area.
2. If you work from a yard or home, leave Street address empty and fill in just the city and state. Google asks service businesses to hide a home address too. A real yard is worth showing.
3. Add a Service areas section, and make a page for your busiest towns with Town pages: "lawn care in Lansing". See Make pages for the towns you serve.

Say how you price

"How much does landscaping cost", "lawn service cost per month" and "retaining wall cost per square foot" are among the most common searches. Only 4 of the 31 sites gave a price. The first company on a results page that says a number gets more of the calls from people comparing.

You can't price a yard you haven't seen, but you can:

• Say how you charge: by the visit, by lot size, by the month, by the storm, or by the hour.
• Post starting prices in a Price list / menu section: a weekly mow for a small lot, a spring cleanup, a sprinkler start-up, a yard of mulch spread.
• Say what the visit costs: free, or a design fee credited toward the job, like "$325, credited if we build it". Two sites did and it reads as confidence.
• Say what you need to quote: an address and a photo.

Only call a price "regular" if you really charge it, and take a special down when it ends.

Show your finished work

Five of the 31 sites showed a before photo. People weighing a patio or a planting want proof from a yard like theirs.

1. Click Lists, then Edit projects, and add each job with its Project name, Kind of work, Town or neighborhood, Before photo and After photo.
2. Add a Projects section to a page, and let it show one kind of work.

Stand in the same spot for both photos. See Take good before and after photos. Show only your own work under "Our work"; a stock photo of a patio is someone else's job.

Write down how your plans work

Eighteen of the 31 sites sold a mowing plan, a lawn program or a snow contract. Only 3 said anything about the terms, and none how a plan renews. Add a Packages section with the price (or how it's set), what each visit includes and, in Fine print:

• when it renews, like "Renews each spring until you cancel"
• how to cancel, with a phone number or link
• for snow: whether it's by the season or by the storm, what counts as a storm, and when sign-ups close

Link to your own billing or sign-up instead of taking payments through the site, so renewals stay in one place. See the rules for subscriptions in Car wash website.

Show your license, and know who may spray

Only 4 of the 31 sites showed a contractor license or registration number, and 18 sold fertilizer or weed control but just 2 mentioned an applicator license.

1. In Business info, under Location, type your number into License number, like "OR LCB #1234". It shows in your footer, so it's on every page.
2. Say "licensed and insured" in a Highlights section, and say you can send a certificate on request.
3. If you spread weed-and-feed or other lawn products for pay, name your state applicator license or certification and put your number in the same line.

Say "licensed" or "certified" only if you hold it. See Business info and hours and "Rules worth knowing" below.

Show your reviews

About 19 of the 31 sites had reviews on their own pages, and 8 showed a rating.

1. Add your best recent Google reviews to your Reviews list, with the date and the job.
2. Add a Reviews section to your home page, and your rating and count to your Highlights, like "4.9★ · 71 Google reviews".
3. Paste your Google review link into Leave-a-review link.

Ask every customer the same way after the job; the Review requests add-on can send the email. See Reviews and Ask customers for a review.

Say what you're booking now

Four of the 31 sites changed with the season: "snow fully booked", "now accepting snow requests", "booking spring, schedule fills fast". Visitors want to know there's room.

• Use the Announcement bar: click Seasonal offer or Weather delay and change the words, with a Show from and Last day shown so it comes down by itself. See Announcement bar.
• If your hours change with the season, set them once in Seasonal hours. See Set seasonal hours.
• With the Newsletter sending add-on, email past customers "book your fall cleanup" or "snow contracts close Nov 15". See Send a newsletter.

For design visits, the Bookings & RSVPs add-on lets people pick a day or a window. See Offer visits in arrival windows. If you already use Jobber, LawnPro or similar, paste its form or link into an Embed code section (Add embed code).

Financing for big projects

Only 1 of the 31 sites mentioned financing, and its banner gave two different minimums. Say "Financing available through" and name your lender, with a link, and let the lender's page give any rate or minimum. Don't write "0%", a monthly payment or "no credit check" on your own site unless the lender's page says exactly that.

Photos that build trust

Real photos of your crew and work beat stock photos, and your phone is enough. In daylight, take:

1. A finished patio, wall or planting, from the spot a homeowner would stand
2. Before and after of the same spot
3. A crew at work, and your truck with your name, number and license number
4. A freshly cut lawn with clean edges; a driveway cleared in winter

Ask the customer first, and keep faces and house numbers out. Photos you upload are made smaller automatically, which matters because 13 of the 31 sites loaded more than 3 MB on a phone. Until you have your own, Free photos has usable ones for mowing, patios, sprinklers and snow; fertilizer and drainage searches mostly return farm and construction photos, so skip those. See Free photos.

Answer the questions customers ask

Add an FAQ section. Questions customers ask landscapers most:

• Are you licensed and insured? Do you charge for estimates?
• How much does landscaping or mowing cost?
• Which towns do you serve? How soon can you start?
• What does a plan include, and how do I cancel?
• Do you apply weed control, and are you certified?
• What happens when it rains? How does snow service work?
• Do you offer a warranty, financing or a discount?

In Lists › FAQs, Suggest questions drafts more from your own site. See Use suggested questions.

Rules worth knowing

This isn't legal advice, and the rules vary by state, so check yours with your contractor board and your state's agriculture department. In October 2026 we looked at these:

• License numbers. Oregon wants a landscape contractor's number on a website's homepage, footer or contact page. Washington wants the registration number in advertising that shows a contractor's name or address. Pennsylvania wants its home improvement registration number in ads, contracts and estimates, for work like retaining walls and drainage. Tennessee requires a contractor license from $25,000 a project. We didn't check the other states, and many towns and counties license too.
• Spraying. Applying fertilizer, weed killer or any pesticide for pay needs a state license or certification in the states we read (New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota). New York also requires a written contract with dates, number of applications, price, products and your registration number.
• Safety claims. The EPA treats "safe" claims on a pesticide's label as misleading, and the FTC warns against vague claims like "eco-friendly". Say what you use, not that it's safe for pets.
• Plans that renew by themselves. Many states require clear terms and an easy way to cancel.
• Work sold at the customer's home. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives three days to cancel a sale made at home, but its exception for a visit they asked for covers repairs to personal property, which may not include work on the yard or house. Extra work sold during it isn't excluded. Put the notice in your contract.
• Financing and reviews. An ad with a payment amount needs full terms and the APR, and Google bars discounts or gifts for a review. See Plumber website.

Tips

• Your first phone screen should hold the call button, your town, the kind of work and one proof, like your rating or license.
• Once a season, take down anything out of date: a special, a "fully booked" banner, a plan price.
• Hiring? A Job openings section shows you're busy. See Job openings.
• Every site can have a Spanish version at no extra cost. See Show your site in Spanish.