77% of Landscapers Have Fewer Than 20 Google Reviews vs 58.2% of Local Businesses

A homeowner wants the yard redone before summer and searches for a landscaper. Google's map shows three local companies, each with a star rating, a review count and a few words from the latest customer. The homeowner has no way to see the work in person, so the reviews stand in for a portfolio. They appear on the Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows a business's reviews, rating, hours, phone number and website in Google Search and Maps.

Landscaping jobs are visible, seasonal and often expensive, and homeowners hire from a short list. A profile with steady reviews and replies tells them the company shows up, finishes the job and answers when something goes wrong. A profile with three reviews and no website tells them very little.

That thin profile is the norm. 77% of landscaper profiles have fewer than 20 Google reviews, against a 58.2% average across 18 local business categories, and the median landscaper has 3. 64.7% of landscaping businesses never replied to any recent review, and 43.1% have no website linked. The gap to the top of the map is small: the top three Maps results for "landscaper" have a median of 18 reviews.

We used two samples of US landscapers, collected on September 23, 2026. The first is 717 landscaper Google Business Profiles, where we recorded the number of reviews, star rating, website, opening hours, description, claim status, business categories and photos. The second is 544 landscaping businesses with at least one review, for which we collected up to 20 of their newest Google reviews, 5,153 in all, with each review's star rating, text and any owner reply. We compare every landscaper figure with the average of the 18 local business categories in the same study.

A profile is unclaimed when no owner has verified it with Google, so the business cannot edit the listing. A landscaper "never replied" when none of its 20 newest reviews has a reply from the owner. Negative reviews are one- and two-star reviews. The median is the middle business: half have more, half have fewer. The 18-category average is the simple average of the 18 category figures.

That is the 4th-highest share of 18 categories, 18.7 points above the 58.2% average and the largest of the gaps between landscapers and other businesses on reviews and replies. The median landscaper has 3 Google reviews against 27 across categories, 20.2% have none, and 4.9% have 100 or more, against 20% on average.

Thin profiles make ratings swing. 43.5% of rated landscapers have a perfect 5.0, above the 35.7% average, while 20.8% sit below 4 stars, one and a half times the 13.8% average, and the average rating is 4.42 against 4.52. With three reviews, a single unhappy customer decides whether a company looks perfect or risky.

Reviews are picking up. Among landscapers with 20 or fewer lifetime reviews, review volume rose 21.9% over the last 12 months compared with the year before, but 30.8% received at least a third of their reviews in a single month, the pattern of one push rather than a routine. Claimed landscaper profiles have a median of 7.5 reviews against 2 for unclaimed ones.

64.7% of landscaping businesses never replied to any of their 20 newest reviews, the third-highest share of 18 categories and 12.1 points above the 52.8% average. 33.5% of recent landscaper reviews carry a reply, 14th of 18, and landscapers reply to 23.3% of one- and two-star reviews, 16th of 18, against a 30.8% average.

Across the 18 categories, the newest reviews get more replies than older ones, 55.3% against 40.5% overall. Not among landscapers: 33.6% of reviews from the last 30 days have a reply, against a 55.3% average, about the same as their overall rate. The landscapers who do reply are fast, with a median of 1.9 days, so the problem is not slow replies but no replies.

What customers write points to the work itself. Of five-star reviews, 37.2% use the word "recommend" and 24.7% say "professional". Of English-language one-star reviews, 27.5% mention price or cost and 17.4% mention rude or unprofessional staff. Landscaper reviews from the last 12 months average 41.2 words.

43.1% of landscapers have no website linked, against 35.1% on average, and 36.4% list no opening hours, against 28.6%. 32.8% are unclaimed (29.2% on average), the median profile has 6 photos against 18, and 24.3% list wheelchair access, against 62%. For a trade where the work is the selling point, six photos is a short portfolio.

The map is winnable. In a separate Suff Digital study of 3,160 Google Maps searches across 79 US cities, the top three results for "landscaper" had a median of 18 reviews, against 12 for listings ranked 4 to 20, and 80.6% linked a website, against 78.1%. Chains held 1.9% of top-three spots, and adding "near me" changed the top three in 72.2% of cities, so local independents compete with each other, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Close the review gap first. The top three map results carry a median of 18 reviews, so a landscaper who asks every customer at the end of every job can reach that level within a season. Send a text with a direct review link and a photo of the finished yard, which reminds the customer what they are reviewing.

Reply to every review, and to one- and two-star reviews first. Then link a website, add hours, and upload photos of finished projects, before-and-after shots and your crew, since photos are the portfolio a homeowner sees before calling.

Finally, compare yourself with the landscapers in your own map results, not national numbers. Suff Digital's seo for contractors programs build reviews, Google Business Profiles and service pages for landscaping companies.

Embed this research

Cite this study