When it comes to landscaping websites, UX (user experience) is more than just a nice-to-have – it can be the deciding factor in whether or not customers choose your business and equally important, whether Google gives your site the thumbs up for good rankings.
A landscaping website with excellent UX is like a well-oiled machine. It's effortless for your customers to maneuver and pleasing on the eyes, providing customers and potential customers with an enjoyable yet efficient experience that can be navigated without any hitches.
It's also critically important to Google. Think about it, Google users could be visiting your landscaping website after searching for:
"hardscaping, such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls"
"tree and shrub planting and care"
"landscape drainage solutions"
"pest and disease control for plants"
"landscape renovation and restoration"
"landscaping design ideas and plans"
"garden and flower bed design and installation"
"landscaping [city]"
"landscaper [city]"
"landscapers [zip code]"
"lawn care and maintenance [zip code]"
And if Google users don't have a good user experience, then Google will not be happy. And we all know what happens if Google isn't happy with your landscaper website- yep, down the rankings drain it shall go.
What do we mean by a happy Google? Let's say a user starts on Google's servers and types in a search term like tree and shrub planting and care, landscape drainage solutions, pest and disease control for plants, irrigation and watering system installation and repair or another related service. Next, the user views the top landscaping websites on page 1 and clicks over to the site that most appealed to them.
Landscapers can maximize the potential of their website by making it responsive. A well-designed, adaptive site allows landscaping visitors to view content no matter what device they are using - be it a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone!
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Mobile compatibility: With the majority of landscaping searches like hardscaping, such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls, irrigation and watering system installation and repair, pest and disease control for plants, landscape renovation and restoration, tree and shrub planting and care, outdoor lighting installation, etc., now being done on mobile devices, it's important for landscapers to have a website that is easily accessible and usable on a variety of mobile phones, including the latest iPhone, Androids and tablets.
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Convenience: A responsive website allows customers to easily find and contact the landscaper, schedule landscaping appointments, and make payments, regardless of the device they're using.
PRO TIP: Additionally, Google uses the mobile version of your landscaping website for ranking. In fact, Google has been using mobile-first indexing for several years, which means that it uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking, rather than the desktop version.
This is because the majority of landscaping related searches, like pest and disease control for plants, landscape drainage solutions, hardscaping, such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls, tree and shrub planting and care, etc., are now done on mobile devices. By using mobile-first indexing, Google aims to improve the search experience for users by providing them with relevant and user-friendly content, regardless of the device they're using.
The best landscaping websites will be optimized for mobile devices and have a responsive design, giving them a better opportunity to rank higher in search results, as they provide a better user experience.
It's worth noting that if a landscaper's website doesn't have a mobile version, Google will still index and rank it, but it may not perform as well as a mobile-optimized website.
Well Placed Call-to-Actions (CTA)
Landscaping websites should be designed to inspire action from your visitors - and the key to that are carefully crafted call-to-actions (CTAs). By strategically placing CTAs throughout the site, you can encourage people to take desired actions and ultimately increase conversions.
Having well-placed CTAs on your website will help it:
Without a effective CTAs, your landscaping website may be missing out on a huge opportunity to engage and convert visitors. Ensure that yours is strategically placed - it could make all the difference!
Navigation Built for the Landscaping Customer's Journey
Your landscaper's website must have a navigation that built to provide a fluid customer journey. Navigation is the way visitors find their way around your website and it's crucial to make it easy for them to reach the information they are looking for.
A well-organized and intuitive navigation structure can improve the overall user experience and help your customers (and potential customers) quickly and easily find the content they are interested in.
Key Landscaping Pages to Have on Your Website
There are several important pages that should be included on a landscaping website in order to provide potential customers with the information they need and to help establish the business as a reputable and professional one. Some key pages to include are:
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Homepage: A clear and well-designed homepage that gives an overview of the landscaping business and its services.
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About Your Landscaping Team: A page that provides information about the landscaper's team, the business and its history, along with the qualifications and certifications.
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Landscaping Services Provided: A page that lists the landscaping services offered by the business, along with detailed information about each service.
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Portfolio: A page that showcases the landscaper's past work, including before-and-after photos of completed projects.
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Landscaping Testimonials: A page that features customer reviews and testimonials from past landscaping projects, which can help to build trust and credibility with potential customers.
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Contact Us: A page that provides the contact information for the landscaping business, including phone number, email, and physical address, as well as a contact form to allow customers to easily get in touch.
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FAQs: A page that answers common landscaper questions customers may have about the business and its services.
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Blog: Blog: A page that provides helpful tips and advice on landscaping-related issues and can help the website to rank higher on search engines.
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Emergency Landscaping Services: A page that provides information about emergency services that the landscaper offers and how to contact them in case of emergency.
PRO TIP: Stand out from the competition even more by covering the latest landscaping trends. Below are a few trends in the landscaping industry that your website should go over.
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Sustainable Landscaping: This trend emphasizes the use of native and drought-resistant plants, as well as eco-friendly landscaping practices, to reduce water usage and protect the environment.
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Vertical Gardening: This involves using walls, fences, and other vertical surfaces as planting spaces to maximize the use of limited outdoor space.
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Low-Maintenance Landscaping: Many people are looking for ways to have attractive outdoor spaces without spending a lot of time and effort on maintenance. This trend involves the use of easy-to-care-for plants, such as succulents and other drought-resistant species, as well as the use of mulch, ground covers, and other methods to reduce the amount of weeding and watering needed.
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Outdoor Living Spaces: This trend involves the creation of functional outdoor spaces, such as outdoor kitchens, dining areas, and fire pits, to encourage people to spend more time outdoors.
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Smart Landscaping: The use of technology to automate and optimize landscape management, such as using sensors to monitor soil moisture levels, using weather data to optimize watering schedules, and using smart irrigation systems to conserve water.
On-Page Landscaping SEO
On-page landscaping SEO plays a crucial role when it comes to creating a website for your landscaping company; not only does it make sure that search engines can index your content, but also allows them to instantly identify how relevant your landscaping website is for a particular search term.
After disecting the top websites for landscapers, we correlated the top areas to focus on when it comes to on-page landscaper SEO:
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Use keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions: The title tag and meta description are among the most important on-page landscaping SEO elements. Make sure they accurately reflect the content of the webpage and include the target keywords.
Example: If you're wanting to be found for "landscaping services" you'll want to include this phrase in the areas mentioned above.
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Use header tags appropriately: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to organize the content of the page and make it easy for search engines to understand the structure of the page.
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Optimize images and videos: Use descriptive file names and alt tags for images and videos to make them more easily discoverable by search engines.
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Optimize internal linking structure: Use internal linking to help search engines understand the hierarchy of your website and the relative importance of different pages.
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Use schema markup: Schema markup is a type of structured data that can help search engines understand the content of a webpage more effectively.
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Keep it fresh: Regularly updating your landscaping website with fresh, relevant content can help boost your rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
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Use tools: Use SEO tools to track your on-page SEO progress and find areas that need improvement.
PRO TIP: The best landscaping websites don't over-do-it. You want to stay away from going overboard with adding unessecary keywords to avoid an overoptimization penalty.
Overoptimization, also known as "keyword stuffing," refers to the practice of including too many keywords on a webpage in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings. This can include using the same keyword multiple times in the same sentence or paragraph, using hidden text or links, or creating fake pages with irrelevant content.
Example: At ACME Landscaping Services, we offer landscaping services for those wanting landscaping services in areas that I offer landscaping services.
Error on the side of caution and follow the 'less is more' strategy.
Examples of the Best Landscaping Websites
Ok, let's get into it! Below, we listed the top landscaper websites for this coming year!
