Tree Company Playbook is an independent site for tree service owners who want a fuller schedule without signing a contract to find out whether the marketing works.
Who writes it
Steve Meitler is the editor. He has spent years running marketing for local service businesses, tree and arborist companies included, and has watched plenty of owners sign 12-month agreements on the strength of a slide deck. What those pitches lack is a number you can verify. Everything here is written so you can check it.
Where the benchmark numbers come from
The benchmark report is built from public Google Business Profile listings. We run Google Maps searches for tree services in every US state, keep the public fields on each listing (review count, star rating, whether a website is linked, hours, primary category, location), remove duplicates by Google place, and compute the statistics. Nothing comes from behind a login and no personal data is stored, including no reviewer names. The set currently holds 87,219 listings across 51 states and is refreshed monthly.
Two caveats. Collection errors happen at this scale, so read every figure as accurate to a point or two, not to the decimal. And the category mix in this trade is messy: 8.2% of listings carry no rating, and many tree companies file themselves under landscaper or lawn care instead of tree service, which is a marketing problem of its own and one we cover in the Google profile guide.
Editorial rules
- No pay-to-play. Nobody can buy a mention, a recommendation or a placement here.
- Every number is sourced, either to our own dataset or to a primary source such as Google's documentation or a government statistic. Opinions are labeled as opinions.
- Guides are written for an owner who is in a truck most of the day. If a step cannot be done by a busy owner or handed to an office manager, it does not go in.
- We do not publish safety instruction. Climbing, rigging and felling guidance belongs to ISA, TCIA and your training provider.
- Guides get updated when the platforms change, and every update is dated.
How the free trial works
The site is funded by the marketing work we do for tree companies. Every service is offered as a free 14-day trial because an owner should watch the phone ring before paying anybody. You text or call, say what you want tried (Google Ads, Meta ads, AI search optimization, local SEO and profile work, a website, social, review generation, missed-call text-back, email and SMS, bookkeeping, or appointment setting for commercial and HOA work), and we build it in your own accounts, usually within 48 hours of a short setup call. It runs 14 days. No card is held and nothing renews. At the end you keep it at a price quoted before the trial starts, switch, or walk.
Text or call (385) 832-6175, or start on the free trial page.