2025 Results Are In: What the Data Reveals Going Into 2026 (Part 1)

Key shifts in landscape buyer behavior from 2025, and what they mean for your marketing strategy in 2026.

Hi H Client!

As we close out 2025, we’re taking a step back to look at how buyer behavior across the landscape industry has evolved, and what the data signals heading into 2026.

We analyzed multi-year search demand across maintenance, design/build, commercial, and specialty services to understand where interest is growing, shifting, or consolidating, and how buyers are actually entering the market today.

The Big Picture

Across core landscape service categories, overall search demand trended upward in 2025. The growth, however, was not evenly distributed. The strongest gains were concentrated in service-specific and contractor-focused searches, signaling a meaningful change in buyer behavior.

A Shift Toward Action-Driven Searches

Search behavior in 2025 continued to move away from broad, exploratory research and toward high-intent service and contractor terms. Searches tied to installation, maintenance, and “company” or “contractor” language saw the most significant growth, indicating buyers are entering the market with clearer intent and a shorter path to action.

At the same time, more generic or inspiration-based design searches softened or remained flat. This was not a slowdown in demand, it was a refinement. Buyers are spending less time researching ideas and more time searching for providers ready to execute.

What This Means for Landscape Businesses

The data points to a more decisive buyer: fewer window shoppers, more prospects actively looking to hire. Businesses that clearly define services, align messaging to intent, and meet buyers later in the decision process are better positioned to capture higher-quality, sales-ready leads.

Aligning marketing strategies to these demand shifts is critical. In upcoming emails, we’ll share how these insights are guiding practical adjustments across key channels.

Next week, we’ll break down how these demand shifts translated specifically to Google Ads performance, and what changed in how paid search should be approached heading into 2026.

Until Next Week,
Lauren Cullnan
Director of Client Happiness and Project Management