The short answer: Google ads suit the tree jobs people search for and want sorted quickly: a tree down after high winds, a split limb hanging over the house, a dead tree someone’s worried about. They’re weaker for the work people put off, like conifers and crown reductions. They only pay when each click lands on a page about that job, someone answers while you’re up a tree, and you judge it on booked jobs, not clicks.
I’ll be straight about where this comes from. Lead Wave’s track record is on Facebook and Instagram, where we’ve delivered over 100,000 leads for UK trades. We’ve only just started running Google Ads, and only for trades on a website we’ve built, so I’m not going to quote you Google results we haven’t measured. What I can give you is what a year of tree surgery enquiries and 162 tree lead conversations read one by one show about where a tree enquiry turns into a job, plus what Google’s own help pages say.
Do Google ads work for tree surgeons?
For some tree work, yes. Google shows your ad to someone who has just typed “emergency tree surgeon” or “tree surgeon near me” into their phone. That person has a problem now and will usually ring whoever looks local and trustworthy first.
The trouble is that most domestic tree work isn’t like that. People live with a conifer that’s too tall or a tree that blocks the light for a long time before they do anything. Many of them aren’t searching, so there’s no search to put an ad in front of. You also pay for every click, whether the person rings or not. That’s why the question isn’t really “do Google ads work”, it’s “which of my jobs does someone actually search for”.
Which tree jobs suit Google, and which suit Facebook?
It comes down to how urgent the job feels to the homeowner.
| The job | Where I’d lean | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A tree or big limb down after a storm | They search and ring someone the same day | |
| A dead, split or leaning tree near the house | Google first, Facebook as well | Some search straight away, others worry about it for weeks |
| Conifers, crown reductions, overgrown hedges | Facebook first | People put these off until something reminds them |
| Stump grinding, clearing a garden | Both | Some search for it by name, plenty just haven’t got round to it |
The enquiries we’ve read on Facebook lean towards the put-off jobs. In Peterborough the jobs won in three weeks included a large conifer job and a pine removal, and in another tree surgeon’s review the enquiries were tree work and hedges, some tied to a house sale or a survey with a deadline. None of those people needed a tree surgeon that afternoon. The storm call is the job Google is built for. There’s a side-by-side for every trade in Google ads vs Facebook ads.
When do tree surgery enquiries come in?
Mostly when you can’t answer. Across a year of our tree surgery clients’ Facebook lead forms, 11,256 enquiries, 50.6% of those with a time recorded came in outside 8am to 5pm. The busiest hour was 6pm, and Sunday was the busiest day, with 15.6% of the week’s enquiries.
The year has a shape too. Tree enquiries in our data peak from May to August and dip in November and December, and that held two years running (the month-by-month charts). Storms don’t follow that pattern. A windy night can bring urgent searches in any month, and those are exactly the calls you lose if the phone rings out while you’re climbing.
That timing matters more on Google than on Facebook. Our enquiries mostly arrive as forms, which wait for you. Google enquiries are more often phone calls, and a call from someone with a tree on their car won’t wait until you’ve come down and taken your harness off.
What has to be in place before you pay for a click?
Three things, and the ad itself isn’t one of them.
A page for each job you want more of. Someone searching “stump grinding” should land on a stump grinding page with your area, your number, a WhatsApp button and photos of real stumps you’ve ground out. Someone with storm damage should land on a page that says you do emergency call-outs, not your homepage. Show your insurance and qualifications near the top. People letting a stranger take a chainsaw to a tree beside their house want to know you’re covered. The page also needs to be quick on a phone. Our own site scores 96 for speed on Google’s Lighthouse mobile test (measured 15 October 2026), and we build trade sites to the same standard (websites for tradesmen).
A way to count every call, WhatsApp and form. If you can’t see which searches brought which calls, and which calls became booked jobs, you can’t tell which part of the spend is earning its keep.
Someone answering, or something replying. In Peterborough we read all 89 conversations in a tree surgeon’s lead app over 21 days. 73 were real people and 37 never replied to anything. Across all 27 lead reviews we’ve done in every trade, people who phoned weren’t rung back in 12. On Google that’s a click you paid for going straight to the next tree surgeon on the list.
Where do tree surgeons waste money on Google Ads?
Most of it has nothing to do with the wording of the ad.
- Searches that were never work. Tree surgery attracts a lot of searches from people who’ll never hire you: “tree surgeon jobs” and “tree surgery courses” from people wanting to get into the trade, “how to fell a tree” from people doing it themselves, “chainsaw hire”, and questions about who’s responsible for a neighbour’s tree. They all need blocking, and the list needs checking every week.
- Clicks sent to the homepage. Someone with a fallen tree lands on a page about garden design, can’t see “emergency” anywhere and goes back.
- An area wider than you’ll drive. A click from an hour away for a small hedge trim is paid for whether or not you’d ever go.
- Ads running when nobody picks up. If you’re climbing all day and the phone goes to voicemail, you’re paying for those calls anyway. Either someone answers, every enquiry gets an instant text back, or the ads run when you can reply.
- Reports in clicks, not jobs. Impressions and clicks tell you the ads were busy. Ask for enquiries, booked jobs and what each booked job cost.
- An account in someone else’s name. If you leave, its history goes with them.
There’s a full list of what to ask before you sign anything in questions to ask a Google Ads agency.
What are Google’s pay-per-lead listings for tree surgeons?
Separate from normal search ads, Google runs Local Services Ads: the listings that sit at the top of some local searches, where you pay per lead instead of per click. When we checked Google’s UK help page on 26 October 2026, Tree services was one of the UK categories.
To get listed you go through Google’s screening. Google’s UK screening page lists a business check and public liability insurance for tree services, and you need a public, verified Google Business Profile. Businesses that pass show a Google Verified badge, which Google describes as a sign you’ve passed its checks, not a guarantee to the homeowner.
These listings can run alongside normal search ads. They don’t fix the basics. A pay-per-lead call that rings out while you’re up a tree is still a lost job.
Should you answer the “can I cut this tree down” searches?
On your website, yes. In your ads, usually not. Lots of homeowners search whether a tree has a preservation order or whether they need permission in a conservation area. In England, most work on a protected tree needs the council’s consent, and most work on trees in a conservation area needs six weeks’ notice to the council (GOV.UK guidance).
Those people are researching, so paying for their clicks rarely books a job that week. A short page on your own site that answers the question, and offers to check it for them, is a different matter. It shows you know what you’re doing, and some of them will ring you when they’re ready.
How does Lead Wave run Google Ads for tree surgeons?
We only run Google Ads for tradesmen on a website we’ve built, because we can’t stand behind clicks landing on a page we can’t measure or improve. Each tree job you want more of gets its own page and its own ads.
We set up and run the account. Your ad spend is billed at exactly what Google charges, with no cut taken. Every call, WhatsApp and form is tracked, every enquiry gets an instant text in your name, and you mark jobs quoted or booked in your lead app, so your report shows enquiries, booked jobs and what each job cost. It’s 3 months to start, then month to month, and we take one tree surgeon per area on Google Ads.
What we can’t show you yet is Google results. Our record so far is Facebook and Instagram, where tree surgeons are usually live within the hour and see their first enquiries within 24 hours. Here’s what that looked like for one of them, in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire: 27 people replied about real tree work and 4 jobs were won in three weeks.
Yeah a lot better thanks Got four jobs to see so far
Tree surgeon · WhatsApp, 25 Nov 2025, 10:27
For the wider picture on winning tree work, including commercial versus domestic, see how to get more tree surgery work. To work out a Google budget from your own numbers first, see how much to spend on Google Ads.
Thinking about Google ads for your tree surgery business? Message Nick with your town and the tree jobs you want more of. He’ll tell you straight whether Google, Facebook or both makes sense for your area. See how Google Ads works with us
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