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RESEARCH REPORTApril 2026

Florida Landscaper AI Visibility Study

The lowest AI visibility of any industry. 35% of queries returned no recommendation at all.

Last updated: April 2026

571

AI Queries Tested

10

Florida Metro Areas

5

AI Platforms Analyzed

0

Landscapers on All 5

Study scope

571

AI queries tested

Across 5 landscaping specialties: landscaper, lawn care, landscape designer, irrigation, tree trimming

10

Florida metro areas

Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Naples, Sarasota, Tallahassee, St. Pete

5

AI platforms tested

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude

12

Queries per city/specialty

3 query types per specialty: best in city, need one taking customers, top rated with reviews

Key findings

Executive summary from the full report. No email required.

  • Landscaping has the lowest AI response rate of any industry we have studied. Only 64.8% of queries returned a specific local landscaper by name. More than one in three searches gets no recommendation at all.
  • Tree trimming is nearly invisible to AI. Only 40.4% of tree trimming queries resulted in a named business. Ask an AI for a tree trimmer and there is a good chance it tells you nothing useful.
  • Google AI Overviews barely exist for landscaping. AI Overviews triggered just 21.2% of the time for landscaping searches. That is the lowest AIO trigger rate of any industry we have measured.
  • Fragmentation is the worst we have seen. 99.3% of the 1,517 landscapers named appeared on just one AI platform. Not a single landscaper appeared on three or more platforms.
  • West Palm Beach is an anomaly. West Palm Beach leads all cities with a 91.1% A-Response Rate, the opposite of its pattern in other industries. Every other city falls between 56.7% and 73.3%.
  • Houzz is a significant citation source. Houzz appeared in 79 queries, making it the third most cited source for landscaping, ahead of Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor. This is unique to this industry.
  • Franchises have almost no presence. National franchise brands account for only 4.8% of AI recommendations. Local independents own 95.2% of landscaping AI visibility.
  • Angi and Yelp still lead, but the citation mix is broader. Angi was cited 180 times and Yelp 132 times, but landscaping draws from more sources than most industries, including Houzz, Nextdoor, and Facebook.

Platform comparison

How often each AI platform named specific local dental practices (A-response rate).

Claude100%

3/3 queries returned local practice names

ChatGPT92%

138/150 queries returned local practice names

Gemini81.3%

122/150 queries returned local practice names

Perplexity54.7%

82/150 queries returned local practice names

Google AI Overview21.2%

25/118 queries returned local practice names

The bottom line

If your landscaping business only shows up on Google, you are invisible on 4 out of 5 AI platforms where customers are searching. And at 21.2%, Google AI Overviews barely show up for landscaping at all.

Cite this research

Valero, A. (April 2026). Florida Landscaper AI Visibility Study. Local Vitals. getlocalvitals.com/research/florida-landscaper-ai-visibility

This research is published under CC BY-NC 4.0. You may cite and reference this data with attribution.

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The complete study with city-by-city breakdowns, specialty analysis, platform deep dives, DSO vs. independent data, and the full cross-platform fragmentation analysis.

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About this study

571 queries were run across ChatGPT (GPT-4o with search), Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and Claude during April 2026. Queries covered 10 Florida metro areas and 5 landscaping specialties. Claude data reflects a partial sample (3 queries). Every response was coded by type (local business named, general advice, franchise only, platform referral, or not triggered). No sponsored placements or paid tools were used. Full methodology is included in the report.

Questions about the data or methodology: hello@getlocalvitals.com

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