To establish (or simply maintain) a robust digital presence, you have to generate a surprising amount of content. Figure 4,000 words a month as an absolute minimum, and if you really want to scale, you probably need twice that much.
Setting aside the question of whether you’d even want to do this yourself, it’s simply not realistic for a busy tree service owner to allocate the kind of time it takes to produce this much content. So, you will probably decide to rely on a marketing agency or hire a copywriter to generate the content for you.
But you need to be careful deciding who to hand the reins to.
Pick the right agency or copywriter, and you’ll enjoy all of the benefits top-notch content provides, ranging from better online visibility to the kind of authority homeowners want from a tree-care professional. Pick the wrong copywriter, and you’ll miss potential sales, lose your hard-earned credibility, and potentially put yourself in legal jeopardy.
7 Reasons Tree-Care Businesses Should Avoid Generic Copywriters
Let’s be clear from the outset: There are tens of thousands of skilled copywriters in the world who produce excellent content each day. But while these talented individuals can produce the kind of content car dealerships, pet stores, and restaurants need, they aren’t equipped to handle specialized topics, like tree-care.
We’ll lay out a few of the key reasons you want to avoid generic copywriters and insist on a writer who’s also a credentialled arborist below.
1. They Don’t Understand Tree Biology or Risk
Tree service content isn’t just about selling removals or stump grinding; it’s also about building trust, demonstrating your commitment to safety, and emphasizing your expertise. To effectively achieve those goals, you need a writer with a deep understanding of trees.
A generic copywriter won’t know the difference between Quercus alba and Quercus rubra, much less how to write confidently about things like root plate disturbance or the implications of decay fungi. And if your writer can’t explain why a tree with phototrophic lean isn’t a big deal, yet a tree that develops a sudden, uncorrected lean most certainly is a big deal, you should look for a different writer.
2. They’ll Miss Critical Local Regulations
More and more municipalities are enforcing strict tree ordinances, which dictate things ranging from the species you can plant in a homeowner’s yard to the need for removal permits in some cases. You surely already know these requirements and regulations like the back of your hand, but generic copywriters rarely know them at all.
That’s a problem, given that regulation-oriented questions are common among homeowners. Answering these kinds of questions provides a great way to boost your online visibility and may even allow you to show up in a featured snippet (those answers that appear at the top of Google) or be referenced by AI-powered answer engines.
3. They Can’t Speak to Real Homeowner Concerns
Generic writers often rely on generalizations like “trees add beauty and value to your yard” when trying to create content. But these kinds of vague cliches aren’t good enough in an industry as competitive as tree-care is. Homeowners end up on your website because they have a real, specific concern; they don’t need to be told trees are pretty.
That means you need a writer who can confidently discuss the common problems homeowners encounter, like a leaning pine over the driveway, an oak with mushrooms at the base, or roots buckling the sidewalk. A writer who’s wise in the ways of trees can speak to those anxieties directly, in the language your customers actually use.
4. They Might Provide Dangerous or Inaccurate Advice
Because they lack a background in arboriculture, generic copywriters may publish information that’s outright wrong. They may, for example, recommend “topping” an arborvitae, fail to appreciate the difference between hazardous and diseased trees, or advise homeowners to prune trees that are near utility lines.
This kind of factually incorrect content can damage your reputation — something you may never be able to recover. But even worse, it may expose you to liability if a homeowner follows the advice and ends up killing a gorgeous Japanese maple or suffering an injury.
5. They’ll Struggle to Write for All Your Services
A typical writer may be able to write a service page for tree removal, but they’re usually going to struggle writing about more complicated services like plant health care or crane-assisted removals. Writing high-conversion service pages for these kinds of complicated services requires deep familiarity with the industry and the SEO strategy behind it.
It’s also important to note that writing high-performing content for the tree-care industry requires quite a bit of finesse. For example, you certainly know the difference between tree pruning and tree trimming, but that doesn’t mean your customers do. So, you need a writer who can use the correct terminology to protect your authority while still producing content that’ll show up on Google for customers using incorrect terminology.
6. Your Content Will Sound Like Everyone Else’s
Generic copywriters often rely on templates, clichés, and filler — all things that make your content sound like every other business in your service area. And that doesn’t just mean every other tree-care company; it means your content will also sound like the content published by local landscaping, roofing, and pest control businesses, too.
That’s a problem when Google’s ranking systems (and your potential customers) are looking for E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authority, and trust. Mass-produced, templated content simply won’t deliver the kind of results you need. Instead, you need content that conveys your specific business’ expertise and unique selling propositions.
7. They Don’t Know How to Sell Tree Work
The buyer’s journey for tree-care work is often much different than it is for landscapers, house painters, and other kinds of home services. A homeowner may contact a landscaper about installing sod three months from now, but many of the customers contacting you will be quite distressed and in need of immediate help.
Writing for these kinds of customers requires considerable knowledge about the tree-care industry, as well as the writing skills needed to address their urgency, provide reassurance, and gently nudge them to click the “contact us” button.
What About ChatGPT? Can’t You Use AI to Write Your Content?
ChatGPT (and similar applications) can certainly be helpful, and many professional copywriters use these tools when producing content. But they’re just that — tools. They’re no replacement for a professional, human copywriter.
To be clear: You should never post raw AI-produced content. You should always ensure that it’s been reviewed by both a tree-care expert and a professional copywriter or editor. There are a number of reasons this is a vital step, including:
Hallucinations
A lot of people don’t realize that ChatGPT and similar tools will completely make things up at times. These fabrications are known as “hallucinations,” and they’re an inherent byproduct of large language models, like ChatGPT. In other words, they’re still going to be a problem in the future — there’s simply no way to eliminate them.
This can be a problem in any industry, but it’s especially problematic for tree-care professionals. Can you imagine what it would do to your credibility if you posted an article encouraging homeowners to prune their oaks in July? What if you included Bradford pears in a list of recommended shade trees for residential properties?
This kind of flawed information would not only tarnish your reputation among peers and tree-savvy homeowners, but it may also cause AI search engines to avoid recommending your services, given that you’ve published ill-advised content publicly.
Not only can flawed advice destroy your credibility with homeowners and peers, it may also cause search engines and AI tools to ignore your site.
Tone Problems
ChatGPT may be able to produce thousands of words at the press of a button, and it has gotten better at writing with a semi-human voice over the years. But it’s still a cold, lifeless technology that struggles with human emotions. And it probably always will, to some degree.
Consider an article about hazardous trees. Whether you write the article or you leave it up to ChatGPT, the subject of codominant stems is guaranteed to come up. Assuming that ChatGPT gets the facts correct (which is a big assumption), it may not capture the right tone when highlighting the danger of codominant stems.
You know that significant codominant stems are a potential problem, which should be assessed and potentially mitigated. But that may be a pricey proposition, so you need to handle the subject with a little care. Meanwhile, ChatGPT may simply explain that the tree should be removed in a cold, matter-of-fact manner that homeowners may find off-putting.
Personality Issues
Another shortcoming of ChatGPT is the fact that it has a distinctive style and personality that tends to shine through in its content. In fact, this style is so characteristic that a lot of professional copywriters and editors can instantly spot ChatGPT-generated content.
There are some workarounds for this. You can train an AI tool to sound more like your own voice, but that represents another big demand on your time, which is already in short supply. Plus, this also requires a fair bit of technical proficiency, which you may or may not have.
At the end of the day, the result is that ChatGPT content may not “sound” like you or your company. Even worse, it’ll likely sound like everyone else publishing raw AI-generated content. In an industry that demands you set yourself apart from the competition, this is a serious problem.
SEO Shortcomings
There are several important reasons tree-care companies need to produce high-quality content, with one of the most critical being visibility. You need to appear at the top of Google when people search “tree company near me.”
And while there are a number of factors that influence a site’s search engine rankings, publishing optimized content is arguably the most important. That’s an area in which human SEO writers excel, yet ChatGPT struggles. Sure, ChatGPT will stuff some keywords in your content for you, but it rarely incorporates them as naturally or effectively as SEO professionals can.
It’s also important to note that Google and other search engines can often detect AI-generated content. And while you may not be penalized for incorporating a paragraph that ChatGPT created in a 5,000-word article, search engines may very well consider a 1,000-word, non-edited, ChatGPT-created article to be “low quality content,” which will likely be penalized.
Trust ORB Tree Services Marketing for Your Content Needs
There’s no doubt about it, modern tree-care businesses have to produce a lot of digital content to survive, let alone thrive. This is especially true given the way that AI-powered search and “answer engines” are reshaping digital marketing.
That leaves you with two basic choices: Write all of that content yourself (and then hire a generic copywriter to polish it a bit) or rely on a marketing agency that actually understands the tree-care industry — and ideally, has an ISA-certified professional on the copywriting team.
That’s exactly what you get when you trust ORB Tree Service Marketing. Schedule a call with our president today — we’ll generate the content you need so you can focus on running your business.
Sources & References
- Search Engine Journal – Google E‑E‑A‑T Guidelines
Search Engine Journal offers a comprehensive guide to demonstrating first-hand experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in your content. These signals play a critical role in helping tree service providers rank in organic and AI-powered search results.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-e-e-a-t-how-to-demonstrate-first-hand-experience/474446 - Google Search Central – Creating Helpful Content
Google’s own documentation outlines what it considers “people-first” content and warns against using automation or generic templates that don’t demonstrate real-world experience. This is especially relevant for tree service companies trying to rank for high-intent local queries.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content - arXiv – Hallucination Is Inevitable
This peer-reviewed research explains that hallucinations—fabricated or inaccurate outputs—are an unavoidable limitation of large language models like ChatGPT. Tree companies using AI-generated content without proper review risk publishing inaccurate or even dangerous information.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11817 - ArboStar – Arborist Liability and Legal Risk
ArboStar’s legal primer breaks down the liability arborists face when offering incorrect advice or services, and explains the importance of accurate diagnoses, permits, and proper documentation—issues that generic content may misrepresent.
https://arbostar.com/education-hub/4-key-legal-aspects-every-arborist-should-know-liability-and-insurance-explained - Rancho Mesa Insurance – Professional Liability for Tree Care Companies
This article explains how tree care professionals may face legal exposure when their advice, assessments, or documentation is incorrect. It underscores the need for qualified, industry-specific content that reflects proper practices and liability awareness.
https://www.ranchomesa.com/industry-news/trim-the-risk-professional-liability-for-tree-care-companies
