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Hi ,
After an extended break, I'm finally back with another edition of the GROWth Report newsletter! As always, I share the latest changes in marketing, customer behavior, online search, and more. The focus is on how it impacts your business and what to do about it.
If you're a long-time subscriber, you'll notice a few changes to the newsletter. I'm now including more content from our fantastic team, team member spotlights, quick catch-ups on things you may have missed, client news and wins, and more short content.
This month's GROWth Report covers:
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A massive change in Local Services Ads that will likely drive up costs and reduce the number of qualified leads you receive. We tell you how to turn this on/off, when to use it, and how to take advantage of the new "Get Competitive Quotes" feature.
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A common Google Ads hacking attack to look out for and how to prevent it
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A reporting change that may make your Google results look like they fell off a cliff in September
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How to generate leads with short videos - in only 10 minutes a day!
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8 huge gaps between what most tree service companies are doing today and what customers want and expect. These are a primary source of lost leads and business; learn how to fix them now to get ahead in 2026.
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TCI EXPO highlights, an intro to our Paid Search Team Lead, and more
Keep reading for details!
If you're no longer interested in receiving the GROWth Report, please use this link to unsubscribe - no hard feelings 😊.
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TCI EXPO 2025 |
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Clockwise from top left: Jack and I with clients Melanie & Bobby Gates of Godspeed Tree in Winston-Salem, NC; Graeme Knight from Arborist Growth Partners stopped by for a chat; Woman Power! Joining me are Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll of the Women's Tree Climbing Workshop and our new head of Operations, Abbi Best; #1 fan Roderick Franklin stopped by to get more advice after reading my book; a trip to St. Louis wouldn't be complete without a concrete at Ted Drewes!
I was also proud to join SavATree as a sponsor of the Women in Tree Care Networking Reception, with the goal of creating an engaging, welcoming space for women across the industry to connect, share their experiences, and build meaningful relationships. We've come a long way since I became on of the few (at that time) female arborists in Connecticut 14 years ago!
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LOCAL SERVICES ADS (LSAS) |
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Homeowners Can Now Request Quotes From Four Businesses at Once - Pros & Cons |
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Google recently rolled out a new feature in Local Services Ads (LSAs) called "Get Competitive Quotes". Instead of reaching out to one business at a time, homeowners can now send their project details to up to four tree care providers simultaneously with a single click.
This will likely increase price competition and drive up your LSA costs without necessarily increasing the number of qualified leads you receive. The feature is turned on by default if you have messaging enabled in your LSA account; the only way to opt out is to turn off messaging, which can reduce your total number of leads.
If you’re running LSAs for your tree care business, you need to understand how this feature works, what it means for your advertising budget, and how to track its impact on your bottom line. Our latest guide breaks down everything you need to know. And there's a quick FAQs and checklist if you don't have time to read it all! |
| Read the Complete Guide |
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How Hackers Are Hijacking Your Google Ads Account
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By Panajota Gushkova, Paid Search Team Lead |
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Google Ads accounts are being hacked through malicious Google Ads that redirect to fake Google login and support pages. They're also using highly convincing (and effective!) phishing attacks. The end result is a huge increase in your ad spend, fraudulent ad campaigns on your account, and being unable to change anything because you're locked out of your Google Ads account.
We put together a quick-read guide covering what’s happening, why it matters, the steps you should take today to protect your account, and what to do if this happens to you. |
| Read the Quick Summary |
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Did Your Website's Google Impressions Just Crash? |
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Many business owners obsessively track the ranking of key search terms in Google Search Console (GSC). But last month, Google made a measurement/reporting change that caused reported impressions in Google Search Console to nosedive.
DEFINITION: Impressions are the number of times your website was viewed - or potentially could've been viewed - when people searched for specific words or phrases.
The change in how/what Google reports means that data from before mid-September cannot be compared with data since then. So, if you notice a huge drop in reported impressions, don't panic - although it may look dramatic, it's not a "real" drop-off. Our Quick Read article explains it all.
>> Here's what happened and what it means for your online ranking |
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Panajota Gushkova
Paid Search Team Lead
Panajota (Pani) helps tree care companies get discovered by the right people at the right time through paid search (Google Ads, Local Services Ads, Meta Ads). She focuses on building high-performing, cost-efficient campaigns that consistently generate quality leads for service-based businesses.
With a degree in e-business and a background in digital advertising, she brings precision and strategy to every campaign. If you're running paid search campaigns, you've probably heard from her and seen your results improve since she joined us earilier this year!
Based in North Macedonia, she enjoys reading, tackling jigsaw puzzles, and walking with her fiancée. At 16, she once assisted in a baby delivery – an experience that almost led her to medical school, but we’re lucky her path brought her to TCMS instead!
Pani’s favorite tree is the willow, which she loves for its strength, grace, and ability to adapt through every season. |
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PAID SEARCH
Our Google Ads program had a strong start this fall with a 26% increase in conversions (qualified leads) from October 2024 to October 2025. Normally, leads start to fall off this time of year and the economic uncertainty has made 2025 particularly difficult, so this increase is a huge win for our clients! |
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EMAIL MARKETING
A TCMS client's blog article about fire mitigation steps to lower insurance costs in 2026 drove a high click-through rate of nearly 7% for their October 2025 newsletter (a good click-through rate for an informational newsletter in our industry is about 2%) and got the phones ringing. |
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