Which Local Niches Are Worth Targeting as an SEO Agency? I Checked the Search Data

Search “best niches for local seo” and you get lists of trades with no numbers behind them. So on 9 October 2026 we looked up how many people in the US search for SEO help in 11 trades, and what advertisers pay for a click on each of those searches.

The short version: dentists and lawyers search for SEO help the most, lawyers cost the most per click at $100.29, and coaches and consultants barely search at all. National demand is one of four factors. The other three you check in your own city, and this post shows how.

What we checked and how

We searched Google for “best niches for local seo” on 9 October 2026. The results included a page from boulderseomarketing.com, a Reddit thread, a page from alliai.com and a Quora question. None of them publish search data by trade, so we pulled it ourselves.

• The searches: “seo for [trade]” for 11 trades, such as “seo for dentists”.
• The country: United States.
• Source one: Google Ads monthly search volume and cost per click, pulled through DataForSEO.
• Source two: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer monthly volume and keyword difficulty, for six of the 11 trades.

A search for “seo for dentists” comes from someone looking for SEO for a dental practice. That makes the volume a measure of how many owners in a trade are already looking for the service you sell.

How many owners search for SEO help, by trade

Here is the full data set. Volumes are monthly searches in the US. “Not checked” means we did not look that trade up in Ahrefs.

Reading the Google Ads column from the top:

• Dentists lead with 1,300 searches a month. Ahrefs shows 2,200.
• Lawyers are second with 880. Ahrefs shows 5,300, the highest Ahrefs figure in the set.
• Plumbers, therapists and contractors each show 590. Ahrefs shows 1,500 for therapists.
• Financial advisors show 480, and 1,400 in Ahrefs.
• Doctors, real estate agents and accountants show 390, 260 and 210.
• Coaches and consultants show 50 and 20. Ahrefs shows 200 and 150.

We also checked the phrases agencies themselves type. “seo niches” shows 50 searches a month in Google Ads data and 100 in Ahrefs. “best niches for local seo” shows 10.

Why Google Ads and Ahrefs disagree

The two sources do not match. Ahrefs is higher for all six trades where we checked both, and the gap is largest for lawyers: 880 in Google Ads data against 5,300 in Ahrefs.

• Google Ads groups searches. Google's Keyword Planner help page says average monthly searches count a keyword “and its close variants”.
• Google Ads rounds. The same page says search volume statistics are rounded. Three trades in our table show exactly 590, which is what rounded figures look like.
• Ahrefs publishes its own estimate. It is a separate number for each keyword, built by Ahrefs.

My advice is to trust the order and the rough size. Both sources put dentists and lawyers in the top two and coaches and consultants at the bottom.

What a click costs in each niche

CPC is what advertisers pay for one click on the phrase. I read it as a proxy for how much a customer in that trade is worth to the companies selling SEO to it.

1. Lawyers: $100.29
2. Dentists: $59.80
3. Financial advisors: $54.75
4. Doctors: $42.43
5. Plumbers: $42.41
6. Real estate agents: $35.79
7. Accountants: $29.09
8. Therapists: $25.07
9. Contractors: $16.74
10. Coaches: $8.30

Google Ads returned no CPC for “seo for consultants”.

Volume and CPC do not move together. Therapists and contractors match plumbers on volume at 590, and their clicks cost $25.07 and $16.74 against $42.41 for plumbers. Financial advisors have less volume at 480 and the third-highest CPC at $54.75.

Which niches I would shortlist from this data

This is my reading of the table above. It is an opinion about where to look first, and your city can change the answer.

• Dentists. The highest Google Ads volume at 1,300, the second-highest CPC at $59.80, and an Ahrefs KD of 4.
• Lawyers. The highest CPC at $100.29 and the highest Ahrefs volume at 5,300. The KD of 23 is the highest in the set, so expect more agencies competing for these owners.
• Financial advisors. A CPC of $54.75 with a KD of 0. Volume is mid-table at 480.
• Plumbers. 590 searches and a CPC of $42.41, more than double the $16.74 for contractors at the same volume.

A four-factor score for any niche in one city

The table is national. Your agency sells in a city, so score each niche there. Give each factor 1, 2 or 3 points and add them up for a total out of 12.

1. Owner demand. Use the Google Ads column. 3 points for 500 or more monthly searches, 2 for 200 to 499, 1 for under 200.
2. Value of one customer. Ask owners in the trade. 3 points if one new customer covers your monthly fee, 2 if it takes two to five customers, 1 if it takes more.
3. Room in the Maps results. Run the Google Maps prospecting search and count the listings in positions 4 to 10 that show three or more signals. 3 points for five or more, 2 for two to four, 1 for one or none.
4. Gaps in AI answers. Ask an AI assistant for a recommendation three ways, as described in the AI answer pitch. Count how many of the seven listings never appear. 3 points for five or more, 2 for two to four, 1 for one or none.

The example above uses placeholder trades in a placeholder city:

• Trade A: 3 for owner demand, 3 for customer value, 1 for room in the Maps results and 2 for gaps in AI answers. Total of 9 out of 12.
• Trade B: 2 for owner demand, 2 for customer value, 3 for room in the Maps results and 3 for gaps in AI answers. Total of 10 out of 12.

Trade B has less national demand and still scores higher, because the local results leave more room. That is why the city check comes before the decision.

How to test a niche in one afternoon

You need Google Maps, an AI assistant, a keyword tool and a spreadsheet with one column per factor.

Step 1: Pick two trades and one city

• Take two trades from the shortlist, or two you already know.
• Choose one city or district you can describe by name.
• Add one row per trade to the spreadsheet.

Step 2: Look up owner demand for each trade

• Find the trade in the table above and note the Google Ads volume.
• For a trade outside the table, look up “seo for [trade]” in Google Keyword Planner or the keyword tool you use.
• Give 3, 2 or 1 points using the bands in the last section.

Step 3: Run the Maps search and count the open listings

1. Move Google Maps to the city and search the service plus the city name.
2. Read positions 4 to 10, the listings below the map pack.
3. Note the six signals on each one, such as an incomplete profile or unanswered reviews.
4. Count the listings with three or more signals and score the factor.

Step 4: Ask an AI assistant who it recommends

AI answers are skewed by your own account history, so I phrase the prompt on someone else's behalf. For a dental practice in Florida that reads: “I am looking for a [type of] dentist for my cousin's 11-year-old son in [city], Florida.”

1. Write three prompts a customer of that trade would ask.
2. Run each one and list the businesses the assistant names.
3. Mark which of your seven Maps listings never appear.
4. Score the factor from the count.

Step 5: Ask three owners what one customer is worth

Get this number from owners. You may be the SEO expert, and they know the business. Call or message three owners in the trade and ask two questions.

• What is one new customer worth to you in the first year?
• Which type of customer do you want more of?

Compare the first answer with your monthly fee and score the factor. Keep the second answer for your pitch.

Step 6: Score both trades and pick one

• Add the four scores for each trade.
• Pick the trade with the higher total out of 12.
• On a tie, pick the trade with the higher score for the value of one customer.
• Keep the Maps listings you scored. They are your first prospect list.

What this data cannot tell you

• Who is searching. Some people typing “seo for dentists” can be marketers or other agencies researching the niche.
• What a client will pay you. CPC is what advertisers bid on the phrase. It says nothing direct about retainers.
• Your city. Every figure is for the whole United States.
• Trends. This is one lookup on one day, 9 October 2026.
• Results. The data shows demand. It does not show how well SEO works for any trade.

Tools for the first prospects in your niche

• A keyword tool. Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs, for the owner demand factor.
• Google Maps and a spreadsheet. For the Maps count and the scorecard.
• CrawlRaven. Our tool. Before a prospect signs, it crawls their site and reports pages with no internal links, schema errors and crawler access problems. After they grant access, it joins the crawl with Search Console and GA4 into one ranked plan. See the local SEO audit.
• Free checks. The website page counter, the internal link analyzer and the schema validator cover a single prospect site.

We are also launching an AI SEO tool soon. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.

Sources used in this post

• CrawlRaven research, 9 October 2026: US search volume and CPC from Google Ads data via DataForSEO, and volume and KD from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer.
• Google Ads Help – About Keyword Planner forecasts and historical metrics: average monthly searches include close variants and are rounded.
• Ahrefs – Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank: the 0 to 100 KD scale and its basis in links to the top 10 pages.

Related reading on CrawlRaven

• How to find local SEO clients on Google Maps, for the prospect list in your chosen niche.
• How to get local SEO clients with one ChatGPT screenshot, for the pitch.
• The local SEO audit guide, for the full audit after the first call.