November 18, 2022

9 Industries That Benefit From SEO (in 2022)

Written By

Nick Zviadadze

Founder at MintSEO

SEO is one of the best possible marketing channels you can use.

Done right, you’ll rank your website on the front page of Google and start driving hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of customers every month purely from organic search!

SEO, however, is not something that works for every industry.

For some types of businesses, it’s just not the right marketing channel and can end up costing you a ton of money for almost no results.

Want to know which industries need SEO the most and if YOURS is one of them? Read on!

9 Industries That Need SEO the Most

1. Professional Services

When looking for professional services, the first thing most people do is look up local service providers, making professional services an industry that benefits from SEO.

Some types of companies in this industry that stand to gain from SEO are:

Financial advisors
Accountants
Bookkeepers
Tax consultants
IT consultants
Web development firms

And so on.

Using Google Planner, we can look up the number of searches for, say, accounting services in a popular location such as London.

As you can see above, accounting-related keywords have a monthly search volume of over 3,400.

That’s over 3,400 potential customers that you could reach if you focused on SEO for your professional services business!

2. Food, Drink & Entertainment

Imagine it’s a Friday night and you’re looking for a new restaurant, bar, or some other source of entertainment in your area.

What’s the first thing you’d do?

Why, Google it, of course!

You’d be looking up something like “pubs near me,” “karaoke London,” or something else along those lines.

As such, the food, drink, and entertainment industry is another industry that benefits from SEO.

Some examples of businesses in this industry are:

Bars
Pubs
Restaurants
Cafes
Catering services
Event planners
Escape rooms

And so on.

3. Legal Services

Next up is the legal services industry.

When you’re looking for legal help, you’re very likely to find the right professional via Google. If you’re looking for a personal injury lawyer, for example, you’d be looking up keywords like:

Personal injury lawyer near me
Car accident lawyer near me
Truck accident injury attorney

And the like.

Some legal service companies that benefit from SEO include, but are not limited to:

Personal injury law firms
Criminal law firms
Family law firms

4. Home Repair & Renovation

Another industry that greatly benefits from SEO is home repair and renovation. Whether you’re an electrician or an interior designer, chances are prospective customers are looking for your services via Google.

Some home repair type companies that benefit from SEO are:

Paints
Electricians
Deep house cleaners
Housekeeping
Interior designers
Interior decorators

And others.

Are you a home repair/renovation company? Check out how we helped an interior design firm rank page #1 for the keyword “interior designer” in several locations!

5. Real Estate

According to Ahrefs, over 247,000 people worldwide (and 114,000 in the US) look for real estate agents every month to help them purchase or sell a property.

real estate industry monthly google data

Want to stand out from your competition and drive customers to your real estate business on autopilot?

Then SEO is the right marketing channel for you!

Some types of real estate companies that benefit from SEO are:

Real estate agents
Brokers
Commercial real estate companies
Property management companies

6. Medical Service Providers

Medical services is another industry that greatly benefits from SEO. This includes medical service providers like:

Chiropractors
Dentists
Doctors
Mental health clinics

And the sorts.

When patients need medical help of any kind, the first thing they usually do is look up the type of help they need and then visit the clinic that’s closest to them and has the best reviews.

So, if a medical service provider wants to attract customers in their area, they need to look after their website’s SEO.

7. Other Local Services

Some other local service businesses that didn’t fit into any specific industry (but still benefit from SEO) are:

Junk removal
Gym and fitness
Child care
Tutoring
Veterinary clinics
Pet stores
Pet groomers

And so on.

8. E-commerce Businesses

One of the most effective marketing channels for an e-commerce company is SEO.

After all, what’s a better way to reach potential customers than by having them find you?

According to an article by nchannel, over 44% of all people shopping online start their search via search engines.

As an e-commerce company, there are two ways you can potentially benefit from SEO:

One, you can optimize your product pages so that they rank for keywords that people search to look for the said products. E.g. if you’re selling baby shoes, you can optimize your product category pages for the keyword “baby shoes.”

Two – you can write content surrounding topics that your target audience would Google and then upsell them on your product. E.g. if you’re selling baby shoes, you can blog about topics like how to pick out the best clothing for a baby, size guides for babies, and so on.

9. SaaS Companies

Last but not least, an industry that benefits best from SEO is SaaS.

Software as a Service, or SaaS, in short, is an industry worth over $172 billion.

Since the software business is primarily done online, one of the most effective ways to drive traffic is via SEO.

You can, for example, optimize your homepage to target whatever keyword best describes your software. E.g. if you’re running a task management SaaS, you’d want to optimize your homepage for the keyword “Task Management Software.”

Alternatively, you can also create content that your target audience is likely to look for. If I’m Googling “productivity tips,” for example, then it’s very likely that I’d benefit from a task management tool.

Does My Industry Benefit from SEO – an Easy Way to Check

Not sure if your industry would benefit from SEO?

There’s a very easy way to check!

Create a list of keywords that you’d think best describe your business. If you’re an interior design firm, for example, those would be:

Interior designer near me
Interior design London
Interior designer
Luxury interior designer in London

Then, head over to Google Keyword Planner. Choose your location and input your keywords:

interior design industry searches in london

As you can see above, around 1,000 to 10,000 people based in London look for “interior design London” and “interior designer” every month.

Ask yourself this: would an extra 1,000 potential customers visiting your website every month benefit your business?

If the answer is yes, then you’re definitely in an industry that benefits from SEO!

Cases Where SEO is NOT the Right Marketing Channel

Now that we’ve covered all the important stuff, let’s talk about what industries DON’T need SEO.

As we mentioned before in this article, SEO is not necessarily the right channel for every business. Below, we’ll cover the scenarios where you’re better off using a different approach (other than SEO) to marketing your business:

Your total addressable market is quite small. If you’re selling some very niche B2B software, then you’re better off doing direct sales than SEO.
You’re a startup with a limited runway. SEO is a very long-term marketing channel. If you’ve never done SEO before, chances are, you’ll need over a year to drive sizable traffic to your website. If you have a limited runway, you’re better off focusing on marketing channels that drive traffic (and customers) as soon as possible.
Your product is very innovative. If there are zero searches for terms that describe your product, chances are you’ll drive zero traffic from Google even if you rank #1 for these terms.
You need customers ASAP. If your business is struggling and you need revenue NOW, then you’re better off running ads or using some other marketing channel that can drive instant results.