224
0
lip gloss
Average Facebook posts 2022
932
1,585
Restaurants
28
airbnb
10,909
Organic search might not be responsible for positive traffic dynamics, so we also wanted to unwrap how things are going for small businesses on the social media front.
Real Estate
Higher Education
381%
Higher Education
Food & Beverages
40,207
We took a look at our clients’ domains (280+ websites), making sure to only consider small businesses (<200 employees). Then, with the help of a few Semrush tools, we checked the 2018-2022 dynamics of their traffic, keyword, and social media performance—all to see which small businesses actually have what it takes to build a strong online visibility and have a successful digital strategy.
Small Business Site Categories With the Highest Traffic Growth
212%
Most of the sites belonging to small businesses were in the positive traffic territory. The average traffic growth across the board was 2900%.
Growth 2022
Average Facebook likes 2022
The table below shows which small business types saw the biggest growth in Google searches related to starting a new venture:
Entertainment |
2,544 |
This means that over the past 4 years, most of the websites within our client list managed to expand their visitor base. But interest in all things small business marketing appears to be growing over the years. Keyword stats indicate that small business owners try to embrace all the up-and-coming trends:
![]() 2,593 |
|||||
“Small business is the backbone of our economy”—almost no US president has gone a term without reciting this phrase. Veterinary |
Category |
Average monthly values |
So, if you’re one of those 34,000 (monthly search volume) folks Googling “small business ideas”, the insights below can help you make a more informed decision. ![]() Financial Services |
This might imply that the social media audience spike of some small business categories can’t simply be tied to their advertising efforts. Or, they manage to pull off social media campaigns that bring a very targeted and relevant audience that stays and engages with their content. Are You Ready to Start a New Business?8 |
19,497 |
In fact, in most cases, we’ve seen posting frequency decrease, and by significant margins:
Small business categories with the biggest spikes in social media engagement2,214 |
1896% |
673 |
![]() But what about searches around small business specifically? Domain |
If small business is the backbone of the US economy, the right marketing strategy is the backbone of your small business’ success. 676% |
|||||
5,984 |
Telecommunications |
|
304% |
||||
440,364 |
2,175 |
2,957 |
|||||
Higher Education |
Education Management |
Gambling & Casinos |
As you can see, the actual growth in the number of small businesses and interest in starting them has indeed increased over the years. So Google searches often pre-empt the actual leap into the world of entrepreneurship. What Are the Hottest Small Business Types?Armed with data we pulled from our clients’ sites (insights taken from various Semrush tools), we also managed to track some general success patterns. We analyzed everything from their traffic growth trends to organic and social media performance over time—all to see which small business categories manage to do better online. Exploring searches around opening a businessIn fact, searches surrounding the financial side of running a small business saw the biggest increase in interest over the past 4 years:
Entertainment |
medical courier |
55,075 |
Vending machines appear to be gaining the biggest traction, as the category broke into the second spot of most-searched small businesses. 79% |
|
Information Technology |
Food & Beverages |
29 |
Although impressive, this is not the biggest jump to date. 1,449 |
1,360% |
|||
vending machine |
1 |
603% |
|||||
3,448 |
137% |
||||||
2724% |
|||||||
Insurance |
11 |
261.29% |
127,338,8 |
Change |
|||
laundromat |
Marketing & Advertising |
While general interest in starting a small business is spiking, its distribution is not even as some businesses get more traction than others. 3,518 |
|||||
13% |
|||||||
Apparel & Fashion |
Median number of organic keywords where domain ranks in top 10 |
||||||
52 |
The “Etsy, cleaning, boutique” triad is present—fully or partially—across each state’s top 3. There are some exceptions, though:
What Are Americans Concerned About When Thinking of Opening a Small Business?28,364 |
Sites within the leisure and entertainment spheres have seen the biggest traffic surge. power washing |
51,162 |
Building Materials |
So, we’ve explored which small business site categories have the largest share of high-ranking organic keywords. 42 |
Queries related to “starting a boutique” have always had the largest share of all small business related searches, but the rest of the top three kept changing over time: 497% |
|
Media Production |
The “marketing ideas for small business” keyword—the most searched term within the category—gets around 1,200 monthly searches. This is much lower than all the administrative and operations-related terms. 104.76% |
||||||
189% |
|||||||
15 |
Change |
||||||
1657% |
|||||||
37,994 |
As per our findings, as of 2022, Online Media accounts have the highest posting frequency on both Twitter and Facebook. However, this doesn’t seem to have given their audience growth a push. 0 |
301% |
330.07%
16,350
As you can see, the top 10 list here doesn’t coincide with that of the fastest-growing site categories by traffic, which means that ranking for a high number of keywords might not directly lead to traffic growth.
178%
Publishing
30
623

Education Management
Top 10 Small Business Site Categories by Share of High-Ranking Organic Keywords
Growth 2019 |
2,327 |
Law & Government |
Online Media |
Online Media |
147% |
|||||||||
135.86% |
37,622 |
1 |
2,145 |
|||||||||||
So we used our keyword and more particularly search volume intel to explore some trends of interest within the realm of small business and:
Right, they Google it. Looking at the number of keywords small business sites rank for can reveal whether traffic growth has to do with a successful organic search strategy. Average Facebook posts 2018 |
appliance repair |
If you are curious and impatient to launch a new small venture, we hope this study helped to assess the digital landscape of all things small business. 1,075 |
3,339 |
|||||||||||
E-learning |
16% |
|||||||||||||
92,563 |
Average Twitter likes + replies + retweets 2022 |
43,525 |
Indeed, the US economy has always been known for its reliance on smaller enterprises: sticker |
2 |
Top 10 Fastest-Growing Small Business Site Categories (2017-2022)
Change |
|||||||||
Average Twitter likes + replies + retweets 2018 |
314 |
17,212 |
365.42% |
Food & Beverages |
10,116 |
|||||||||
Half of all the small business related searches have to do with the financial side of things—from grants to loans, people research any help they can get. 12% |
||||||||||||||
20 |
100,686 |
Keyword |
73% |
|||||||||||
Average Twitter posts 2022 |
21% |
|||||||||||||
tanning |
17,600% |
|||||||||||||
63420% |
||||||||||||||
Publishing |
3210% |
|||||||||||||
5530% |
||||||||||||||
28,606 |
1,540 |
Building Materials |
41% |
Small Business Categories With the Fastest Twitter Engagement Growth
Entertainment |
Building Materials |
That’s why search volume stats can reveal what really matters to Americans when they are thinking of opening a small business. 205% |
||
7% |
||||
Financial Services |
Keyword |
Stats across regions, however, can vary a lot, so we took a more granular look at the most popular small business categories within each US state. You may think that it’s all because organic strategies aren’t working so well on either Facebook or Twitter. 247% |
||
45,581 |
||||
934 |
Music |
But the market has space for everyone, only you have to know how to go about it. 1,239 |
12 |
6,627 |
1,839 |
24,210
Keyword
565
28,033
Almost one-fifth of all entrepreneurs-to-be want to open a boutique.
333,375
65%
176%
146,011
1,340%
11,069
184
We took a closer look at marketing-related searches to evaluate whether small businesses are all that interested in researching ways to promote their brands.
Keyword
224,752
Average Twitter posts 2018
Small Business Categories With the Fastest Twitter Audience Growth
Food & Beverages |
218 |
38 |
Small Business Categories With the Biggest Facebook Activity Growth
2 |
Real Estate |
138% |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Change |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
274 |
While it’s individual small businesses and their teams that are behind the successes, we can still track some category-specific patterns. Small business categories with the biggest audience growth5652% |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What do people do, though, when they want to open a new business? Furniture |
47% |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 |
48% |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Information Technology & Services |
Capitalizing on hobbies is also popular—starting an Etsy business looks attractive to almost one-fifth of all the searchers. Average Facebook audience 2022 |
162.65% |
69,237 |
Consumer Goods |
2,214 |
9,379 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Utilities |
5,813 |
Consumer Goods |
If we look at overall patterns across site categories, on average, small business domains we analyzed have the top organic rankings for approximately 8,000 keywords. Which Small Business Category Gets the Biggest Social Media Traction?264,689 |
Twitter comes with similar patterns, only growth figures are more modest. Change |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Real Estate |
-1% |
Small business categories with the most social media activity
Information Technology & Services
3,118
33,056
Consumer Goods
Furniture
Search volume stats reflect this.
Consumer Goods
205%
445
Entertainment
25,122
The pace of growth, however, varies across industries.
Consumer Goods
695%
2
397.62%
91
You can see that engagement stats are consistent with audience growth across both social media networks.
62,099
128.22%
274,140
12,165
Consumer Goods
Over the past four years, the number of these searches has grown by 21%.
206
On Facebook, it’s Higher Education and Building Materials accounts that have seen whopping audience growth rates over the past 4 years—we’re talking percentage increases in the thousands.
29
Up to now, we’ve been looking at the patterns on a national level.
30,530
Starting a business means that you’ll face a lot of challenges and concerns. And what does that imply?
Human Resources
Consumer Goods
264
When analyzing social media trends for small businesses, you’d expect to see the same leisure and entertainment brands getting the biggest audience growth numbers.
135
Small Business Categories With the Biggest Twitter Activity Growth Trend
14,816 |
2,943 |
Consumer Goods accounts have had the biggest increase in posting frequency on both Twitter and Facebook. Once again, this change hasn’t resulted in notable social media audience expansion. 2,961 |
2237% |
||||
Average Facebook likes 2018 |
Online Media |
Consumer Services |
The second-biggest concern for potential entrepreneurs is administration. Small business accountants or accounting software have witnessed growth in interest—we see a triple-digit increase here as well. Is Marketing At All a Matter of Concern for Small Businesses?298 |
Insurance |
Education Management |
Average Twitter audience 2018 |
94% |
The only exception here was in July 2020, when interest in opening up a business skyrocketed off the typical season—and this can be linked to what’s now called the pandemic effect. Change |
|||||||
531 |
Change |
||||||
![]() Telecommunications |
185,376 |
Restaurants |
Insights into each channel’s engagement stats can shed some light on this. 1,920% |
||||
517 |
13 |
1108% |
|||||
Insurance |
3,340 |
Small Business Categories With the Fastest Facebook Audience Growth |