Insights

U.S. State SEO Demand Report 2026: Where Businesses Search for SEO Help

Original research: monthly Google search demand for SEO companies, agencies and local SEO in all 50 U.S. states, measured in October 2026.

Trux Nguyen · · 7 min read

Quick answer

In October 2026 we measured Google search demand for five SEO buyer phrases in all 50 U.S. states. "SEO company [state]" is the strongest state-level phrase: it reaches 100 to 1,000 searches a month in 19 states, while almost every state-level phrase carries Low advertiser competition. New York is the only state where a state-level SEO phrase reaches 1,000 to 10,000.

By Trux Nguyen, Founder and Director of Unitrux, with 5 years in marketing and SEO. Published 25 October 2026. Last updated 25 October 2026.

Business owners rarely search for "search engine optimization" in the abstract. They search for help near them: an SEO company in their state, an agency in their city, local SEO for their market. This report shows where that demand is, so owners, agencies and marketers can see which states are crowded and which are open.

Method

On 25 October 2026 our team entered 250 searches into Google Ads Keyword Planner: five buyer phrases ("seo services", "seo company", "seo agency", "local seo" and "digital marketing agency") combined with each of the 50 state names, with the United States as the location. Keyword Planner reports average monthly searches as ranges for accounts without active spend, so we publish ranges, not invented exact numbers. "No data" means Keyword Planner returned no estimate, which usually means very low volume.

Key findings

"SEO company" beats "SEO services" at state level. Buyers searching by state more often look for a company than a service. "SEO company [state]" reaches 100 to 1,000 monthly searches in: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington.

Advertiser competition is almost uniformly Low. Of the 250 state-level phrases, the large majority were rated Low by Keyword Planner. Low advertiser competition does not mean organic results are easy, but it shows that few businesses are bidding on these exact phrases.

The organic results are dominated by directories and maps. In our checks of Google results for several states, the map pack and directories such as Clutch, The Manifest and Semrush's agency directory held most of the top positions, alongside a few agency state pages and small single-state sites.

Big states are not the only opportunity. States such as Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Connecticut, Oregon and Maryland show the same 100 to 1,000 range for "seo company" as much larger states, with fewer established competitors in the results.

Full results by state

Monthly search ranges, United States, Google Ads Keyword Planner, retrieved 25 October 2026.

State "seo services [state]" "seo company [state]" "seo agency [state]" "local seo [state]" "digital marketing agency [state]"
Alabama 10–100 100–1K 100–1K 10–100 10–100
Alaska 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data no data
Arizona 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K 10–100 10–100
Arkansas 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 10–100
California 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K 10–100 100–1K
Colorado 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Connecticut 10–100 100–1K 100–1K 10–100 100–1K
Delaware 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Florida 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K 10–100 100–1K
Georgia 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 10–100
Hawaii 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 10–100
Idaho 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Illinois 10–100 10–100 no data no data 10–100
Indiana 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100 10–100
Iowa 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100
Kansas no data 10–100 no data 10–100 10–100
Kentucky 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Louisiana 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data no data
Maine 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100
Maryland 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 10–100
Massachusetts 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100
Michigan 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 100–1K
Minnesota 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 100–1K
Mississippi no data no data no data no data no data
Missouri 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100 no data
Montana 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100 10–100
Nebraska 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data no data
Nevada 10–100 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100
New Hampshire no data 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
New Jersey 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K
New Mexico no data 10–100 10–100 no data 10–100
New York 100–1K 100–1K 1K–10K 100–1K 1K–10K
North Carolina 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
North Dakota 10–100 no data no data 10–100 no data
Ohio 10–100 100–1K 10–100 no data 10–100
Oklahoma 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Oregon 10–100 100–1K 10–100 no data 10–100
Pennsylvania 10–100 10–100 no data no data 10–100
Rhode Island 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
South Carolina 10–100 100–1K no data 10–100 10–100
South Dakota 10–100 no data 10–100 no data no data
Tennessee no data 10–100 no data no data 10–100
Texas 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 100–1K
Utah 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 100–1K
Vermont 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Virginia 100–1K 100–1K 100–1K 10–100 100–1K
Washington 10–100 100–1K 10–100 10–100 10–100
West Virginia no data 10–100 no data 10–100 10–100
Wisconsin 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100 10–100
Wyoming 10–100 no data no data no data 10–100

What this means for business owners

If you run a service business, the people looking for marketing help in your state are a small group, and the businesses they are looking for, your customers, are a much larger one. The same pattern holds in AI search: a few names are recommended, and the rest are invisible. Our state pages explain the opportunity state by state, and our article on why AI assistants recommend some businesses explains what earns a recommendation.

What this means for agencies

For agencies, the data shows where state-level demand exists with little paid competition. Agencies that want to serve more states without hiring can work with us as a white-label partner.

How to cite this report

You are welcome to cite or reproduce the table with a link to this page: Unitrux, "U.S. State SEO Demand Report 2026," published 25 October 2026.

About the author

Trux Nguyen is the Founder and Director of Unitrux, with 5 years of experience in marketing and SEO. Areas of work: SEO, AEO, GEO and AIO, local SEO, content strategy, schema markup, keyword research, Google Ads and analytics. Contact: [email protected].

Frequently asked questions

Which state has the most searches for SEO companies?

New York was the only state where a state-level SEO phrase, "seo agency new york", reached 1,000 to 10,000 monthly searches in our October 2026 check.

Why are the numbers shown as ranges?

Google Keyword Planner shows ranges for accounts without active ad spend. We publish the ranges exactly as reported rather than estimating exact figures.

Will you update the report?

We plan to repeat the measurement and note the date of every update on this page.

Limits of this data

Keyword Planner ranges are estimates from Google and change over time. Searches for cities, such as "seo company Phoenix", are not included in the state totals. Advertiser competition is a paid-search measure, not a measure of organic difficulty.

Sources

  • Google Ads Keyword Planner, volume ranges and top-of-page bid estimates for the keywords named in this article, retrieved 25 October 2026.

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