While working on a project I needed an updated list of all the Google My Business categories. The list I found had nearly 4,000 categories. That's was too many to work with. So, I applied my keyword research methodology to see which ones were most searched for. That's how I came up with a list of the most competitive industries on Google.

My Methodology

I applied the same method to these categories that I do for my keyword research. Using data from the old-version of Google's Keyword Planner, I multiply Average Searches by Competition by Average CPCs. I call this number the "opportunity" for that keyword.

Why bother? Some keywords have big search numbers, but nobody is bidding on them because they don't convert. Other phrases are expensive from a CPC perspective, but don't have a lot of searches. Some have both high searches and costs, but not a lot of competition. When doing keyword research, I want to consider all these factors, and not just focus on one. That's why I multiply them: I want to know how they compare with each other from a directly proportional perspective.

For example: one term might have 1,000 searches but a competition of 0.8 and an average CPC of $1.00. Another has 1,500 searches, the same competition and a CPC of $0.50. If I just took the searches, the second would be the better opportunity. However, since people are spending far less per click on that phrase, I see that it's actually less of an opportunity (1,000 x 0.8 x 1.00 > 1,500 x 0.8 x 0.5).

This is what I did for each of the 4,000 categories. Now I know which are most competitive in Google. In fact, if you want to see the entire list of all the categories, here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FitO3Hs1HLQSSVqVu7es47bjcmFqhfKT/ (on my site, I put this data behind an email signup- but for /r/bigseo, I give it to you for "free"; that's just the kind of guy I am)

Who cares?

If you're trying to do SEO in one of these categories, you need to have a realistic expectation for success. Perhaps your boss doesn't get this. Maybe these numbers will help them realize why things are moving slowly for you. This might affect your marketing strategies, and channels. I outline a couple other benefits in the post I wrote about this, here: https://reliableacorn.com/blog/most-competitive-industries-google/

If you're selling SEO, this might help you identify industries that are more competitive than you initially might think. Hopefully this will help you price your proposals according to the work it will require.

There might be a different way to do this. I might have the wrong list of categories. You might think of other uses of this data, than I am- or think it's useless. I know you won't be shy- so let the discussion begin.