Small Business Trends and Stats: Assessing Americans’ Interest in Starting a New Venture

“Small concern is the backbone of our economy”—almost nary US president has gone a word without reciting this phrase.

Indeed, the US system has ever been known for its reliance connected smaller enterprises:

• Back successful 2021, tiny businesses made up 44% of each US economical activity;
• The fig of tiny businesses is steadily increasing implicit the years, reaching its highest successful 2021 (no authoritative 2022 information yet). As of 2021, the US has 32.5 cardinal tiny businesses.

What bash radical do, though, erstwhile they privation to unfastened a caller business?

Right, they Google it. 

So we utilized our keyword and much peculiarly search measurement intel to research immoderate trends of involvement wrong the realm of tiny concern and:

• See whether Americans’ involvement successful tiny concern ventures has seen immoderate YoY shifts and whether it’s taxable to immoderate patterns;
• Understand which concern types spike much curiosity;
• Explore immoderate section (state-by-state) specifics.

Armed with information we pulled from our clients’ sites (insights taken from assorted Semrush tools), we besides managed to way immoderate wide occurrence patterns. We analyzed everything from their postulation maturation trends to integrated and societal media show implicit time—all to spot which tiny concern categories negociate to bash amended online.

Exploring searches astir opening a business

To pinpoint immoderate wide trends astir starting a caller business, we looked astatine hunt measurement for assorted searches that diagnostic this desire—from “how to commencement a business” to “open business”.

Over the past 4 years, the fig of these searches has grown by 21%. 

It seems, however, that the inclination to commencement a caller task is taxable to beardown ‘seasonality’—the bulk of the searches hap successful January and March.

The lone objection present was successful July 2020, erstwhile involvement successful opening up a concern skyrocketed disconnected the emblematic season—and this tin beryllium linked to what’s present called the pandemic effect.

But what astir searches astir tiny concern specifically?

The idiosyncratic involvement maturation signifier is accordant with what we saw above, but the gait of maturation is overmuch faster.

From 2018 to 2022, the fig of searches for each things related to starting a tiny concern spiked by 76%.

As you tin see, the existent maturation successful the fig of tiny businesses and involvement successful starting them has so accrued implicit the years. So Google searches often pre-empt the existent leap into the satellite of entrepreneurship.

What Are the Hottest Small Business Types?

While wide involvement successful starting a tiny concern is spiking, its organisation is not adjacent arsenic immoderate businesses get much traction than others.

Search measurement stats bespeak this.

Almost one-fifth of each entrepreneurs-to-be privation to unfastened a boutique. 

Capitalizing connected hobbies is besides popular—starting an Etsy concern looks charismatic to astir one-fifth of each the searchers.

Queries related to “starting a boutique” person ever had the largest stock of each tiny concern related searches, but the remainder of the apical 3 kept changing implicit time:

Vending machines look to beryllium gaining the biggest traction, arsenic the class broke into the 2nd spot of most-searched tiny businesses.

Although impressive, this is not the biggest leap to date.

The array beneath shows which tiny concern types saw the biggest maturation successful Google searches related to starting a caller venture:

Any Local Nuances?

Up to now, we’ve been looking astatine the patterns connected a nationalist level. 

Stats crossed regions, however, tin alteration a lot, truthful we took a much granular look astatine the astir fashionable tiny concern categories wrong each US state.

The “Etsy, cleaning, boutique” triad is present—fully oregon partially—across each state’s apical 3. There are immoderate exceptions, though:

• In precisely fractional the states, java shops besides marque it into the apical 3 astir searched tiny concern categories.

• Montana and Vermont searchers besides see transportation services arsenic a imaginable undertaking.

What Are Americans Concerned About When Thinking of Opening a Small Business? 

Starting a concern means that you’ll look a batch of challenges and concerns. And what does that imply?

Right, you’ll erstwhile again crook to Google successful hunt of answers.

That’s wherefore hunt measurement stats tin uncover what truly matters to Americans erstwhile they are reasoning of opening a tiny business.

Half of each the tiny concern related searches person to bash with the fiscal broadside of things—from grants to loans, radical probe immoderate assistance they tin get.

In fact, searches surrounding the fiscal broadside of moving a tiny concern saw the biggest summation successful involvement implicit the past 4 years:

• “Small concern stimulus” and “small concern grants Ohio” keywords saw a 2,500% and 2,000% summation successful searches, respectively. 
• Even specified high-volume searches arsenic “small concern grants” saw triple-digit YoY growth.

The second-biggest interest for imaginable entrepreneurs is administration. Small concern accountants oregon accounting bundle person witnessed maturation successful interest—we spot a triple-digit summation present arsenic well.

Is Marketing At All a Matter of Concern for Small Businesses?

We took a person look astatine marketing-related searches to measure whether tiny businesses are each that funny successful researching ways to beforehand their brands.

The “marketing ideas for tiny business” keyword—the astir searched word wrong the category—gets astir 1,200 monthly searches. This is overmuch little than each the administrative and operations-related terms.

But involvement successful each things tiny concern selling appears to beryllium increasing implicit the years. Keyword stats bespeak that tiny concern owners effort to clasp each the up-and-coming trends:

• Searches for integer selling services surged by 1,500% (especially accelerated during the pandemic).
• Interest successful creating abbreviated videos for tiny businesses grew by 420%.
• 600% much radical were looking up escaped substance connection selling successful 2022 than successful 2018.

This mightiness connote that much and much tiny businesses are present getting acrophobic astir their integer presence, looking up ways to negociate their online visibility. 

Which Small Businesses Manage to Succeed Online?

While less radical present privation to unfastened an online business—ever since the pandemic started to dilatory down, the searches person fallen—having a coagulated online beingness is an implicit must, careless of however tiny the concern is.

So, if you’re 1 of those 34,000 (monthly hunt volume) folks Googling “small concern ideas”, the insights beneath tin assistance you marque a much informed decision.

We took a look astatine our clients’ domains (280+ websites), making definite to lone see tiny businesses (<200 employees). Then, with the assistance of a fewer Semrush tools, we checked the 2018-2022 dynamics of their traffic, keyword, and societal media performance—all to spot which tiny businesses really person what it takes to physique a beardown online visibility and person a palmy integer strategy.

Small Business Site Categories With the Highest Traffic Growth 

Most of the sites belonging to tiny businesses were successful the affirmative postulation territory. The mean postulation maturation crossed the committee was 2900%.

This means that implicit the past 4 years, astir of the websites wrong our lawsuit database managed to grow their visitant base.

The gait of growth, however, varies crossed industries.

Top 10 Fastest-Growing Small Business Site Categories (2017-2022)

Sites wrong the leisure and amusement spheres person seen the biggest postulation surge. 

This maturation inclination tin either constituent to idiosyncratic involvement and request patterns, oregon to the information that these sites mostly put much successful their online visibility.

Any integrated hunt strategy success?

Looking astatine the fig of keywords tiny concern sites fertile for tin uncover whether postulation maturation has to bash with a palmy integrated hunt strategy.

So, we’ve explored which tiny concern tract categories person the largest stock of high-ranking integrated keywords.

Top 10 Small Business Site Categories by Share of High-Ranking Organic Keywords

As you tin see, the apical 10 database present doesn’t coincide with that of the fastest-growing tract categories by traffic, which means that ranking for a precocious fig of keywords mightiness not straight pb to postulation growth.

If we look astatine wide patterns crossed tract categories, connected average, tiny concern domains we analyzed person the apical integrated rankings for astir 8,000 keywords. 

Organic hunt mightiness not beryllium liable for affirmative postulation dynamics, truthful we besides wanted to unwrap however things are going for tiny businesses connected the societal media front.

While it’s idiosyncratic tiny businesses and their teams that are down the successes, we tin inactive way immoderate category-specific patterns.

Small concern categories with the biggest assemblage growth 

When analyzing societal media trends for tiny businesses, you’d expect to spot the aforesaid leisure and amusement brands getting the biggest assemblage maturation numbers. 

From what we’ve noticed, this is not the case. 

On Facebook, it’s Higher Education and Building Materials accounts that person seen whopping assemblage maturation rates implicit the past 4 years—we’re talking percent increases successful the thousands.

Small Business Categories With the Fastest Facebook Audience Growth 

Twitter comes with akin patterns, lone maturation figures are much modest.

Small Business Categories With the Fastest Twitter Audience Growth 

Now, this could person to bash with a greater societal media enactment crossed these accounts. Let’s instrumentality a look.

Small Business Categories With the Biggest Facebook Activity Growth 

Small Business Categories With the Biggest Twitter Activity Growth Trend

As per our findings, arsenic of 2022, Online Media accounts person the highest posting frequence connected some Twitter and Facebook. However, this doesn’t look to person fixed their assemblage maturation a push.

Consumer Goods accounts person had the biggest summation successful posting frequence connected some Twitter and Facebook. Once again, this alteration hasn’t resulted successful notable societal media assemblage expansion.

In fact, successful astir cases, we’ve seen posting frequence decrease, and by important margins:

• On Facebook, 60% of the categories we analyzed reduced the fig of their posts by an mean of 50%.
• On Twitter, these numbers are adjacent higher: astir 75% of the tiny concern categories started publishing 65% (on average) less posts.

You whitethorn deliberation that it’s each due to the fact that integrated strategies aren’t moving truthful good connected either Facebook oregon Twitter. 

Insights into each channel’s engagement stats tin shed immoderate airy connected this.

Small Business Categories With the Fastest Facebook Engagement Growth 

Small Business Categories With the Fastest Twitter Engagement Growth 

You tin spot that engagement stats are accordant with assemblage maturation crossed some societal media networks. 

This mightiness connote that the societal media assemblage spike of immoderate tiny concern categories can’t simply beryllium tied to their advertizing efforts. Or, they negociate to propulsion disconnected societal media campaigns that bring a precise targeted and applicable assemblage that stays and engages with their content. 

Are You Ready to Start a New Business?

If you are funny and impatient to motorboat a caller tiny venture, we anticipation this survey helped to measure the integer scenery of each things tiny business.

Just support successful caput that:

• The contention is ramping up arsenic much and much radical get funny astir opening up a tiny business.

• More and much tiny businesses are getting savvy astir online marketing—interest successful selling services is connected the rise, and truthful is the expertise arsenic immoderate negociate to spot their postulation turn tenfold. 

But the marketplace has abstraction for everyone, lone you person to cognize however to spell astir it.

If tiny concern is the backbone of the US economy, the close selling strategy is the backbone of your tiny business’ success.