SEO for home services. The searches that buy, and what links cost.
Service-and-city pages win most of the money. Emergency and replacement searches are the most valuable.
Searches: DataForSEO, United States, English. Link prices: Placement API Backlink Price Index, September 2026. Collected 2026-09-28.
Ship· Page improvements
The searches that buy.
Buying and comparing searches with at least 100 a month, ranked by volume times what advertisers pay per click. These are the pages worth improving first.
- Cost searches ('roof replacement cost') are research with purchase intent: answer the price question honestly.
- Links from local sites and suppliers matter more than general home blogs.
| Search | Kind | Searches/mo | Ads CPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| plumber in near me | Comparing | 823,000 | $39.45 |
| plumber | Comparing | 673,000 | $34.32 |
| electrician closest to me | Comparing | 368,000 | $23.25 |
| emergency plumber near.me | Comparing | 110,000 | $76.50 |
| plumber emergency | Buying | 74,000 | $76.38 |
| 24 hour plumber near me | Comparing | 49,500 | $80.52 |
| hvac repair | Comparing | 74,000 | $34.77 |
| plumber services | Comparing | 49,500 | $39.15 |
| hvac near me repair | Comparing | 49,500 | $38.54 |
| service plumber near me | Comparing | 40,500 | $41.79 |
| plumber business near me | Comparing | 49,500 | $28.93 |
| plumber companies | Comparing | 49,500 | $26.18 |
| plumber supply near me | Comparing | 246,000 | $5.12 |
| roof replacement near me | Comparing | 40,500 | $30.06 |
| hvac emergency repair | Comparing | 14,800 | $79.30 |
| hvac systems repair | Comparing | 40,500 | $26.17 |
| roof replacement | Comparing | 33,100 | $30.63 |
| plumber for clogged toilet | Comparing | 27,100 | $35.42 |
| emergency plumber services | Comparing | 14,800 | $61.88 |
| installation tankless hot water heater | Buying | 40,500 | $20.73 |
- Lower quartile
- $91.13
- Median
- $179
- Upper quartile
- $340
| Claimed DR, all subjects | Websites | Middle half | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR 20–29 | 48,775 | $81–$332 | $174 |
| DR 30–39 | 42,432 | $86–$357 | $171 |
| DR 40–49 | 20,524 | $111–$506 | $232 |
| DR 50–59 | 14,530 | $124–$641 | $260 |
| DR 60–69 | 6,135 | $213–$1,042 | $483 |
| DR 70–79 | 5,108 | $342–$1,647 | $726 |
| DR 80–89 | 834 | $506–$4,148 | $1,399 |
| DR 90–99 | 115 | $383–$3,651 | $1,062 |
Scale· Backlinks
What links cost here.
What websites in home ask for a link: the cheapest price for each website across every marketplace, suspect websites left out. Higher-rated websites cost more, as the table shows; these are asking prices, not what was paid.
Your numbers
Would links pay back for you? Enter what a customer is worth.
Each search is modelled moving from #7 to #4 into the top four. That takes 20 to 50 links depending on how well linked the results above are, priced from the table above: the home median, or a higher DR band where the competition is stronger. Half the modelled gain is counted, as a hedge against rankings that don't move as planned.
Starting assumptions for a typical home services business, not data: replace them with yours. At these, each visitor from a buying search is worth $80.
20 of 20 buying searches pay back within 12 months.
$30,700/month for 3 months
A link budget that funds all of them at a natural pace, expected to bring in $5,046,400 a month once the links are live (risk-adjusted).
- Searches a month
- 49,500
- Extra clicks, #7 → #4
- about 2,178
- Value per visitor
- $80
- Extra revenue a month
- $174,240
- × 50% confidence
- $87,120/mo
- 30 links at $232 (DR 40–49)
- $6,968
- Payback
- under a month
| Search | Extra revenue/mo | Payback | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| plumber in near me | $1,448,480 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber | $1,184,480 | under a month | Worth it |
| electrician closest to me | $647,680 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber supply near me | $432,960 | under a month | Worth it |
| emergency plumber near.me | $193,600 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber emergency | $130,240 | under a month | Worth it |
| 24 hour plumber near me | $87,120 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber services | $87,120 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber business near me | $87,120 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber companies | $87,120 | under a month | Worth it |
| service plumber near me | $71,280 | under a month | Worth it |
| roof replacement near me | $71,280 | under a month | Worth it |
| hvac systems repair | $71,280 | under a month | Worth it |
| installation tankless hot water heater | $71,280 | under a month | Worth it |
| hvac repair | $130,240 | under a month | Worth it |
| plumber for clogged toilet | $47,680 | under a month | Worth it |
| hvac near me repair | $87,120 | under a month | Worth it |
| roof replacement | $58,240 | under a month | Worth it |
| hvac emergency repair | $26,040 | under a month | Worth it |
| emergency plumber services | $26,040 | under a month | Worth it |
Extra revenue is risk-adjusted: 50% of the modelled gain.
Big, but not for links
Searches to answer, not to buy links for.
The biggest learning searches in this industry. Worth good content and internal links to the pages that sell; rarely worth link money.
| Search | Kind | Searches/mo |
|---|---|---|
| electrician | Learning | 368,000 |
| tankless water heater cost of installation | Learning | 27,100 |
| cost roof replacement | Learning | 18,100 |
| how to electrician | Learning | 18,100 |
| train electrician | Learning | 18,100 |
| hvac repair technician | Learning | 14,800 |
| journeyperson electrician | Learning | 14,800 |
| electrician symbol | Learning | 14,800 |
Run this on your own site. With your real numbers.
Ship/Scale replaces the guesses on this page with your Search Console and analytics data, then shows which of your home services pages would pay back.
Pro is $99/month. Free has no subscription fee: you pay your own AI and data providers. Backlinks cost extra on both plans.