# Who gets found in Boston?

THE SEARCH LEDGER · BOSTON EDITION · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2026

Every month, Boston types 2,538,560 searches looking for a local business, and advertisers pay $3.34M chasing them. Somebody gets found. Somebody doesn't. This is the weekly ledger of who, at what price, and what's still up for grabs — refreshed weekly.

BY [SEO BANDWAGON](https://seobandwagon.com/about) · UPDATED WEEKLY · COLLECTED SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 · [METHODOLOGY](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/boston#methodology)

2,538,560

SEARCHES IN PLAY / MO

$3.34M

AD-EQUIV. VALUE / MO

1,108

LISTINGS TRACKED

4,744

KEYWORDS TRACKED

Boston searches 6,523,410 times a month in total. The other 3,984,850 are branded or navigational — someone already knows where they are going.

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. "Searches in play" counts commercial and transactional intent only, classified by our own heuristics rather than by Google. Ad-equivalent value is Σ volume × CPC — one click priced for every tracked search, a ceiling on what the traffic would cost to buy, not spend and not revenue. Listings: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro.

Free · sign in with Google · no credit card

## The demand

Before anyone wins a customer, the customer has to ask. Here is what Boston asks Google for in an average month.

2,538,560

searches in an average month across the 2,001 keywords where a local business can actually be chosen — roughly **85,000 searches a day** for something, or someone, in Boston.

### Where the demand goes

Each square is 1% of the addressable searches — the commercial and transactional ones a local business can win, 39% of everything Boston searches.

Waffle chart of monthly search demand by vertical: Food & Dining 61 percent, Attractions 19 percent, Other 7 percent, Hotels & Lodging 7 percent, Shopping 2 percent, Health & Wellness 2 percent, Personal Care 1 percent, Legal 1 percent.

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026, bucketed by our own vertical classifier — Google supplies no category. Squares are percentages of the addressable set, not of all search, and are largest-remainder rounded to 100.

Food & Dining 61% Attractions 19% Other 7% Hotels & Lodging 7% Shopping 2% Health & Wellness 2% Personal Care 1% Legal 1%

WHERE THE DEMAND CONCENTRATES

Food & Dining is **61% of the addressable demand** in Boston, against 19% for Attractions. The board in Chapter 2 prices every one of those searches.

### When the demand comes

Search interest by month, 0–100 per vertical. The pink outline marks each vertical's peak — the month the phones ring.

Source: Google Ads monthly search volume via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target · pulled September 8, 2026. Each row is indexed to its own peak month, so cells compare a vertical against itself and never against another row. Not a search count, and not [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/).

| VERTICAL | JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Education | 31 | 31 | 55 | 67 | 68 | 82 | 82 | 100 | 82 | 82 | 67 | 45 |
| Shopping | 59 | 58 | 67 | 87 | 94 | 86 | 100 | 63 | 57 | 60 | 51 | 69 |
| Attractions | 27 | 29 | 44 | 68 | 75 | 83 | 100 | 95 | 69 | 71 | 46 | 37 |
| Hotels & Lodging | 42 | 42 | 57 | 72 | 78 | 84 | 100 | 84 | 74 | 81 | 63 | 53 |
| Food & Dining | 63 | 62 | 78 | 87 | 86 | 87 | 99 | 93 | 93 | 100 | 82 | 67 |
| Entertainment | 41 | 34 | 37 | 47 | 40 | 48 | 73 | 59 | 62 | 57 | 52 | 100 |
| Personal Care | 55 | 62 | 76 | 83 | 92 | 100 | 100 | 98 | 93 | 85 | 71 | 58 |
| Travel & Transit | 86 | 86 | 100 | 86 | 80 | 82 | 96 | 85 | 93 | 97 | 79 | 72 |
| Health & Wellness | 97 | 78 | 93 | 88 | 84 | 83 | 82 | 88 | 100 | 93 | 79 | 79 |
| Real Estate | 85 | 79 | 96 | 99 | 100 | 83 | 77 | 86 | 81 | 73 | 70 | 62 |
| Home Services | 90 | 80 | 92 | 85 | 82 | 88 | 88 | 93 | 100 | 95 | 76 | 73 |
| Legal | 37 | 42 | 68 | 72 | 84 | 84 | 100 | 91 | 78 | 95 | 50 | 44 |
| Professional Services | 100 | 71 | 70 | 66 | 31 | 27 | 26 | 74 | 68 | 59 | 31 | 33 |

### Climbing fastest

The steepest risers in Boston over the last twelve months of Google Ads volume (Aug 2025 – Jul 2026). Growth compares each keyword's last three months against its own twelve-month average, so it tops out at 300% by construction.

boston world cup watch party ▲ 294% BREAKOUT

world cup watch party boston ▲ 294% BREAKOUT

boston 4th of july events ▲ 291% BREAKOUT

boston watch party ▲ 288% BREAKOUT

4th of july boston ▲ 285% BREAKOUT

Source: Google Ads monthly search volume via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Not [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/), and not a weekly series — the window closes one to two months before the pull.

### Where the demand sits

Priced keywords that name one of the places we mine for Boston — its seed suburbs plus the boroughs Maps returned at least twice — grouped by that name. A metro is not one market. This ranks the places we look for, not every place that exists — a landmark or district we do not mine is absent however much demand names it, and a metro can miss a place that would have ranked near the top. 22 more clear the bar below these.

Cambridge SUBURB 186,520/mo

75 keywords · $283.0K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Downtown NEIGHBORHOOD 82,910/mo

67 keywords · $98.7K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Back Bay NEIGHBORHOOD 61,370/mo

74 keywords · $85.0K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Somerville SUBURB 57,170/mo

32 keywords · $54.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

North End NEIGHBORHOOD 57,100/mo

68 keywords · $118.8K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Beacon Hill NEIGHBORHOOD 44,340/mo

41 keywords · $23.3K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Downtown Crossing NEIGHBORHOOD 33,230/mo

6 keywords · $13.8K/mo in ad-equivalent value

South End NEIGHBORHOOD 31,400/mo

29 keywords · $50.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Allston NEIGHBORHOOD 28,480/mo

63 keywords · $24.3K/mo in ad-equivalent value

South Boston NEIGHBORHOOD 21,210/mo

65 keywords · $55.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Source: Computed from Google Ads search volume × CPC via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, September 8, 2026 — keywords grouped by the place name they contain. Rows are grouped by NAME CONTAINMENT, not by place: a keyword joins every row whose name it contains, so it is counted in both when it names two places AND when one row's name sits inside another's. So a shorter name sitting inside a longer one carries the longer one’s keywords too, and those two rows are not independent places. Rows rank names and do not sum to a metro total. Ad-equivalent value is Σ volume × CPC — a ceiling on what the traffic would cost to buy, not spend and not revenue.

**Cambridge** alone carries 186,520 searches a month across 75 keywords, worth $283.0K a month at Google's posted prices. If your pages only ever say "Boston", that is demand you are not addressing.

## The money

Attention in this city has a spot price, and Google publishes it: the cost per ad click. Here's what a customer's attention trades for in Boston.

"WORKERS COMP LAWYER BOSTON" · COST OF ONE AD CLICK

$424.78

One click. Not a customer — a *click*. That's what a single visit from this search trades for in Boston right now.

### Every keyword has a price tag

The 4,524 of 4,744 tracked keywords Google Ads returns a cost-per-click for, on a log scale. Amber gets deeper as the click gets pricier.

Strip plot of 4524 tracked keywords by cost per click, log scale. Cheapest: tremont dental care boston at $0.01. Most expensive: workers comp lawyer boston at $424.78.

### The price board

The 4,524 of 4,744 tracked keywords Google Ads returns a cost-per-click for. Volume and CPC are twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week.

| # | KEYWORD | CPC | SEARCHES/MO | COST TO BUY ALL | Δ VS. LAST PULL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | workers comp lawyer boston · LEGAL | $424.78 | 10 | $4.2K | — |
| 2 | defense lawyer boston · LEGAL | $303.78 | 10 | $3.0K | — |
| 3 | personal injury lawyer near me · LEGAL | $285.49 | 720 | $205.6K | — |
| 4 | appliance movers boston · OTHER | $220.53 | 10 | $2.2K | — |
| 5 | dental malpractice lawyer boston · LEGAL | $168.24 | 10 | $1.7K | — |
| 6 | garage door service boston · HOME SERVICES | $130.20 | 10 | $1.3K | — |
| 7 | injury attorney boston · LEGAL | $121.67 | 880 | $107.1K | — |
| 8 | boston window replacement · OTHER | $116.11 | 70 | $8.1K | — |
| 9 | accident lawyer in boston ma · LEGAL | $113.94 | 20 | $2.3K | — |
| 10 | siding company boston · OTHER | $108.34 | 30 | $3.3K | — |
| 11 | emergency hvac repair boston · HOME SERVICES | $104.93 | 10 | $1.0K | — |
| 12 | ac tune up boston · OTHER | $100.93 | 10 | $1.0K | — |
| 13 | boston insurance agent · PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | $98.43 | 30 | $3.0K | — |
| 14 | 24 hour plumber boston · HOME SERVICES | $95.47 | 10 | $955 | — |
| 15 | accident lawyer boston · LEGAL | $95.01 | 30 | $2.9K | — |
| 16 | south boston electrician · HOME SERVICES | $94.96 | 20 | $1.9K | — |
| 17 | commercial snow removal boston · OTHER | $94.36 | 10 | $944 | — |
| 18 | lawyers in boston massachusetts · LEGAL | $91.71 | 10 | $917 | — |
| 19 | discrimination lawyers boston · LEGAL | $90.69 | 20 | $1.8K | — |
| 20 | hardwood flooring boston · OTHER | $87.41 | 40 | $3.5K | — |
| 21 | interior painters boston · HOME SERVICES | $86.64 | 10 | $866 | — |
| 22 | asbestos lawyer boston · LEGAL | $86.27 | 10 | $863 | — |
| 23 | moving from boston to san francisco · OTHER | $85.74 | 10 | $857 | — |
| 24 | blue cross blue shield therapists boston · HEALTH & WELLNESS | $85.47 | 10 | $855 | — |
| 25 | hvac repair near me · HOME SERVICES | $85.04 | 70 | $6.0K | — |
| 26 | boston to new york movers · OTHER | $72.48 | 90 | $6.5K | — |
| 27 | wood flooring boston · OTHER | $72.36 | 10 | $724 | — |
| 28 | commercial movers boston · OTHER | $65.24 | 30 | $2.0K | — |
| 29 | boston plumbing and heating · HOME SERVICES | $63.88 | 10 | $639 | — |
| 30 | painters boston · HOME SERVICES | $63.51 | 50 | $3.2K | — |
| 31 | ac repair boston · HOME SERVICES | $61.69 | 30 | $1.9K | — |
| 32 | west roxbury hvac · HOME SERVICES | $61.43 | 10 | $614 | — |
| 33 | plumber jamaica plain · HOME SERVICES | $61.11 | 30 | $1.8K | — |
| 34 | pest control jamaica plain · HOME SERVICES | $60.93 | 10 | $609 | — |
| 35 | moving company boston to new york · OTHER | $59.08 | 20 | $1.2K | — |
| 36 | criminal lawyers boston · LEGAL | $58.74 | 260 | $15.3K | — |
| 37 | boston mental health · HEALTH & WELLNESS | $58.67 | 40 | $2.3K | — |
| 38 | moving and storage companies boston · OTHER | $58.00 | 10 | $580 | — |
| 39 | outpatient mental health boston · HEALTH & WELLNESS | $57.84 | 10 | $578 | — |
| 40 | emergency plumber boston · HOME SERVICES | $57.72 | 70 | $4.0K | — |
| 41 | pest control south boston · HOME SERVICES | $57.09 | 10 | $571 | — |
| 42 | boston window company · OTHER | $55.28 | 10 | $553 | — |
| 43 | malpractice lawyer boston · LEGAL | $55.21 | 20 | $1.1K | — |
| 44 | boston moving storage · OTHER | $54.57 | 50 | $2.7K | — |
| 45 | boston area therapists · HEALTH & WELLNESS | $52.74 | 10 | $527 | — |
| 46 | boston trademark lawyer · LEGAL | $52.51 | 20 | $1.1K | — |
| 47 | hvac repair boston · HOME SERVICES | $52.24 | 90 | $4.7K | — |
| 48 | storage places in boston · OTHER | $50.13 | 10 | $501 | — |
| 49 | boston solar company · OTHER | $49.00 | 10 | $490 | — |
| 50 | talk therapy boston · HEALTH & WELLNESS | $48.87 | 10 | $489 | — |

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. Bar length is CPC on a linear scale. "Cost to buy all" is searches × CPC — what the traffic would cost at Google's posted price if every search became a click, which is a ceiling, not a forecast. Δ compares each keyword's CPC against the Aug 30 pull; Google refreshes these figures roughly monthly, so most rows do not move between weekly pulls.

### Why would anyone pay $425 a click?

The businesses bidding here keep bidding. Here's the math that makes a $425 click rational, using legal industry benchmarks.

100 clicks bought −$42,478

15 become phone calls (15% call rate, benchmark)

3 become signed cases (20% close, benchmark)

Revenue from those 3 signed cases +$75,000 · 1.8× the spend

Call and close rates are vertical benchmarks, not promises. But the principle sets every price on the board: **a click costs what the customer behind it is worth.** Bounce rate is priced in.

ONE CUSTOMER FUNDS

How many clicks a single customer's revenue buys back, at that keyword's CPC. Customer values are industry benchmarks.

workers comp lawyer boston

~$25,000 case fee (benchmark) · $424.78/click

58 clicks

garage door service boston

~$9,500 job value (benchmark) · $130.20/click

72 clicks

talk therapy boston

~$3,200 patient value (benchmark) · $48.87/click

65 clicks

ch 5 boston weather

~$1,800 customer value (benchmark) · $0.01/click

180,000 clicks

Source: CPC: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. Call rate, close rate and customer value are industry benchmarks hardcoded in this page — not measured for this metro, and not for your business. Spend, revenue and the multiple are all products of that one CPC and those assumptions.

Same market, different economies. This is why "is $X a click expensive?" has no answer without knowing what a customer is worth to *you*.

### What owning a vertical costs

Monthly ad-equivalent value of all clicks in each vertical — what you'd pay Google to buy the demand you could rank for.

Food & Dining $941,000/mo

Attractions $559,000/mo

Legal $427,000/mo

Hotels & Lodging $346,000/mo

Health & Wellness $315,000/mo

Other $303,000/mo

Ranking organically doesn't pay that bill — it makes it someone else's.

## The fight

A market this valuable doesn't sit unclaimed. Here's who holds Boston's front page, who's climbing, who's slipping — and where the seats are still empty.

30%

of Boston's tracked page-one slots are held by one of the 40 national directories we name — www.justia.com, attorneys.superlawyers.com, www.yelp.com — their share is large, and it is beatable: Google prefers a good local answer when one exists. The other 70% is everything else — local businesses, and national brands we do not classify.

Waffle chart: 30 of 100 tracked page-one slots held by one of 40 named national directories, 70 by everything else.

out-of-town directories · 30 everything else · 70

Source: Google organic results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 21 tracked keywords anchored on the Boston coordinate · pulled September 8, 2026. "Directory" means the domain's registrable label matches one of 40 named national directory brands; everything else is counted as the remainder, which includes national brands we do not classify.

### Two pulls of "boston new england aquarium"

Page-one position, last pull vs. this one: **www.tripadvisor.com moved ▲ 6 spots**. The chart grows a column with every pull as the archive builds.

Bump chart of page-one positions for boston new england aquarium between Aug 30 and Sep 8: www.tripadvisor.com moved from position 10 → 4.

### This week's movers

Biggest changes between the Aug 30 and Sep 8 pulls.

▲ 14

Saloniki Greek

map rank for "restaurant"

#19 → #5

▲ 14

Wicked Lobsta

map rank for "seafood"

#20 → #6

▲ 5

www.msmithlawoffices.com

2 queries — boston car crash lawyer · personal injury lawyer near me

2 up · 0 down

▲ 4

roblevine.com

personal injury lawyer near me

#10 → #6

NEW

www.ubereats.com

restaurants near me · new to page one

— → #2

NEW

www.trolleytours.com

boston tea party museum ship · new to page one

— → #2

▲ 60

Blank Street

reviews

296 → 356

▲ 50

Vaanga Boston

reviews

1,495 → 1,545

▲ 0.1★

College Pizza

rating

4.1★ → 4.2★

▼ 12

Mooo.... Beacon Hill

map rank for "restaurant"

#7 → #19

Movement = week-over-week snapshot diff · arrows and signed numbers, always

### Most contested keywords

Who currently leads the top 6 fights worth having. Leader = top organic result; OPEN RACE = no [map pack](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#local-pack) on the page.

restaurants near me

673,000 searches/mo

boston.eater.com LOCAL

fenway park

110,000 searches/mo

www.mlb.com OPEN RACE

boston new england aquarium

60,500 searches/mo

www.neaq.org OPEN RACE

pizza near me

49,500 searches/mo

halftimepizzaboston.com LOCAL

bostons museum of science

40,500 searches/mo

www.mos.org OPEN RACE

paul revere museum boston

40,500 searches/mo

www.paulreverehouse.org OPEN RACE

NO MAP PACK

**9 of the 21 keywords we track show no map pack at all.** Google is answering those with links, not a map — so the way in is a page, not a profile. [See what that takes](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/boston#move).

### What page one is made of

Share of 21 tracked keywords showing each [SERP feature](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#serp-feature).

People Also Ask 100%

Map pack 57%

Source: Google organic results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 21 tracked keywords anchored on the Boston coordinate · pulled September 8, 2026. Feature presence as Google returned it; a featured snippet appeared on none of these SERPs and paid results on 2%, so neither is charted.

[People Also Ask](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#people-also-ask) boxes show on **100%** of these searches — answer those questions and you're on page one twice.

ANATOMY OF A #1

Trapology Boston

Top-rated of 84 tracked Theater

Rating 5.0 ★ (cat. median 4.6)

Reviews 9,220 (median 326)

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro.

None of this is magic. It's 28.3× the category's median review count. The playbook is public.

### Ranking with no website

Of the 1,108 businesses we track in Boston's map results, **108** have no website at all — 10% of the field, showing up on reputation alone.

108

BUSINESSES RANKING WITHOUT A SITE

The most-reviewed of them has **1,340 reviews** and a 4.8 rating. If they are beating you, it is not because of their website.

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro. "No website" is the absence of a site link on the Google listing.

### Who holds the map pack

29 businesses hold the 36 pack seats across the 12 tracked keywords that return a map pack. # is the best position each held; seats counts the keywords they appear on.

#1

Mass Injury Group Injury and Accident Attorneys

4.9 ★ · 319 reviews

3 SEATS

#1

Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers

4.9 ★ · 958 reviews

2 SEATS

#1

All Boston Plumbing & Drain

4.9 ★ · 11 reviews

2 SEATS

#2

Devonshire Dental of Boston

4.9 ★ · 611 reviews

2 SEATS

#2

Boston Dental

4.9 ★ · 206 reviews

2 SEATS

#3

Green Tech Plumbing & Heating

4.8 ★ · 522 reviews

2 SEATS

#1

South Street Diner

4.1 ★ · 4,300 reviews

1 SEAT

#1

Altman Nussbaum Shunnarah Trial Attorneys

4.9 ★ · 1,000 reviews

1 SEAT

A DIFFERENT POOL

**18 of the 29 businesses holding these seats never appear in the category rosters we pull for Boston.** That gap is a property of OUR roster, not of Google: every metro pulls the same 14 categories, and where they do not overlap the tracked keywords the share runs to 100% before Google is consulted. It says these packs were not measured by our category pull — not that categories do not matter.

Source: Google local pack via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 12 tracked keywords anchored on the Boston metro coordinate, September 8, 2026. Rank is position within the pack as returned, not a ranking claim. Businesses are keyed on the cid Google returns; ratings and review counts are the listing's own, read once and not averaged.

### Nobody has claimed these

Of the 1,108 businesses we track in Boston's map results, **123** are ranking on a listing no owner has claimed — 11% of the field, with nobody able to edit the hours, the category or the photos.

123

UNCLAIMED LISTINGS RANKING TODAY

The most-reviewed of them has **14,295 reviews** and a 4.5 rating and still nobody controls the profile. Claiming one is free.

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Boston city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro. "Unclaimed" is Google's own flag on the listing.

## The city itself

Search demand doesn't come from nowhere. What follows is the rest of what we track about Boston — each line from a named source, and absent where we have none.

673K

PEOPLE

Median age 32.6. Every one of them picks businesses from a search box — Chapter 1's demand is this population talking.

$610,400

MEDIAN HOME VALUE

What the typical owner in the city proper says the home is worth — the city, not the metro.

$1,783

MEDIAN RENT / MO

Median gross rent in the city proper — rent plus the utilities the tenant pays.

Source: US Census Bureau, [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs) 5-year estimates (2021 release), place level — Boston city proper, not the metro; fetched 2026-09-08. Population, median age, home value and rent all come from this one block; nothing on these cards is typed in.

### Boston vs. the nation

Three household figures — the city proper against the whole country, from the same survey on both sides.

| | BOSTON | UNITED STATES | DIFFERENCE |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Median household income | $81,744 a year | $69,021 | +18% |
| Median home value | $610,400 | $244,900 | +149% |
| Median gross rent | $1,783 a month | $1,163 | +53% |

Source: both sides US Census Bureau, [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs) 5-year estimates, 2021 release (2017–2021) — the city at place level (Boston city proper, not the metro; fetched 2026-09-08) and the nation as one geography (fetched 2026-09-09). Difference is the city over the national figure, computed. Unemployment, taxes, power and broadband are not here: no fetched source on both sides.

### The rest of the ledger

Everything else we track about living and working here — one line each, open what you need.

Colleges 32,941 students Boston University

1 institutions and 32,941 enrolled students, led by Boston University. A permanent annual influx of new residents who choose dentists, gyms, and mechanics from a Google search.

Coworking 15 spaces Low density — remote-worker economy

15 coworking spaces tracked — a low-density remote-work market. A remote-work population searches like a resident but spends like a visitor: lunch, gyms, services near the clusters.

This week in town 43 upcoming events Laura Ramoso: The Calm Down Tour · The Wilbur

43 upcoming tracked events, led by Laura Ramoso: The Calm Down Tour at The Wilbur.

METHODOLOGY

Search volume, cost-per-click and SERP data from DataForSEO, collected September 8, 2026. Business listings, ratings and map positions from a live read of Google Maps in the same pull. Rank movement is a diff against the previous pull of our snapshot archive. Ad-equivalent value is searches × CPC — it prices the traffic, not your revenue. Call rates, close rates, and customer values in the unit-economics section are industry benchmarks, not measurements. Every other module on this page renders only where the underlying figure exists; where it does not, the module is absent rather than estimated.

Collected and published by [SEO Bandwagon](https://seobandwagon.com/about), tracking local search since 2010. The Boston edition comes from the same weekly sweep as [Google Business Profile Benchmarks](https://seobandwagon.com/research/gbp-benchmarks), whose method and verification are published in full. If a number here is wrong, [tell us](https://seobandwagon.com/contact).

## Your move

2.54M

SEARCHES IN PLAY / MO

$425

PRICIEST CLICK

30%

PAGE ONE DIRECTORY SHARE

9 of 21

TRACKED SERPS WITH NO MAP PACK

4 numbers, one conclusion: the demand is real, the price of ignoring it compounds, and the leaderboard is not settled. The only question the ledger can't answer is whether you're on it.

STEP 1 · FREE

### See where you stand

Run the free scan against your site — rankings, backlinks and page speed, free with a Google sign-in.

[Scan your site free](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/boston#scan)

STEP 2 · IF YOU'RE ON THE MAP

### Claim your seat

9 of the 21 contested keywords show no map pack at all — Google answers those with links, not a map.

[Claim your business](https://business.google.com/)

STEP 3 · EVERY PULL

### Read the next edition

The ledger reprints every week — movers, price changes, and open seats, in your inbox before your competitors read it.

[New to this? Start with the blog — plain-English guides, no jargon →](https://seobandwagon.com/blog)

## Linked ledgers

The three nearest tracked metros on the map, and the one our data says behaves most like this one.

[NEAREST · 41 MI Providence, RI 312,900 searches/mo · 999 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/providence) [NEAREST · 93 MI Hartford, CT 203,110 searches/mo · 998 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/hartford) [NEAREST · 190 MI New York, NY 32,196,000 searches/mo · 1,294 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/new-york) [CLOSEST LOOKALIKE Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 1,518,500 searches/mo · 1,109 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/minneapolis-st-paul)

Linked within the 54 metros we track, and nowhere else. Distance is straight-line between each metro's single anchor point — a downtown coordinate, not a centroid. Lookalike is the closest match on four measured features — search volume, ad prices, listing density and review depth — excluding the neighbours above and everything inside 500 km, so it surfaces a market you would not otherwise think to compare. Recomputed on every build, so it moves as the markets do. SRC: the 54-metro collection, pulled across September 8, 2026 and the day either side · [all metros →](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo#cities)

GO DEEPER · THE LEDGER BY VERTICAL

[FOOD & DINING 1.6M/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/boston/food-dining) [HOME SERVICES 14K/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/boston/home-services)

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Canonical page: https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/boston
Every metro: https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo#cities
Data reuse license: https://seobandwagon.com/data-license
Site overview for agents: https://seobandwagon.com/llms.txt · API docs: https://seobandwagon.com/docs/api