THE SEARCH LEDGER · DES MOINES, IOWA · FOOD & DINING
Every month Des Moines types 195,480 food & dining searches into Google. This is the public record of what those searches are, what they cost, and who currently answers them.
Relative search interest by month, indexed 0–100. The pink outline marks the peak. Interest runs highest in JUL and lowest in DEC.
SRC: Google Trends relative interest for the Food & Dining category in Des Moines — a 0–100 index, not a search count. One curve per category is the granularity available; it is not split per keyword.
The 20 highest-volume of 210 tracked keywords, priced at what advertisers actually bid. The dearest click here is “zombie burger dsm” at $2.67.
| # | KEYWORD | VOL/MO | CPC | DIFFICULTY | INTENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | restaurants near me | 90,500 | $0.56 | 7 | transactional |
| 2 | breakfast near me | 9,900 | $0.44 | 23 | transactional |
| 3 | coffee shops near me | 8,100 | $0.51 | 0 | transactional |
| 4 | pizza near me | 8,100 | $1.49 | 12 | transactional |
| 5 | bars near me | 8,100 | $0.50 | 0 | transactional |
| 6 | dsm restaurants | 4,400 | $1.21 | 27 | commercial |
| 7 | american restaurant in des moines | 4,400 | $1.21 | 14 | commercial |
| 8 | restaurants in west desmoines | 4,400 | $1.17 | commercial | |
| 9 | zombie burger dsm | 4,400 | $2.67 | commercial | |
| 10 | zombie burger des moines ia | 3,600 | $1.45 | commercial | |
| 11 | top restaurants in des moines | 2,900 | $0.99 | 9 | commercial |
| 12 | food des moines | 2,400 | $1.54 | 9 | commercial |
| 13 | downtown dsm restaurants | 2,400 | $1.11 | 5 | commercial |
| 14 | iowa steakhouse des moines iowa | 1,900 | $2.51 | 10 | commercial |
| 15 | restaurants downtown des moines | 1,600 | $0.80 | 20 | commercial |
| 16 | des moines food places | 1,600 | $1.25 | 4 | commercial |
| 17 | italian restaurants des moines | 1,600 | $0.57 | 31 | commercial |
| 18 | breakfast food des moines | 1,600 | $0.38 | 6 | commercial |
| 19 | des moines east village restaurants | 1,600 | $0.85 | 8 | commercial |
| 20 | cafe in des moines | 1,300 | $0.34 | 4 | commercial |
SRC: DataForSEO, Des Moines metro, Sep 8, 2026. Volume and CPC are Google Ads twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week. Difficulty is DataForSEO’s 0–100 score; blank where it has not been scored.
Live position tracking for 2 of the tracked keywords in this vertical — who Google puts in the map pack, and who holds page one.
SRC: DataForSEO, Des Moines metro, Sep 8, 2026. LOCAL marks an organic domain that matches a business tracked in this metro; an unmarked domain is simply not one of them, which includes directories and firms we do not track.
The 12 most-reviewed businesses we track in this vertical, with the profile signals that put them where they are.
| RANK | BUSINESS | RATING | REVIEWS | CATEGORY | WEBSITE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Zombie Burger + Bird | 4.5 ★ | 9,773 | Hamburger | YES |
| #2 | Zombie Burger + Bird | 4.5 ★ | 9,773 | Hamburger | YES |
| #3 | Zombie Burger + Bird | 4.5 ★ | 9,773 | Hamburger | YES |
| #4 | Zombie Burger + Bird | 4.5 ★ | 9,773 | Hamburger | YES |
| #5 | Machine Shed Restaurant | 4.5 ★ | 7,216 | Breakfast | YES |
| #6 | Machine Shed Restaurant | 4.5 ★ | 7,216 | Breakfast | YES |
| #7 | Texas Roadhouse | 4.5 ★ | 6,596 | Steak | YES |
| #8 | Smokey D's BBQ | 4.6 ★ | 6,361 | Barbecue | YES |
| #9 | Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet | 4.1 ★ | 6,062 | Buffet | YES |
| #10 | Buzzard Billy’s | 4.5 ★ | 4,974 | Restaurant | YES |
| #11 | Buzzard Billy’s | 4.5 ★ | 4,974 | Restaurant | YES |
| #12 | Buzzard Billy’s | 4.5 ★ | 4,974 | Restaurant | YES |
SRC: Google Maps listings, DataForSEO, Des Moines metro, Sep 8, 2026. Ranked by review count, which is a proxy for how established a listing is — not a ranking claim.
Branded demand is the clearest read on who has built recall here — searches for a business by name, the volume nobody has to bid for.
SRC: DataForSEO, Des Moines metro, Sep 8, 2026. Brand searches identified from the tracked keyword set.
People Also Ask questions collected verbatim from Des Moines food & dining results — the literal wording Google is already surfacing.
What are some must-eat restaurants in Des Moines?
What are some new restaurants opening in West Des Moines recently?
What are the best cheap eats in Des Moines?
What food is Des Moines known for?
What is the 2 hour rule for pizza?
Where can I find the best pizza in Des Moines?
Who has the best pizza deals out right now?
Who has the best pizza in Mechanicsville, VA?
SRC: Google People Also Ask, DataForSEO, Des Moines metro, Sep 8, 2026. Questions are reproduced as collected; we do not answer them here.
Everything above is the market. If you want to be in it, start with where you stand today.
Every other vertical we track in this metro, with its monthly search demand.
FOOD & DINING IN OTHER METROS
HOW THIS PAGE IS MADE
Every figure is collected, not estimated. Keyword volume and cost-per-click come from Google Ads via DataForSEO and are twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week — a weekly delta on either would measure the averaging window, not the market. Map-pack and organic positions are a live SERP read taken Sep 8, 2026. Sections with no data are omitted rather than filled.
Des Moines, Iowa · Food & Dining · 210 keywords · collected Sep 8, 2026