Local SEO
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Brooklyn, NY · SEO Services
SEO Agency for Brooklyn: Stand Out Among Tiny Local Competitors
Most local businesses in Brooklyn are tiny, with 66.7% under five employees, which shapes how SEO should be built here. GetPhound is an SEO agency for small businesses: pages for each city you serve, Google Maps and AI search work, and flat monthly plans with no contracts. Below is the data behind the Brooklyn market.
Market snapshot
How Contested Is Local Search in Brooklyn?
Local Search Competition Index
47.4/ 100
Sitting at rank 978 of 1,822 counties with 20,000+ residents and 333 of the 400 markets we cover. Higher means more local businesses competing for the same searches. See the method
We grade every U.S. county-equivalent with 20,000 or more residents on how many local-search businesses (such as the lawyers, dentists, contractors, restaurants, salons and agents that customers find on Google and the map) compete for its residents. Brooklyn scores 47.4, which is near the middle of the pack.
Two features set Brooklyn apart: it is a borough where most local businesses are tiny, with fewer than five employees, and it is also a borough whose population is flat or shrinking. Below, eight measures set it beside every other county.
- Population growth since the 2020 Census -6.4% Slower pace than 99% of counties
- Typical household income (2023 est.) $76,353 Above than 73% of counties
- Local-search businesses per 10,000 residents 43.5 Quieter than 51% of counties
- Growth in those businesses, 2017 to 2022 -0.6% Less growth than 70% of counties
- Portion with under 5 employees 66.7% Greater share than 90% of counties
- Change in employer locations, all industries, 2017 to 2022 +4.3% A faster pace than 60% of counties
- Homes permitted in 2025 per 10,000 residents 26.7 Less construction than 52% of counties
The bars place Brooklyn among all 1,822 U.S. counties with 20,000 or more residents. Source data: U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates, County Business Patterns (2017 and 2022), Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates and the Building Permits Survey.
Market profile
Brooklyn's Local Field Is Full of Tiny Businesses
Most of the local competition in Brooklyn is tiny. Of 11,152 employer locations in the 15 local-search categories we track, 66.7% have fewer than five employees, a larger share than 90% of counties. Businesses that small rarely have a marketing team, so a website built around the right services and cities, with an active Google Business Profile, can stand out against them.
Brooklyn has 2,561,225 residents, which ranks 9th of 3,143 U.S. counties, and the headcount has shifted −6.4% since the 2020 Census. Across all industries it has 61,287 employer locations, 23.9 per 1,000 residents.
Brooklyn is dense, and customers search by neighborhood and by "near me" as much as by the city name. Local SEO here comes down to a precise service area, strong Google Business Profile signals and pages for the services you actually offer.
Who else is in the results
Which Brooklyn Categories Are Most Contested in Local Search
The table below measures Brooklyn against the typical U.S. county for fifteen categories that live on Google and the map: the number of locations, how that number has moved, and how many are very small.
CategoryLocationsDensity vs. a typical countyChange from 2017 to 2022Locations with under 5 employees
Beauty salonsMost contested 877 +4.4% 758
Residential remodelersFastest growing 1,364 +20.5% 1,135
Physicians offices 1,463 -15.6% 809
Full-service restaurants 2,214 -4.9% 1,035
Real estate agents and brokersSmallest shops 778 +7.2% 705
Dentists 810 -7% 434
Electrical contractors 581 +11.7% 367
Law offices 703 -3% 554
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors 765 -2.2% 469
Accounting and CPA firms 249 +10.7% 190
Janitorial services 270 +13% 165
General automotive repair 428 -9.5% 339
Insurance agencies and brokerages 445 +5.7% 312
Roofing contractors 61 +8.9% 46
Landscaping servicesLeast contested 144 -0.7% 116
Crowding = employer locations per 10,000 residents divided by the median U.S. county of 20,000+ residents (1.0x is typical; the dark tick marks it). The counts are establishments in County Business Patterns (2017, 2022), not search volumes. How we calculate this
The beauty salons category is the most contested in Brooklyn: 877 locations, 2.1x the density of a typical county, and up 4.4% since 2017. Residential remodelers (1,364 locations, 1.8x) and physicians offices (1,463 locations, 1.4x) also run above a normal county. The landscaping services category is the least contested here at 0.2x typical (144 locations), so there are fewer rival pages for those searches.
Residential remodelers grew fastest, up 20.5% since 2017 to 1,364 locations, so new rivals keep arriving there. Physicians offices went the other way, down 15.6% to 1,463 locations. The tiniest competitors are in real estate agents and brokers: 705 of 778 locations (91%) have fewer than five employees.
Remember that this is only a count of local businesses. It says nothing about search volume or how fast any site can climb, and we do not guess at either; it shows how many other sites you would share the results with.
Markets like this one
Which Markets Look Most Like Brooklyn?
These six counties are the nearest matches to Brooklyn in our 400-market set when we compare size, income, local-search competition, small-business mix and growth together.
| Market | LSCI | Population | Population change since 2020 | How local businesses changed since 2017 | Locations under 5 staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn, NY (this market) | 47.4 | 2,561,225 | -6.4% | -0.6% | 66.7% |
| Queens, NY | 57.9 | 2,252,196 | -6.4% | +2.4% | 69.1% |
| Cook County, IL | 68.8 | 5,087,072 | -3.6% | -0.6% | 66.1% |
| Essex County, NJ | 56.5 | 851,117 | -1.4% | -1.1% | 63.9% |
| Philadelphia County, PA | 40.8 | 1,550,542 | -3.3% | +1.8% | 60.2% |
| Hudson County, NJ | 43 | 705,472 | -2.7% | +3.1% | 64.4% |
| DeKalb County, GA | 54.9 | 762,992 | -0.2% | +7.9% | 65.4% |
Look-alikes are the six counties in our 400-market set closest to this one on size, income, local-search competition, small-business mix and growth. Sources as above.
Queens, NY is the closest match, scoring 57.9 against Brooklyn's 47.4. Cook County, IL is the furthest from it, scoring 68.8. Philadelphia County, PA has 60.2% of its local-search locations under five employees against 66.7% in Brooklyn. If you already invest in SEO in one of these markets, the comparison shows how similar the competition is, not what your results will be.
Demand signal
Brooklyn Housing Permits Since 2023: Down From the High, Turning Up This Year
Units authorized by building permits. Source: U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (annual county files, with the year-to-date bars covering the same months in each year). Permits count homes approved to be built, not homes completed.
Brooklyn authorized 15,076 housing units in 2023 and 6,844 in 2025, about 55% fewer; 2025 still works out to 26.7 units per 10,000 residents, less than in 52% of counties. For January through August, permits are running at 6,183 against 4,013 a year earlier (+54.1%).
The construction-linked categories already most contested in Brooklyn are residential remodelers (1.8x typical) and real estate agents and brokers (1.2x typical). SEO builds gradually, so the time to start is before the demand arrives; pages that are already indexed and ranking meet new households first.
Do the math
Work Out What SEO Has to Earn for You to Come Out Ahead
SEO is a monthly investment that builds over time, so the useful question is how many new customers it has to bring in to pay for itself. Tell the calculator what a customer is worth and which plan you are weighing.
What happens, in order
The Four Stages of SEO for Brooklyn Businesses
Research & audit
We study your services, the cities you serve and who you compete with, review your website from top to bottom, and write a six-month plan. None of it costs extra.
Create the landing pages
RankGuarantee™ creates a dedicated landing page for each service in each city you serve, and your website gets technical repairs and on-page upgrades.
Maps, writing, AI
We tune your Google Business Profile, citations and reviews, write and publish Strategic Content Assets, and lay out your pages so AI search can pull accurate facts from them.
Track, report, expand
Each month your account manager shares reporting from Search Console and Analytics, and we expand into the pages and topics the figures support.
The pieces of SEO
What Our SEO Services Cover in Brooklyn
Google Maps optimization
We optimize the profile, build citations, post weekly, track rankings and manage reviews, so you show up in the map results when Brooklyn customers search nearby. More on Map SEO.
AI search optimization
Pages and business information structured so AI tools have clear, consistent facts to draw on. Nobody can guarantee an AI mention, but this makes one more likely.
On-page and content
Technical fixes, on-page work and written content that answers real customer questions, published monthly on every Organic Growth plan.
SEO services, an SEO agency, an SEO company, local SEO, organic search, search engine optimization: different words for the same work of getting Brooklyn businesses found on Google, Maps and AI search. Want ads as well? We manage Google, Bing and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) too, and you keep one account manager and one monthly report.
Monthly plans
What SEO Costs in Brooklyn
No setup fee and no contract on any plan. The monthly rate includes onboarding: research, an audit and a six-month plan. Walk through it with our CEO.
Questions we hear
Brooklyn SEO Services: Your Questions Answered
What does an SEO agency charge in Brooklyn?
Our fees are flat and monthly with no setup fee and no contract: $495 for RankGuarantee™ landing pages, or $1,495, $2,495 or $3,495 for the Silver, Gold and Platinum Organic Growth plans. Gold and Platinum include a fully managed, custom-built website.
How long does SEO take to work in Brooklyn?
SEO builds over time and no one can promise a date. How fast pages climb depends on how contested your category is, how strong your website and Google Business Profile are, and how much we can build. In Brooklyn, beauty salons is especially contested (2.1x a typical county), so expect that category to take longer. Our planning cycles run six months with no contract, and you get a report each month.
Is Brooklyn a competitive market for SEO?
Density is highest in
About average. Brooklyn scores 47.4 on our Local Search Competition Index, ranking 978th of 1,822 counties with 20,000+ residents and 333rd of the 400 markets we cover. Beauty salons, at 2.1 times the typical county. Fewer than five employees work at 66.7% of local-search locations, which often means thin websites to outrank. That is a reason to start early: steady SEO tends to hold its position where fewer rivals are building.
Which local businesses compete for search in Brooklyn?
Across the fifteen categories we track, the largest by employer locations in Brooklyn are full-service restaurants (2,214), physicians offices (1,463) and residential remodelers (1,364). Measured against a typical county, the most contested are beauty salons (2.1x) and residential remodelers (1.8x). A big or crowded category does not decide whether SEO works for you; it shows how many other sites would be in the results with you.
Do you optimize for neighborhoods as well as Brooklyn as a whole?
Yes. RankGuarantee™ builds local landing pages for the services and the places you serve, and in a dense borough like Brooklyn that means pages aimed at the neighborhoods and nearby areas where your customers actually are, alongside your Google Business Profile.
Can you help me rank in the Google Maps results?
We do. Every Organic Growth plan includes Google Business Profile optimization, citations and review management, together with on-page and technical SEO, strategic content and AI search (GEO) work. Maps rankings matter most for searches like "near me", and most of the local categories in Brooklyn rely on them.
Does SEO help me show up in ChatGPT and Google's AI answers?
It may. Our plans include AI search (GEO) optimization: clean, structured pages and consistent business information give AI tools more to draw on. No one can guarantee a mention in an AI answer, and we do not promise one, but the same work that earns rankings builds the content those tools use.
SEO or Google Ads: which is right for a Brooklyn business?
Often both. Google Ads can bring calls within days, but each click costs money; SEO builds more slowly and then works without paying per click. If leads cannot wait, start with ads (we manage Google Ads, Bing and Meta too) and use SEO to build the asset that lowers your dependence on them.
Do I have to sign a contract, and what does the monthly fee include?
You can cancel anytime and there is no setup fee. Your plan covers the keyword research, website audit and six-month strategy at the start, then the pages and content in your tier, rank tracking, and one account manager who knows your Brooklyn business.
Next door
Outside Brooklyn: The Closest Counties
Do your customers live outside Brooklyn? These counties are the closest, measured from center to center:
- Queens, NY: about 6 miles away, 2,252,196 residents, Local Search Competition Index 57.9
- Hudson County, NJ: about 9 miles from here, 705,472 people, index score 43
- Manhattan, NY: about 10 miles from here, 1,597,451 people, competition index 62.7
- Staten Island, NY: roughly 11 miles from here, 490,687 people, Local Search Competition Index 56.3
- Bronx, NY: around 16 miles from here, 1,356,476 people, index score 21.7
- Essex County, NJ: roughly 19 miles out, 851,117 residents, index score 56.5
Behind the numbers
The Data Behind This Brooklyn Page
All of the numbers here come from public Census Bureau data, calculated the same manner across every county, which lets you compare Brooklyn with any other market. Client account data is not used, and we publish no search volumes, traffic or client rankings, because results vary by business.
- Data refreshedOctober 16, 2026
- Data sourcesPopulation Estimates (2023), County Business Patterns (2017, 2022), Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (2023), the Building Permits Survey (2021 to 2026 year to date), Census Gazetteer files.
- MethodologyThe Local Search Competition Index and every derived figure are defined on the method page. Browse all markets in the index.
- Report a mistakeSpot an error? Email hello@getphound.com and we will verify it against the original data.
Contact Us
Ready to Grow Your Brooklyn Business With SEO?
Tell us what you sell and which parts of Brooklyn you serve. We will show you what an SEO plan looks like for your business. Call 610-825-4363 or write to hello@getphound.com and we will set up a strategy session with our CEO.