Which blog categories get most Google searches?

So back in July 2014, Kristie over at blog ambitions posted about the types of blogs that get the most Google searches. As a keyword research junkie, I couldn't resist comparing with up-to-date results. I went to Google Keyword Planner and simply used "blogs" as the seed keyword. This gets around the issue Kristie encountered in that it picks up searches that include both "blog" and "blogs". Then I just pulled the blog categories from the results. So without further ado, here they are!

Google Keyword Planner average monthly searches (>1000) from all locations by blog category

1. maths blog: 135000
2. fashion blog: 74000
3. fashion blogs: 60500
4. beauty blog: 49500
5. diy blog: 27100
6. car blog: 22200
7. travel blog: 22200
8. travel blogs: 22200
9. beauty blogs: 18100
10. fitness blog: 14800
11. kid blog: 14800
12. vegan blog: 14800
13. design blog: 12100
14. dogs blog: 12100
15. knitting blogs: 12100
16. sewing blogs: 12100
17. makeup blog: 9900
18. music blogs: 9900
19. mens fashion blog: 9900
20. weight loss blogs: 8100
21. fitness blogs: 8100
22. interior design blogs: 8100
23. kids blog: 8100
24. design blogs: 6600
25. purse blog: 6600
26. photography blogs: 6600
27. interior design blog: 6600
28. makeup and beauty blog: 6600
29. baby blog: 6600
30. style blog: 6600
31. mom blogs: 6600
32. photo blog: 6600
33. quilt blogs: 6600
34. tech blog: 6600
35. sewing blog: 6600
36. decorating blogs: 5400
37. diy blogs: 5400
38. mommy blogs: 5400
39. video blog: 5400
40. quilting blogs: 5400
41. art blog: 5400
42. weight loss blog: 5400
43. tech blogs: 5400
44. baking blogs: 5400
45. funny blogs: 5400
46. health blogs: 5400
47. vegan blogs: 5400
48. cooking blogs: 5400
49. yoga blog: 5400
50. pregnancy blogs: 5400
51. christian blogs: 5400
52. game blog: 4400
53. style blogs: 4400
54. english blog: 4400
55. art blogs: 4400
56. pregnancy blog: 4400
57. plus size fashion blog: 4400
58. anime blog: 4400
59. book blogs: 4400
60. dog blog: 4400
61. marketing blog: 4400
62. health blog: 4400
63. nail polish blog: 4400
64. makeup blogs: 4400
65. lingerie blog: 4400
66. knitting blog: 3600
67. sports blog: 3600
68. lesbian blog: 3600
69. science blogs: 3600
70. film blog: 3600
71. graphic design blog: 3600
72. men fashion blog: 3600
73. creative blog: 3600
74. tattoo blog: 3600
75. anorexia blog: 3600
76. home decor blogs: 3600
77. running blogs: 3600
78. cooking blog: 3600
79. baking blog: 3600
80. running blog: 3600
81. recipe blogs: 3600
82. cancer blog: 2900
83. crochet blogs: 2900
84. watch blog: 2900
85. youtube blog: 2900
86. denim blog: 2900
87. business blogs: 2900
88. science blog: 2900
89. vintage blog: 2900
90. law blog: 2900
91. crochet blog: 2900
92. web design blog: 2900
93. book blog: 2900
94. adwords blog: 2900
95. architecture blog: 2900
96. craft blogs: 2900
97. writing blogs: 2900
98. bali blog: 2900
99. technology blog: 2900
100. business blog: 2900
101. marketing blogs: 2400
102. mom blog: 2400
103. technology blogs: 2400
104. graphic design blogs: 2400
105. infertility blog: 2400
106. depression blog: 2400
107. sports blog: 2400
108. cancer blogs: 2400
109. do it yourself blog: 2400
110. real estate blog: 2400
111. it blogs: 2400
112. news blogs: 2400
113. vegetarian blog: 2400
114. yoga blogs: 2400
115. home decorating blogs: 2400
116. teacher blogs: 2400
117. parenting blogs: 2400
118. recipe blog: 2400
119. japan blog: 2400
120. real estate blogs: 2400
121. baby blogs: 2400
122. gadget blog: 2400
123. political blogs: 2400
124. news blog: 1900
125. funny blog: 1900
126. mommy blog: 1900
127. it blog: 1900
128. relationship blogs: 1900
129. photo blogs: 1900
130. sailing blogs: 1900
131. soccer blog: 1900
132. football blog: 1900
133. coupon blogs: 1900
134. craft blog: 1900
135. education blogs: 1900
136. home decor blog: 1900
137. love blog: 1900
138. forex blog: 1900
139. lesbian blogs: 1600
140. teen blogs: 1600
141. christian blog: 1600
142. singapore blog: 1600
143. seo blogs: 1600
144. coffee blog: 1600
145. social media blog: 1600
146. poetry blogs: 1600
147. gardening blogs: 1600
148. illustration blog: 1600
149. celebrity blogs: 1600
150. adoption blogs: 1600
151. movie blogs: 1600
152. tennis blog: 1600
153. love blogs: 1600
154. dog blogs: 1300
155. hindi blogs: 1300
156. financial blogs: 1300
157. bike blog: 1300
158. car blogs: 1300
159. video blogs: 1300
160. dating blog: 1300
161. education blog: 1300
162. hindi blog: 1300
163. wine blog: 1300
164. parenting blog: 1300
165. football blogs: 1300
166. coupon blog: 1300
167. dating blogs: 1300
168. architecture blogs: 1300
169. finance blog: 1300

Whew! :D

Now some of these are really sub-categories, but I decided to include them here for completeness.

Kristie found that fashion blogs were the most searched for but they're only in second place in these results, beaten out by (somewhat bizarrely) maths blogs! I'm not sure what's going on here, maybe there's a school project to create maths blogs or something! Any ideas?

8 common and costly problems with small business websites

Your online strategy is a critical factor for the profitability of your small business in 2015, and clearly the foundation is based on your website. With this in mind, it’s amazing how many small business websites have some very basic and fundamental problems that are severely hindering their potential. Below I’ve outlined eight of these, do any apply to your website?

• Poor/no search engine optimization (SEO)

Significant amounts of time and money can be invested in creating a flashy small business website, but if it’s difficult or impossible to find then it’s a complete waste. Given that the vast majority of first-time visitors to the typical small business website arrive from the search engines, it’s absolutely critical to do high-quality keyword research in order to rank highly and be found. Firstly this involves creating a database of keywords related to your niche, specifying both the number of searches and level of competition for each keyword. This can then be used to define the set of target keywords which offer the best return based on your specific product mix, which should be embedded in a non-spammy manner in the website content. It should go without saying that all content must also be accessible to the search engine crawlers.
The benefits of this go well beyond just increasing traffic to your website however. It’s really easy for small businesses to fall into the trap of writing what they want to say, which is quite often different to what customers want to hear. SEO research by its nature highlights what potential customers are actually searching for and the keywords they’re using, which can be used to create an effective website that interacts with them on their own terms.
Bear in mind also that keywords used and competition can change significantly over time, meaning that SEO must be revisited regularly.

• Slow page load speed

Websites with pages that load slowly have been shown to have an extremely negative effect on several key metrics, including bounce rate and conversions [1]. Given that you have no more than ten seconds [2] to show the average first-time visitor that you can solve their problem, it’s clearly essential to waste as little of this time as possible loading pages, especially the homepage. Google prefers that web and mobile pages load at least above-the-fold content within a second [3], and as they use load speed for web search ranking [4], it’s a very good idea to get as close to their target as possible.

• Text that’s difficult to read

It might seem obvious, but text should always be made easy to read. In very simple terms, this means using dark text on a light background as standard and avoiding artistic or otherwise hard to read fonts.

• No tagline and/or headline specifying clearly what problem(s) will be solved for visitors

The vast majority of visitors to the typical small business website are first-timers. With a good SEO strategy, you can safely assume they’re visiting because they’re looking for a product or service that you provide. However it’s essential to appreciate that on average, you have no more than ten seconds [2] to make it obvious to them that you can do so. If you don’t, there are thousands of alternatives out there, so there’s really no reason for them to stick around. Therefore it’s critical that the first content they see on your site confirms that you can solve their problem. Typically this means using a tagline or headline that makes clear in simple terms what service(s) you provide. This can then be supported by supporting content including a subhead, brief list of use cases and personalized testimonials.

• Spelling/grammar errors

This should go without saying, but nevertheless it’s remarkable how many websites contain such basic errors, which clearly create a very unprofessional impression.

• Auto-playing content on page load

Auto-playing dynamic content, such as flash or other animations, sliders/carousels and auto-playing movies, has a very negative effect on the first impression of the average website visitor, with predictable consequences for bounce rate and conversions. This is not least because visitors hate feeling that they’re not in control of their browsing experience. For example, carousels are extremely popular and are widely used on business websites, even though research shows that most website visitors find them annoying and ignore them [5, 6, 7].

• No primary call to action, especially on the homepage

If you haven’t defined what primary action you want visitors to take when they hit each page on your website, especially the homepage, it’s unrealistic to expect them to figure it out on their own. The result will simply be a website that doesn’t convert. The goal of every page should be to provide the content to persuade a visitor to take a single, specific action, and then make it very obvious how to take it. This will generally mean one primary call to action button that follows the content and stands out clearly from the rest of the page, containing text that is clear and urgent.

• No mobile optimization

Given that over half of web traffic now originates from mobile devices [8], it’s essential at the very least to have a ‘responsive’ website that offers an excellent user experience on all of the most commonly used devices and platforms. If mobile traffic is particularly relevant to your product or service, you should go a step further and consider a mobile-specific site.

References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]