Keyword Research Tool
Free Ottawa Keyword Research: Volume, Difficulty, CPC
Estimated monthly search volume, keyword difficulty and cost per click data for businesses in YOW looking to improve their SEO by themselves.
Our aim is to democratize access to SEO data in Ottawa so struggling trades, professionals, bloggers, medical practitioners, journalists, and government-adjacent businesses can improve their organic search visibility or see how Ottawans search with first-hand agency data.
Ottawa is Canada's capital, a city of federal employees, tech workers, bilingual households, and a real estate market driven by stability rather than speculation. The searches here reflect that: high commercial intent, low keyword difficulty in most trades, and neighbourhood-level specificity that catches most businesses off guard.
Use cases
How to use the keyword dataset/table below?
A few examples with how-to tips that you can use to improve your competitive edge.
Any area of interest that you feel we're missing? Email us at contact {at} visibilitydrip.ca and we'll update the table asap!
Content ideas
If you're an HVAC company in Ottawa, you're probably targeting "furnace repair", but Ottawans are searching "heat pump ottawa" (400 searches) with a difficulty of 0. That's a blog post writing itself, especially with the federal heat pump rebate programs driving research. Same goes for renovation contractors: "basement renovation ottawa" gets 700 searches a month with a difficulty of just 4. Homeowners are actively planning and pricing before they pick up the phone.
Business expansion
Ottawa's real estate market runs neighbourhood by neighbourhood. "Kanata homes for sale" gets 1,000 searches (KD 0), "homes for sale barrhaven" gets 900 (KD 0), "manotick homes for sale" pulls 1,100 (KD 0). If you're a realtor or mortgage broker without dedicated neighbourhood pages, you're handing those clicks to someone else. Build a page for each of the major quadrants, Barrhaven, Kanata, Orléans, Stittsville, The Glebe, Westboro, and back each one with a Google Business Profile.
For YOW bloggers
"Things to do ottawa" pulls 2,600 searches a month at KD 10. "War museum ottawa" and "aviation museum ottawa" each get 1,500 searches, both at KD 7. Ottawa's tourism and cultural sector is massively undersupported by local content. A well-structured guide to Ottawa's museums, the Rideau Canal, or seasonal events would rank quickly and drive steady year-round traffic.
For startups & entrepreneurs
"Junk removal ottawa" gets 800 searches at KD 6. "Mobile mechanic ottawa" gets 200 at KD 0. Ottawa's service sector has dozens of niches where the SEO door is essentially wide open, low difficulty, real commercial intent, nobody optimized for it. If you're launching a home-services business in the NCR, the organic opportunity is significantly easier than Toronto.
For researchers & journalists
"Employment lawyer ottawa" gets 600 searches a month at KD 23. Ottawa's large federal workforce means wrongful dismissal, labour disputes, and workplace rights are perpetually searched topics. A detailed explainer on federal vs. provincial employment law, severance entitlements, or collective agreement rights would rank well and attract a highly educated audience.
For service professionals
Ottawa is a government town and government employees move, a lot. "Movers ottawa" gets 900 searches (KD 35), "professional movers ottawa" gets 500 (KD 5), and "senior movers ottawa" pulls 250 at KD 3. If you're in moving or storage, the combination of federal relocation postings and a steady real estate market makes Ottawa one of the more consistent demand markets in Ontario. "Locksmith ottawa" is 2,200 searches at KD 19, remarkably wide open for a high-CPC service keyword.
Table legend:
- Industry: clustered keyword under inherent topic.
- Keyword: the terms typed in Google’s search box.
- Volume: estimated monthly search volume (usually higher).
- KD: 10-30 easier to rank, 30-60 medium competition, 60-100 high competition.
- CPC: Ahrefs’ estimated cost-per-click to bid on this keyword in Google Ads (typically underestimated, actual costs are usually higher)
| Industry | Keyword | Volume | KD | CPC ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No keywords match this filter. | ||||
Table credits: Keyword data powered by Ahrefs.com. Compiled and organized by Visibility Drip, an SEO company serving Ottawa, ON.
How the data is compiled
Methodology & refresh cadence
Every keyword in this dataset is pulled from Ahrefs' live search database, filtered for Ottawa geographic intent, then manually organized by industry.
Some cells are intentionally left blank. When Ahrefs does not surface a reliable estimate for a specific keyword (usually low-volume or brand-new terms), we preserve the empty cell rather than substitute a value. Blanks represent "unknown", not "zero".
Last updated: 2026-04-28. We refresh these datasets periodically. If you need up-to-the-day data for a specific market or industry, reach out and we'll pull a custom export.