Blog / Local SEO
Pest Control Keywords: The Full List With Search Volumes
The pest control keywords that bring in customers are the ones homeowners type when they have a problem, like “pest control near me,” “exterminator” or a pest plus a service, such as “termite inspection.” Below is the full list with US search volumes, grouped by pest, plus the page, Business Profile service or ad campaign each belongs to.
Every search volume and cost per click here comes from Semrush’s US data, pulled in October 2026. These are national totals, so your town gets a small slice of each, and I show you how to check your own numbers further down. I left out brand names like Orkin and Terminix, and the job and DIY searches show up near the end as negative keywords.
The core pest control keywords
These searches don’t name a pest. The person wants a company to call, and the searches belong to your homepage, your main city page and your Google Business Profile.
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| pest control | 673,000 | $16.96 |
| pest control near me | 201,000 | $18.49 |
| exterminator | 165,000 | $16.92 |
| exterminator near me | 135,000 | $18.49 |
| pest control services | 60,500 | $14.84 |
| pest control services near me | 27,100 | $17.87 |
| pest control company | 22,200 | $15.54 |
| exterminators near me | 18,100 | $16.33 |
| pest control companies near me | 14,800 | $16.82 |
| pest exterminator near me | 9,900 | $16.19 |
Google shows local results for searches like these in Maps and Search, so your Business Profile does a lot of the work. Your website backs it up, with your home city in the homepage title and H1.
Pest control keywords by pest and service
Every service you sell has its own set of searches. The tables below show the biggest for each, sorted by volume, with the average cost per click. A high cost per click tells you other companies make money on those leads. If you offer a service and have no page for it, its table is your to-do list.
Termites
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| termite treatment | 60,500 | $10.82 |
| termite control | 49,500 | $13.12 |
| termite inspection | 33,100 | $23.62 |
| termite control near me | 22,200 | $15.50 |
| termite treatment near me | 18,100 | $17.25 |
| termite inspection near me | 12,100 | $21.45 |
| termite exterminator | 9,900 | $19.53 |
| termite bait stations | 6,600 | $1.25 |
| termite exterminator near me | 5,400 | $17.48 |
| termite tenting | 4,400 | $14.45 |
Some inspection searches come from home sales, where a buyer or lender wants a wood-destroying insect report. If you do those, give inspections their own page. Only target “termite tenting” if you fumigate.
Mice and rats
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| rodent control | 49,500 | $15.38 |
| mouse exterminator | 22,200 | $13.76 |
| rodent control near me | 22,200 | $14.30 |
| mouse control | 18,100 | $9.09 |
| rat exterminator | 14,800 | $15.63 |
| rat exterminator near me | 14,800 | $16.89 |
| mice exterminator near me | 14,800 | $13.72 |
| rodent removal | 12,100 | $15.76 |
| rodent exterminator | 9,900 | $15.38 |
| rodent exclusion | 1,300 | $11.26 |
People search for the animal they saw. Owners call it rodent control, but homeowners type “mouse” and “rat,” so put both words in the headings of your rodent page.
Bed bugs
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| bed bug exterminator | 27,100 | $11.02 |
| bed bug treatment | 27,100 | $6.30 |
| bed bug exterminator near me | 12,100 | $11.95 |
| bed bug heat treatment | 12,100 | $6.33 |
| bed bug removal | 6,600 | $8.05 |
| bed bug inspection | 4,400 | $11.61 |
If you do heat treatments, put that in the bed bug page’s title and H1, because people search for the method.
Mosquitoes, ticks and fleas
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| mosquito control | 49,500 | $6.20 |
| mosquito control near me | 33,100 | $13.97 |
| mosquito spraying | 8,100 | $5.66 |
| tick control | 8,100 | $6.24 |
| flea exterminator | 6,600 | $12.96 |
| flea treatment for house | 5,400 | $5.29 |
| flea exterminator near me | 4,400 | $15.62 |
| mosquito treatment for yard | 3,600 | $9.57 |
These are seasonal. Get your mosquito and tick pages live and indexed before spring, not in June when the calls are already going to someone else.
Ants, roaches, spiders and other insects
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| ant control | 27,100 | $7.89 |
| ant exterminator | 18,100 | $12.32 |
| spider exterminator | 12,100 | $9.43 |
| cockroach control | 12,100 | $5.24 |
| spider control | 12,100 | $5.42 |
| roach exterminator | 9,900 | $12.73 |
| cockroach exterminator | 9,900 | $11.42 |
| ant exterminator near me | 8,100 | $14.40 |
| roach exterminator near me | 4,400 | $15.23 |
| fire ant control | 4,400 | $2.28 |
Most of these can live on your general pest control page as their own sections. Carpenter ants and scorpions earn their own pages in markets where you treat a lot of them.
Wasps and bees
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| wasp nest removal | 18,100 | $9.40 |
| bee removal near me | 9,900 | $7.29 |
| bee removal | 6,600 | $8.40 |
| wasp exterminator | 5,400 | $14.33 |
| hornet nest removal | 3,600 | $10.90 |
| wasp nest removal near me | 2,900 | $14.26 |
| yellow jacket removal | 1,300 | $11.06 |
One stinging insect page can cover all of these, with wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and bees each named in a heading.
Wildlife
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| wildlife removal | 9,900 | $7.37 |
| wildlife removal near me | 9,900 | $6.83 |
| squirrel removal | 6,600 | $9.02 |
| bat removal | 6,600 | $5.95 |
| bat removal near me | 6,600 | $5.41 |
| bird control | 6,600 | $5.48 |
| raccoon removal | 4,400 | $7.77 |
| squirrel removal near me | 4,400 | $7.61 |
| raccoon removal near me | 3,600 | $7.14 |
| skunk removal | 2,900 | $6.28 |
We work with wildlife companies too, and they need a page for each animal. A pest control company that does some wildlife work should list only the animals it takes on.
Commercial
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| commercial pest control | 22,200 | $35.89 |
| commercial pest control near me | 4,400 | $65.62 |
| commercial exterminator | 1,900 | $39.97 |
| restaurant pest control | 1,600 | $25.20 |
| apartment pest control | 1,000 | $8.19 |
Commercial searchers run a restaurant, a warehouse or a set of apartments, and they want proof you’ve handled places like theirs. One strong commercial page that names the industries you serve is a better start than a thin page for each one.
Cost and question keywords
These come earlier in the decision. Someone asking what pest control costs is shopping, and someone typing “how to get rid of mice” hopes not to call anyone.
| Keyword | Monthly US searches | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| how to get rid of ants | 673,000 | Blog post, linked to your ant section |
| how to get rid of mice | 550,000 | Blog post, linked to your rodent page |
| how to get rid of bed bugs | 60,500 | Blog post, linked to your bed bug page |
| what do termites look like | 33,100 | Pest library page |
| how to get rid of roaches | 22,200 | Blog post, linked to your roach page |
| signs of termites | 6,600 | Blog post, linked to your termite page |
| termite treatment cost | 6,600 | FAQ on your termite page |
| pest control cost | 5,400 | FAQ or a cost post |
| how much does pest control cost | 4,400 | FAQ or a cost post |
| exterminator cost | 4,400 | FAQ or a cost post |
“How to get rid of” searches have volume, but you’re up against national home improvement sites, and most of those searchers want to do it themselves. Aaron Shishilla, who builds pest control websites, told me that if Family Handyman ranks for a topic, you’ll struggle to get next to it, so go hyperlocal instead, like mosquito tips for Tampa or scorpions in Arizona.
Cost questions are closer to a call. Answer them on the matching service page, and if you’re comfortable sharing real price ranges, write a cost post for your city. My guide to pest control blog ideas has dozens more topics and where each should link.
How much of that volume is in your town
A national number adds up every town in the country. “Pest control near me” gets 201,000 searches a month in the US, spread across all of them. Searches with the city named show how small one town’s slice is. “Pest control houston” gets 4,400, “pest control raleigh nc” gets 3,600 and “pest control cary nc” gets 320.
You can check your own towns for free with Keyword Planner in Google Ads.
- Sign in to Google Ads and open Keyword Planner from the Tools menu.
- Choose “Get search volume and forecasts” and paste your list, with “pest control,” “exterminator” and each service plus every town you serve.
- Change the location from the United States to your county or towns.
- Read the average monthly searches column.
Google’s own Keyword Planner guide sets the location filter to a single town, Putney, Vermont, to show average monthly searches there. Set it to your area and the “near me” numbers become local too.
Use the numbers to decide what to build first. Start your location pages with the towns that bring in the most revenue and have real searches. For a page about one service in one town, like “termite control Columbus,” I put the cutoff at about 20 searches a month in The Complete Guide to Pest Control SEO.
Which page should target each keyword
A lot of ranking problems start with a keyword that has no page, or two pages competing for it. Give every group of pest control website keywords one page that owns it.
| Search | Page that should rank | Title example |
|---|---|---|
| pest control, exterminator, pest control near me | Homepage, about your home city | Pest Control in Westerville, OH |
| pest control [town] | That town’s location page | Pest Control in Dublin, OH |
| termite inspection, termite treatment | Termite service page | Termite Control in Westerville, OH |
| [service] [big city], 20+ searches | Its own service and city page | Termite Control in Columbus, OH |
| commercial pest control | Commercial page | Commercial Pest Control in Westerville, OH |
| cost and how-to questions | Blog post or FAQ | How Much Does Pest Control Cost in Westerville? |
Put the keyword and the city in the title tag, the H1 and the URL, and use the keyword in the links pointing at that page. My pest control website template lays out the full page structure, which is the base of any pest control SEO plan we build. If your current site can’t hold that structure, that’s where our website design work usually starts.
Use the same words in your Business Profile
Google says the categories you select affect your local ranking, and also says not to pick a category for every product or service. Make Pest control service your primary category, and add others only for work you really do, like Animal control service or Lawn care service.
The pest names go in services. Google lets many service businesses pick suggested services and add custom ones, and it rejects custom service names with prices or phone numbers. Name yours the way people search, like “Termite inspection,” “Bed bug heat treatment,” “Rodent control” and “Wasp nest removal,” with a short description for each.
Keep keywords out of your business name. A profile named “Smith Pest Control Exterminator Raleigh” breaks Google’s guidelines, and competitors report names like that. Let your weekly posts follow the season’s searches instead, like termite swarmers in spring and mice moving indoors when it turns cold. My Google Business Profile guide covers the rest.
Pest control Google Ads keywords
Bid on the searches where someone wants a company now, like a service plus a city, the “near me” searches and the core terms, and start with the services that pay best. Brent Agee of AXN Growth Partners told me termite is the best way to fund your marketing, and after a merger his family’s company advertised only termite control and added pest control to every contract.
I build the keyword list one service at a time. For termites, that means phrase match with the city in every position (“termite control Columbus,” “termite control in Columbus,” “Columbus termite control”), the same again with “services,” “company,” “companies” and “exterminator,” the “near me” versions, and exact match for the core terms like [termite control], [termite treatment] and [termite inspection]. Add “emergency,” “same day” and “24 hour” versions only if someone answers the phone at night. Then repeat it for rodents, ants, spiders and every other service.
Leave the question and “how to get rid of” searches out unless you want DIY traffic.
Negative keywords
These searches all contain “pest control” or “exterminator,” and none of them is a customer.
| Search | Monthly US searches | Why you block it |
|---|---|---|
| diy pest control | 14,800 | DIY |
| pest control jobs | 2,400 | Job seekers |
| pest control jobs near me | 2,400 | Job seekers |
| pest control spray | 2,400 | Product shoppers |
| pest control software | 1,900 | Other pest control companies |
| pest control license | 1,300 | People getting licensed |
| exterminator salary | 720 | Job seekers |
| pest control business for sale | 720 | Buyers and owners |
| pest control technician salary | 480 | Job seekers |
| how to become an exterminator | 210 | Job seekers |
Start your negative list with jobs, hiring, salary, license, training, DIY, spray, “how to,” Home Depot and Amazon, plus any service you don’t offer. Then read the search terms report weekly for the first month or two and add every junk search you paid for.
Send each ad group to a page about its search, because ads that all point at one landing page convert worse. My guide to Google Ads for pest control covers campaigns, match types and landing pages, and our Google Ads management page explains how we run them for clients.
What I find when I look at a site’s keywords
Owners who work with an SEO agency sometimes set up or fix their call tracking and find that nearly all their calls come from their Google Business Profiles and from people searching the company name. The website brings in no revenue from SEO itself. I’ve seen that several times, and it means the site isn’t winning the searches in this post.
Usually I find the same few problems behind it. Titles without the city, like “Termite Control | ABC Pest,” tell Google nothing about where you work. City pages are copied from one template with the town name swapped, so they get no traffic and the homepage ranks for those towns instead.
Some sites have hundreds of location pages, and I audit ones where none of them rank. Google treats pages like that as spam, and it keeps getting better at spotting content made at scale. A real page for each town you serve, written from what your techs see there, beats a stack of near-copies.
Questions pest control owners ask
What are the best keywords for pest control SEO?
“Pest control” and “exterminator” with your city, and each service you sell with your city, like “termite inspection Raleigh.” Those pest control SEO keywords have the clearest intent, so rank your homepage, service pages and location pages for them before you chase blog traffic.
How many people search for “pest control near me”?
About 201,000 a month in the US, according to Semrush in October 2026. Your share depends on how many people live where your trucks go.
Should I put “near me” on my website?
No. Google’s local ranking page says distance is how far each business is from the person searching, and when someone doesn’t share where they are, Google uses what it knows about their location. Write your pages for the towns you serve and keep the reviews coming.
How do I find keywords for my own area?
Start with Keyword Planner set to your towns, then check the queries in Search Console to see what already brings people to your site. Your call recordings are full of the words customers use, too. If you’d like a second set of eyes on your list, book a call.
Want more calls from Google?
Book a 30-minute discovery call with Dan to see if we’re a fit.