Dealers hold 39.8% of mobile page one for "boat dealers [city]"
Directories hold 36.8%, marketplaces 12.1%, and social pages 6.3%.
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Data study
The Page One Report: Who Ranks for “Boat Dealers [City]” in 64 U.S. Boating Markets
I have spent 17 years doing search marketing in competitive local niches, and a good share of that time with boat dealers. The thing dealers ask me most is who they are actually up against on Google. Most people answer that with a hunch. So we decided to pull the search results data for the biggest US markets and show you the real thing.
We pulled Google’s mobile page one for “boat dealers [city]” and “boats for sale [city]” in 64 U.S. boating markets, searching as if we were standing in each market. Then we went through every result, domain by domain, and every business in the map pack.
The short version: dealers win the top spot more often than most people think, but they share page one with Yelp almost everywhere, and the map pack and the organic results usually show different winners.
Download the full data set with every organic result and map pack business behind this report.
Key findings
A dealer is the #1 organic result in 43 of 64 markets
In 9 markets, no dealer makes the top three.
Yelp is on page one in 60 of 64 markets
And in the top three in 37 of them.
The map pack showed in 57 of 64 dealer searches
In the other 7, Google showed an AI Overview instead.
In 34 of 57 markets, the #1 map pack business is missing from organic
Its website ranks #1 organically in only 9.
On "boats for sale [city]," marketplaces take 35.8% of page one
Boat Trader alone appears in 48 of 64 markets.
Please understand that these results may change, as Google is always testing and trying things out to provide a better search experience or change layouts based on keyword search intent.
Who actually holds page one
We counted every organic result on the first mobile results page, which on a phone is usually six to ten listings. We tracked ads, the map pack, and AI Overviews separately, so they don’t inflate or dilute the organic shares.
Two things stand out to us. First, dealers are not a small minority on their own keyword. They take about four in ten organic spots and lead in two-thirds of markets. Anyone telling dealers that “directories own page one” is overstating it.
Second, the two searches are different fights. On “boat dealers [city],” a dealer’s competition is mostly Yelp, Yellow Pages, MapQuest and Boat Planet. On “boats for sale [city],” it is Boat Trader, Boatmart, Craigslist and Facebook. A dealer who optimizes for only one leaves the other to someone else.
The map pack is a separate race
This is the part of the study I would ask every dealer to read twice. We tracked the map pack (the three businesses shown with the map, ratings and directions) on its own, next to the organic results.
The map pack (Google Maps, powered by each business’s Google Business Profile) appeared in 57 of 64 dealer searches. The median #1 business in the pack had a 4.6 rating and 124 Google reviews.
The surprise was the overlap. In 34 of 57 markets, the #1 business in the map pack had no website anywhere in the organic results. Only 9 times did the same dealer hold #1 in both.
boat dealers kansas city
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The map pack: three local dealers
Google’s local results for “boat dealers kansas city” are all dealers, the businesses the searcher asked for.
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Organic #1 and #2: marketplaces
Scroll past the map and the first two results are Boat Trader and Boatmart listing pages, then Yelp at #3.
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The map's #1 dealer first shows at #4
Midwest Marine leads the map pack but its website appears only at #4 organic, through a blog post rather than its home page. Blue Springs and Smithville are not on page one at all.
Kansas City is a clean example. The map pack shows three local dealers. Directly below it, the first two organic results are Boat Trader and Boatmart. A shopper who scrolls past the map lands on a marketplace, not on any of the three dealers Google just recommended.
Map pack vs. organic, market by market
In 7 markets (Fort Myers FL, Chicago IL, Shreveport LA, Lansing MI, Detroit Lakes MN, Lake of the Ozarks MO and Virginia Beach VA), there was no map pack at all. In every one of those 7, Google showed an AI Overview instead. We only have one day of data, so I am not calling it a trend. But if you rely on the map pack alone, those are the markets where that bet already failed on the day we looked.
The directory problem is mostly a Yelp problem
Directories hold 36.8% of page one, but they are not spread evenly. Yelp appears in 60 of 64 markets and often takes more than one spot on the same page. Here are the non-dealer sites that show up most for “boat dealers [city]”:
The biggest directories on this list, Yelp, Yellow Pages and MapQuest, are general-purpose sites, not boating sites. They rank because they have a page whose title matches the search word for word (think “Best Boat Dealers in [City]”) and years of authority behind it. None of them sells a boat. That gap is the opening for a dealer with a strong, clearly local page.
On the inventory search, the list changes completely:
A marketplace takes the #1 organic spot on “boats for sale [city]” in 14 of 64 markets. On the dealer search, that happens in 13.
Market by market
Here is every market in the study, sorted by state. “Dealers on page one” counts organic results only. The map pack columns show who leads the pack and whether that business also shows up in the organic results. The full data, including every result and every map pack business, is in the spreadsheet that goes with this report.
The markets where no dealer reached the top three on “boat dealers [city]” were Fresno CA, Miami FL, St. Cloud MN, Kansas City MO, Jackson MS, Rochester NY, Austin TX, Spokane WA and Green Bay WI. They do not follow a neat big-city pattern. Big metros and smaller boating towns land on both ends of the table, which tells me the deciding factor is what individual dealers have done, not market size.
Fresno is the starkest case, with six organic results and not one dealer. YachtWorld, Boat Planet, BoatCrazy and Yelp hold the top four. At the other end, Long Island and Sarasota had dealers in the top three spots, with eight and seven dealer results on page one.
Why demand is worth fighting for
Buyers are out there searching. Nationally, “boat dealers near me” averages 40,500 U.S. searches a month, “boats for sale” 110,000 and “boat trader” 201,000 (Google Ads data via DataForSEO, 12-month averages).
It is also seasonal. “Boat dealers near me” ran 14,800 searches in November and December 2025 and 74,000 in June 2026, a fivefold swing. The work that wins June gets done in the winter.
40,500"boat dealers near me," U.S. searches a month
110,000"boats for sale," U.S. searches a month
201,000"boat trader," U.S. searches a month
Source: Google Ads search volume and cost per click via DataForSEO historical keyword data, United States, September 2025 to August 2026.
Locally, the 64 markets in this study add up to 13,470 searches a month for “boat dealers [city]” alone, before you count “near me,” brand and model searches.
How we ran the study
Choosing the markets. We split 64 markets across states in proportion to each state’s 2024 registered boats, using the U.S. Coast Guard’s Recreational Boating Statistics 2024. Florida got the most markets (7), then Minnesota (5). Inside each state, we picked the cities with the highest Google search volume for “boat dealers [city].” Four states (New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine) qualified on registrations but showed almost no searches in that format, so we gave those four slots to the next-highest-demand cities in other states. The final 64 markets cover 31 states. A few markets are regions people search by name (Long Island, Cape Cod, Lake of the Ozarks, Okoboji, and Lake Havasu), so we searched the region’s name from a central town.
Choosing the keyword. We checked “boat dealer,” “boat dealers,” “boat dealership,” “boat dealerships” and “boat dealers in” for every city. Google Ads reports all five with the same volume, because Google groups them as one search. We used “boat dealers [city].”
Pulling the results. We used the DataForSEO SERP API with Google mobile results on Android, in English, with the location set to a GPS point in each market. That is 128 searches in total, all pulled on October 9, 2026.
Classifying results. Hamad and I sorted every ranking site into dealer, national chain, manufacturer, marketplace, directory, social or other. Brokers and marinas that sell boats count as dealers. Regional multi-store dealers count as dealers. MarineMax, Bass Pro Boating Centers, West Marine and HMY count as national chains.
Limits of the data
- It is one day. Rankings move. Treat this as a snapshot, not a trend line.
- One point per market. Results change across a metro. A dealer 20 miles from our search point may see a different page one.
- Mobile only. Desktop results can differ, especially in the map pack.
- One search per market per keyword. Google personalizes results, so your own phone may show a slightly different order.
- Organic only for the shares. Ads appeared on 6 of 64 dealer searches and are not counted as page-one results.
- Search volumes are estimates. Google Ads reports rounded ranges, and small cities often show 0 or 10.
- We cannot see why. This study shows who ranks, not why. Links, content, reviews and citations would need a separate study.
What a dealer should do with this
Ranking #1 on search results might sound great, but it is not enough. You have to own multiple spots on the specific search results to make a difference.
We call this Search Result Stacking: building visibility across your website, Google Maps, marketplaces, directories, and paid ads to give buyers more opportunities to discover and interact with your brand and dealership.
- See who owns your local search results. Search “boat dealers [your city]” and “boats for sale [your city].” Identify who’s ranking, which marketplaces and directories appear, and where your dealership is missing.
- Get your inventory on websites that already rank. If Boat Trader, Boatmart, or another marketplace ranks in your market, consider listing or promoting your boats there. You don’t always have to outrank a marketplace to benefit from its traffic.
- Strengthen your own website. Make your inventory indexable, mobile-friendly, and easy to search. Build useful local pages for the boat brands, models, and categories you sell. Your website should compete alongside marketplaces, not disappear behind them.
- Win visibility in Google Maps and organic search. In 34 of 57 markets, the #1 map pack business was missing from organic results. Optimize your Google Business Profile, earn customer reviews, and strengthen your website’s local SEO to compete in both.
- Take advantage of directories. Yelp appeared in 60 of 64 markets. Claim your profiles on Yelp and other directories ranking locally, keep your information accurate, and make your dealership stand out.
- Use paid ads to expand your reach. Google Ads can put your dealership in front of buyers searching for boats, brands, and dealers in your area. Focus your budget on searches likely to generate qualified leads, especially where your organic visibility is weak.
- Prepare for AI search. AI Overviews appeared without a map pack in seven markets. Keep your dealership, inventory, and business information accurate and accessible so AI-powered search systems can find and understand what you offer.
Don’t focus on winning just one spot on Google. Build visibility across the results your customers already use. The more relevant places your dealership appears, the more opportunities you have to earn their business.
Frequently asked questions
Do directories really outrank boat dealers on Google?
Less than people think. In our 64-market study, dealers held 39.8% of mobile page one for “boat dealers [city]” and ranked #1 in 43 markets. Directories held 36.8%, and Yelp alone appeared in 60 markets, so they share page one rather than own it.
If I am in the Google map pack, do I still need SEO?
Yes. In 34 of 57 markets we studied, the #1 map pack business did not appear anywhere in the organic results below it. In 7 markets there was no map pack at all, only an AI Overview. Ranking in both is the safer position.
Which keyword should a boat dealer target: "boat dealer," "boat dealers" or "boat dealership"?
For city searches, it barely matters. Google Ads reports the same volume for all of them, because Google treats them as one search. Use the wording that reads naturally on your page and include your city.
When do people search for boat dealers the most?
Spring and early summer. Nationally, “boat dealers near me” went from 14,800 searches a month in November and December 2025 to 74,000 in June 2026. Local SEO takes months to build, so start in the off-season.
Who ranks for "boats for sale" in my city?
Usually a mix. Across 64 markets, marketplaces took 35.8% of page one and dealers 40.9%. Boat Trader appeared in 48 markets. Check the market-by-market table above or the spreadsheet for your city.
Download the data
Every number in this report can be checked. The workbook has every organic result and every map pack business we recorded, with the page title, URL, position and the site type we assigned, plus the city-by-city search volumes we used to pick the 64 markets.
Sources
- DataForSEO. Google Organic SERP API (live, advanced). Google mobile results on Android, in English, located at a GPS point in each market. Used for all 128 searches, organic results and map packs, pulled October 9, 2026.
- DataForSEO. Google Ads Search Volume API. Google Ads search volumes for 171 candidate cities and the national terms (12-month averages, U.S.), pulled October 9, 2026.
- U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety. Recreational Boating Statistics 2024, Table 38, “Recreational Vessel Registration Data by State,” page 72. Published June 24, 2025. Used to weight markets by state.
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