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mxverify / indie hackers

Sites where “indie hackers” is a top search keyword

One site on record lists “indie hackers” among the searches that send it the most visitors, by traffic estimates. It is searched about 27.1K times a month on Google, worldwide (Google Ads, Sept 2026), at about $12.27 a click in search ads: a month of its searches would cost about $332.5K as search ads. Each site checked on the backlink value checker adds its top five search keywords, so this list grows as sites are checked.

Keyword intelligence

27.1KGoogle monthly search volume+50% since Oct 2025
no changeLast 3 months vs 3 beforesteady
71/100Demand scorestrong
22/100Keyword difficulty (US)easy
InformationalSearch intentwants to learn
$12.27Google Ads cost per clicktop-of-page bids $1.26–$35.44
49.7KThird-party estimated keyword demand+8% vs Aug 2026
1Sites getting visits from itSept 2026

What the data says

  • Demand is up on the year, now levelling off: Google searches for “indie hackers” rose 50% (18.1K to 27.1K) from Oct 2025 to Sept 2026.
  • The listed sites' estimated visits from “indie hackers” (67.9K a month) exceed its 49.7K searches: the estimates count visits from close searches too, so the listed sites take most of its traffic, not more than all of it.
  • From Aug 2026 to Sept 2026: indiehackers.com gained most (66.4K → 67.9K visits).
  • At $12.27 a click (Google Ads), the listed sites' 67.9K visits a month from “indie hackers” would cost about $832.9K as search ads. That is what the traffic would cost to buy, not what it earns.

1Demand

Search demand, month by month

Google monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide)Third-party estimated keyword demand

025K50KOct 2025Jan 2026Apr 2026Jul 2026Sept 2026Google monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Oct 2025: 18.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Nov 2025: 18.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Dec 2025: 22.2KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Jan 2026: 27.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Feb 2026: 22.2KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Mar 2026: 33.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Apr 2026: 33.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), May 2026: 27.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Jun 2026: 27.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Jul 2026: 33.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Aug 2026: 27.1KGoogle monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide), Sept 2026: 27.1KThird-party estimated keyword demand, Aug 2026: 46KThird-party estimated keyword demand, Sept 2026: 49.7KOct 2025Google monthly search volume18.1KNov 2025Google monthly search volume18.1KDec 2025Google monthly search volume22.2KJan 2026Google monthly search volume27.1KFeb 2026Google monthly search volume22.2KMar 2026Google monthly search volume33.1KApr 2026Google monthly search volume33.1KMay 2026Google monthly search volume27.1KJun 2026Google monthly search volume27.1KJul 2026Google monthly search volume33.1KAug 2026Google monthly search volume27.1KThird-party estimated keyword demand46KSept 2026Google monthly search volume27.1KThird-party estimated keyword demand49.7K
Every month's figures
Oct 2025Nov 2025Dec 2025Jan 2026Feb 2026Mar 2026Apr 2026May 2026Jun 2026Jul 2026Aug 2026Sept 2026
Google monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide)18.1K18.1K22.2K27.1K22.2K33.1K33.1K27.1K27.1K33.1K27.1K27.1K
Third-party estimated keyword demand——————————46K49.7K

Google monthly search volume: Google Ads, worldwide, read 1 Nov 2026. Third-party estimated keyword demand is a separate source, on the same axis: the two can differ. Google Ads counts close spellings as one keyword: “indie hackers” has the same figures as “indie hacker”, so these are the group's searches.

2Who gets the traffic

Visits from it by site, month by month

indiehackers.com

050K100Kindiehackers.com, Aug 2026: 66.4K66.4KAug 2026indiehackers.com, Sept 2026: 67.9K67.9KSept 2026Aug 2026indiehackers.com66.4KTotal66.4KSept 2026indiehackers.com67.9KTotal67.9K

Visits from this keyword (est.), stacked by site: a column is all the listed sites' visits from it that month.

Share of the visits, Sept 2026
SiteShareVisitsAs adsDRLinking sites
indiehackers.com100%67.9K$832.9K8216.4K

Each site's latest estimate of its visits from this keyword; “As ads”: those visits at its cost per click, what they would cost to buy; DR: Ahrefs Domain Rating; linking sites: sites linking to it (third-party link index).

Where these sites' visitors are
  • United States13%
  • United Kingdom10%
  • India10%
  • Germany9%
  • France5%
  • Other countries53%

The listed sites' own visitors by country (all their traffic), weighted by each site's visits from this keyword: their audience, not where the keyword is searched.

Phones and computers
  • Phones37%
  • Computers and tablets63%

Page loads of the listed sites by Chrome users (Chrome UX Report), weighted by each site's visits from this keyword: a site's device mix, not the keyword's. No source gives a keyword's device split.

3Ranking competition

22/100Keyword difficulty (US)easy
42/100Ranking easecontested
DR 96First page, median Ahrefs DR
247Linking sites per top-ten pageaverage, US

On Google's page:People also askPerspectivesImagesRelated searchesAI Overview

Google's first page, United States
#SitePage titleDRBV
1indiehackers.comlisted hereIndie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online ...82$90
2reddit.comon mxverifyIs the Indie Hacker dream actually worth it?95$183
3open.spotify.comIndie Hackers | Listen to the Podcast on Spotify96—
4reddit.comon mxverifyr/indiehackers95$183
5x.comon mxverifyIndie Hackers (@IndieHackers) / X97$183
6facebook.comon mxverifyIndie Hackers (@IndieHackers)100$227

Google's results for “indie hackers” in the United States, in English, read 1 Nov 2026. DR: Ahrefs Domain Rating; “—”: Ahrefs gives no rating. BV: what a new followed link from a site with a report on mxverify is worth (its report says what the figure rests on).

4Intent and related searches

Informational: wants to learn · also navigational
The searcher's goal, as a third-party keyword database classifies it (US).

Google's related searches

  • Indie hackers community
  • Indie hackers podcast
  • Indie Hackers app
  • Indie Hackers community Discord
  • Indie hackers login
  • Indie hackers forum
  • Indie hackers Reddit
  • Indie Hackers newsletter

Questions people ask

  • What is an indie hacker?
  • How do Indie Hackers make money?
  • Who are indie founders?

Keywords the same sites get visits from

Keywords the listed sites also get visits from, the most shared first: linked by the same sites' traffic, not by meaning.

5Opportunity

71/100 · Demand score, strong

How much searching there is and what advertisers pay for it.

Searches6927.1K a month · weight 40%
Year65+50% since Oct 2025 · weight 20%
Momentum50last 3 months +0% on the 3 before · weight 20%
Commercial100$12.27 a click (Google Ads) · weight 20%

42/100 · Ranking ease, contested

How open Google's first page is: 100 minus its difficulty and strength.

Keyword difficulty7822 of 100 (US) · weight 50%
First-page strength5median Ahrefs DR 96 · weight 50%

What to do with it

  • A contested first page (ease 42) for strong demand (71): compare your site's strength with the first page's median Ahrefs DR before committing.
  • Watch indiehackers.com: it gained most visits from it last month (66.4K → 67.9K).
  • Google answers part of it in an AI Overview: the pages it cites get a link above the results.

A business score needs your own figures (conversion, deal value) and is not made here. Scores are fixed formulas over the figures shown; they are not Google's.

6Sources

Tiles, findings, scores and actions are worked out from the figures on this page by fixed rules.

SiteReportVisits (est.)Month
indiehackers.comValued67.9KSept 2026

Listed A–Z. A top search keyword is one of the searches that bring a site the most visitors, by estimate. It is not a position in Google, and the order here is not a ranking. Visits (est.): the traffic estimate's own figure for the keyword on that site, which behaves like visits a month, not an amount of money (2026-09-29: it had been shown in dollars). Ad value is what advertisers pay for the keyword — its searches × cost per click — not how hard it is to rank for. This page is kept out of search results until 15 sites share the keyword.

Searches, cost per click and ad value above: Google Ads, worldwide. Sites and their visits: third-party traffic estimates, Sept 2026. The traffic estimates' own searches figure for the keyword is in the section below; the two sources often differ several times over.