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Search data study / Locksmiths
Monthly US search volume for lockouts, rekeying and key fobs, September 2025 through August 2026, checked against four full years of history. Plus the marketing calendar we would build from it.
By Design ME MarketingDeer Park, NYPublished September 29, 2026
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US search volume, September 2025 to August 2026.
Locksmith demand changes through the year, and it does not change the same way for every job. We pulled monthly US search volume data from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer for seven locksmith searches, from “locksmith near me” down to “key fob programming,” for September 2025 through August 2026. Then we checked each one against four full years of Ahrefs data, 2022 through 2025, to see which patterns repeat.
If you run a locksmith company, or handle its locksmith marketing, the differences between these curves decide when your pages need to be ready and where the ad budget goes each month.
The short answer
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US monthly search volume, September 2025 to August 2026, and January 2022 to December 2025.
Interactive
Pick a search term to see its monthly US volume. Switch to the four-year view to average out one-off spikes. Flat bars mean flat demand.
Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
rekey locks
The cleanest summer curve here. Peaks in July or August, bottoms out between November and January.
Data: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US, pulled September 28, 2026.
Lockouts
“Locked out of house” averaged 1,902 US searches a month over the last 12 months. It swings more than any other term we pulled: 1,359 in February 2026, 2,592 in May 2026. Across 2022 through 2025, the four-year monthly average tops out in July (2,008) and bottoms out in February (1,398), and February was the slowest month in two of those four years. More time outdoors in warm weather is the likely driver.
“Locked out of car” is steadier: between 2,976 and 3,416 searches a month over the last 12 months. July was its busiest month in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. The swing is about 15 percent, pointing the same way as the house term.
The shorter phrase “car lockout” ran from 1,075 to 1,215 searches a month and has no dependable peak. Its busiest month landed in March, November, December and January across the four full years. Plan for it as year-round demand.
Rekeying
“Rekey locks” has the cleanest seasonal curve in the set. It peaked in July in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and in August in 2022, and its slowest month fell in November, December or January every year. In the last 12 months it went from 2,100 searches in December 2025 to 2,919 in July 2026, a 39 percent climb.
The timing fits the summer moving season, when new owners want the old keys retired. For a locksmith, rekeying is the service to push from May through August, with the page refreshed in March.
Key fobs
“Key fob programming” averaged 3,561 US searches a month from September 2025 through August 2026. The slowest month was September 2025 at 3,373 and the busiest was March 2026 at 3,730, a gap of about 11 percent. There is no summer peak. In each of the four full years, the busiest month for this term fell between October and January (October 2022, December 2023, January 2024 and December 2025), a mild cold-weather lean at most.
“Key fob replacement” is the bigger term and the faster growing one. Ahrefs data puts it at an average of 14,976 US searches a month in 2022 and 28,704 a month over the last 12 months, about 1.9 times as many. It stays level month to month, too.
What it means for a locksmith
Key fob work is steady demand. A key fob page and ad group can run at the same level in January as in July, which makes automotive work a useful counterweight when lockout and rekey searches dip in winter.
The head term
“Locksmith near me” dwarfs every other term here, at an average of 241,125 US searches a month over the last 12 months. It follows the summer curve. The busiest month in each full year fell between May and August.
The term has also changed size. Per Ahrefs, it averaged 334,990 searches a month in 2022 and 209,508 in 2024, then started to climb again: January through August 2026 ran 16.9 percent ahead of the same months in 2025.
A “near me” search is answered first by the Map Pack, which is why local SEO for a locksmith starts with the Google Business Profile, its categories, reviews and service area, before the website.
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US.
The raw data
Monthly US search volume for all seven terms from Ahrefs Keywords Explorer. Read across a row to compare terms in the same month, or down a column to see one term’s year. On a phone, swipe the table sideways.
| Month | locksmith near me | locked out of house | locked out of car | car lockout | rekey locks | key fob programming | key fob replacement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 212,589 | 2,350 | 3,133 | 1,215 | 2,479 | 3,373 | 28,600 |
| Oct 2025 | 212,769 | 1,937 | 3,206 | 1,134 | 2,330 | 3,574 | 28,295 |
| Nov 2025 | 200,219 | 1,655 | 3,025 | 1,121 | 2,322 | 3,425 | 28,608 |
| Dec 2025 | 200,846 | 1,705 | 3,039 | 1,188 | 2,100 | 3,715 | 28,954 |
| Jan 2026 | 207,881 | 1,437 | 2,976 | 1,168 | 2,283 | 3,560 | 28,381 |
| Feb 2026 | 226,568 | 1,359 | 3,120 | 1,119 | 2,206 | 3,628 | 27,776 |
| Mar 2026 | 245,204 | 1,894 | 3,069 | 1,085 | 2,414 | 3,730 | 28,142 |
| Apr 2026 | 252,740 | 1,851 | 3,142 | 1,075 | 2,345 | 3,405 | 27,616 |
| May 2026 | 259,014 | 2,592 | 3,181 | 1,147 | 2,398 | 3,459 | 27,742 |
| Jun 2026 | 278,147 | 1,924 | 3,215 | 1,102 | 2,693 | 3,626 | 29,243 |
| Jul 2026 | 299,758 | 2,068 | 3,416 | 1,075 | 2,919 | 3,659 | 30,301 |
| Aug 2026 | 297,762 | 2,049 | 3,243 | 1,076 | 2,817 | 3,578 | 30,795 |
| 12-month average | 241,125 | 1,902 | 3,147 | 1,125 | 2,442 | 3,561 | 28,704 |
Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, volume history, United States, September 2025 to August 2026. Figures are estimates.
Put it to work
Here is how we would schedule a locksmith’s year from this data.
January to February
Lockout and rekey searches sit at or near their lows. Update rekey, lockout and key fob pages so they rank before spring.
March to April
Rekey and “locksmith near me” searches begin to climb. Raise ad budgets on rekey and home lockout, and ask for reviews.
May to August
This is the peak window for “locksmith near me,” “rekey locks” and “locked out of house.” Answer every call and run ads at full budget.
September to December
Home terms fall off while key fob searches hold, so move budget toward key fob and car work.
Paid search can follow this curve month by month, which is how we plan Google Ads management for service businesses: budgets rise ahead of the climb, not after it, and every call is tracked back to the search that produced it.
Timing gets a locksmith in front of the searcher. Trust gets the call. ALOA, the locksmith trade association, tells homeowners in its guide on how to hire a professional locksmith to look for locksmiths who have been vetted and background checked, so put licensing, credentials and real reviews where searchers see them: on the Google profile, the service pages and the ads.
Want this calendar for your shop?
We can pull the same data for your services and turn it into a monthly plan.
Method
Every figure here is an estimate. Ahrefs explains in its guide to keyword search volume that it blends Google Keyword Planner data with other sources, including clickstream data, and that the results are estimations rather than exact values. Treat the size of each number as approximate and the monthly shape as the useful part. Some smaller terms repeat nearly the same shape every year, which suggests part of the curve is modeled, so the seasonal calls lean on “rekey locks” and “locksmith near me.”
FAQ
In summer. Across 2022 through 2025, the busiest month for “locksmith near me” in the US fell between May and August every year, per Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, and July has the highest four-year average.
Barely. From September 2025 through August 2026, US searches for “key fob programming” stayed between 3,373 and 3,730 a month in Ahrefs data, a swing of about 11 percent.
In late winter. Rekey and “locksmith near me” searches start climbing in March, so service pages should be updated by February and ad budgets should rise through March and April, ahead of the May to August peak.
No. They are national US estimates from Ahrefs. A single market such as Nassau and Suffolk will see a small fraction of these searches, but the direction of each curve is what matters for planning.
Next step
Want your pages, profile and ad budget lined up with the months people are actually searching? Talk to our Deer Park team.
