A research report (a taxonomy of business activity codes, with verdicts on 168 niches) gave us ten Romanian businesses "almost without online competition": water-well drilling, passive and NZEB houses, padel courts, eco septic tanks, A-frame houses and others. We measured all of them, with the same tool, on the same day. The result: 4 confirmed, 3 open only on a flank, 3 contradicted by the numbers. The conclusion is not that the report was wrong — it is that a report gives you candidates, and the verdict comes from measurement. Below, niche by niche, what we found.
How we measured
The same method as in the analysis of the 14 niches: on 7 September 2026, two search "seeds" per niche in Ubersuggest (Romania database), the related queries with estimated monthly volume and SEO difficulty (SD, 0–100). We kept only queries with at least 50 searches a month — below that, the figures are noise — and counted how many sit under SD 15, our internal threshold for "weak competition in the top 10".
The numbers, niche by niche
| Niche | Queries (≥50/month) | Under SD 15 | SD band | Cumulative volume | Report verdict | Measured verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Padel courts | 8 | 7 | 4–18 | ~6,200 | A | Confirmed, wide open |
| A-frame houses | 12 | 11 | 7–15 | ~4,500 | A | Confirmed, the most open of the batch |
| Machine-laid screeds | 4 | 3 | 11–18 | ~850 | A | Confirmed, small volume |
| Metal roof tile installation | 4 | 2 | 9–26 | ~1,100 | A | Confirmed on installation/technical; the brand is taken |
| Water-well drilling | 3 | 2 | 6–20 | ~790 | A | Flank only: local price (the generic price query, SD 20) |
| Polyurethane foam insulation | 5 | 3 | 9–25 | ~1,730 | A | Flank only: price (the generics, SD 19–25, belong to retailers) |
| Rope access (industrial climbing) | 9 | 3 | 9–31 | ~1,680 | A | Flank only: Bucharest (SD 12); other cities SD 26–31 |
| Passive / NZEB houses | 4 | 1 | 11–38 | ~760 | A | Contradicted: generics SD 18–38; gap only on "what it means" |
| Eco septic tanks | 4 | 1 | 6–25 | ~1,940 | A | Contradicted: the generic is taken (SD 22–25); gap only on emptying services |
| Residential EV charging stations | 3 | 1 | 13–33 | ~170 | A | Contradicted: search demand is still small, installation has SD 32–33 |
Source: Ubersuggest, Romania database, 7 September 2026. Volumes are the tool's estimates, rounded; difficulty is its score, not Google's.
The four confirmed — and why they are open
Padel is the pleasant surprise: "padel Bucharest" has 3,600 searches a month at SD 6, "padel court" 1,300 at SD 8, and the questions about dimensions and price sit at SD 4–9. A growing sport with an online offer that still speaks only through photos and bookings — nobody explains. Whoever writes the guide (dimensions, rules, how much an hour costs, where to play in city X) walks in almost alone.
A-frame houses have 12 queries with volume, 11 under SD 15 — "A-frame house" 1,600/SD 10, "3-bedroom A-frame project" 480/SD 7, "turnkey price" 480/SD 8. The demand is concrete (projects, prices, kits), and who serves it now is Pinterest and a few thin pages.
Machine-laid screeds and metal roof tile installation are smaller but real windows: the demand is technical and about price, and the top-10 pages are suppliers', not craftsmen's who explain. The nuance with roof tiles: queries with the manufacturer's name have SD 26 — the brand belongs to the brand; the installation belongs to the installer.
The three "flank only" — where the door is
In drilling, "well drilling prices" has 590 searches but SD 20; the door is the local price and the procedural questions (depth, layers, how long it takes), at SD 6–13. In polyurethane foam, the generics ("attic insulation", 880) belong to DIY stores, SD 19–25; the door is "price per sqm", SD 9. In rope access, Bucharest is open (SD 12), but Iași, Constanța, Timișoara and Brașov sit at SD 26–31 — the opposite of the "secondary cities are empty" pattern from our previous analysis. Small niches have concentrated competition where the demand is.
The three contradicted — why we do not follow the report
Passive / NZEB houses: the report called them "huge, structural E-E-A-T". The numbers: "passive house" 480 searches at SD 18, "NZEB house" 140 at SD 23, "passive house price" 90 at SD 38. The only window is educational ("what it means", SD 11) — useful, but not a "no-competition" niche. The standard is new, but those who explain it are already there.
Eco septic tanks: 1,300 searches on the generic at SD 22, price at SD 25. Occupied by manufacturers and distributors. The only door: the emptying service (SD 6) — a different business from selling the tank.
Residential EV charging stations: all queries together make ~170 searches a month, and "install a station" has SD 32–33. The niche is real as a market; as SEARCH DEMAND, it does not exist yet. A site built on it today waits for the market, not for the competition.
Three lessons we take with us
- "Emerging niche" does not mean "search demand". EV stations are the example: the trend is certain, the search volume is not. You measure before, you do not assume.
- The generic is taken even in small niches. Septic tanks, NZEB, foam: the first page belongs to those who sell the product. The door is almost always price, procedure or service.
- Secondary cities are not automatically empty. In 14 niches measured last month they were; in rope access they are not. The rule does not transfer between niches — it gets measured in each one.
What these numbers do NOT say
- SD is a tool's score, not Google's; volumes are rounded estimates.
- We probed 2 seeds per niche. A niche has more angles than two; the "contradicted" windows may have doors we did not look for. But the verdict "almost without competition" falls at the first probe — and that is enough not to start on it.
- An open window is a window, not a customer. Padel has demand; conversion depends on what you offer. We did not measure it.
- The numbers have a date: 7 September 2026. The first one to build seriously in a niche changes the difficulty for everyone.
If you run a business in one of these niches — or in another one a report sold you as "empty" — the same measurement on your niche takes a day, and the correct build starts from the local page and from the pillar + articles structure. How long until it shows: it depends which clock you are looking at.
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