SMBs in high-demand sectors experienced accelerated digital growth during the pandemic
The pandemic didn’t just push digital transformation, it slammed the pedal to the floor. Across small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), we saw sectors like pharmaceuticals, venture capital, warehousing, and facilities services undergo rapid digital expansion. These weren’t random leaps. They were direct responses to global disruptions in healthcare, logistics, finance, and commodity supply chains.
SMBs in pharmaceuticals spiked in online engagement because they suddenly had what the entire world needed: medical innovation, fast. Venture capital activity surged because chaos is often a breeding ground for opportunity, and the world saw a flood of new ideas and urgent funding requirements. Warehousing and logistics companies felt a digital boom when distribution systems broke under pressure and everything from groceries to semiconductors needed new paths to market. When stress hits infrastructure, digital visibility becomes essential.
All of this is measurable. Between 2019 and 2021, web traffic in SMB pharmaceuticals jumped by 406.18%. Venture capital came in close behind at 405.90%. Facilities services grew by 384.14%. These aren’t minor shifts, they reflect seismic movements in demand and opportunity, tracked via real user signals across the internet.
For executives, the takeaway is direct: agility creates advantage. Smaller players able to adapt quickly to chaos didn’t just survive, they accelerated past older, heavier brands still managing legacy systems. Being small, if handled right, can mean being fast. Scale matters, but speed often matters more.
This is not about luck. It’s about responsiveness, how quickly business models are refactored when demand shifts, and how tech-enabled each part of the operation becomes. That’s where growth lived during the pandemic. And it still does.
Fastest-growing SMB sites far outperform industry leaders in traffic growth
It’s a mistake to only focus on market leaders. The highest growth often comes from players under the radar. SMB websites, many of them with modest traction in 2019, grew 420 times faster than established sites in their own industries. That scale of growth doesn’t just mean demand. It means potential disruption.
These upstarts benefit from lower baselines, true. But that doesn’t explain everything. Their advantage is clarity: no heavy legacy infrastructure, fewer frozen assumptions, and less red tape. When the pandemic hit, they built fast and aligned their digital presence directly with changing demand. That’s why they scaled.
It’s also why you shouldn’t underestimate them. Take Venture Capital. The average SMB website in this space grew traffic by 3,000% compared to 6,000% for the industry leaders. Nanotechnology tells a different story. Even in that niche, fast-moving SMBs grew by 1,300%, while the leaders still outpaced them with a massive 51,000% gain. Either way, you’re seeing entire markets swing on how fast players can match their positioning to new traffic, attention, and funding dynamics.
From an executive perspective, you should flag these “small” digital gains early. Track who’s growing. Identify the anomaly. When small players start moving like that, it’s not noise, it’s a new signal. It means something’s changing in your industry’s terrain.
Genomics and genetics focus contributed to growth in healthcare-related industries
Healthcare and biotech SMBs that focused on genomics and genetics experienced a sharp rise in digital interest during the pandemic. This wasn’t a coincidence, it reflected a shift in public perception and concern. As COVID-19 spread, genome sequencing became more than a research term. It entered mainstream conversation. People wanted to understand how viruses spread, how they mutate, and whether their own DNA put them at greater risk.
This drove significant traffic to SMB websites in these sectors. Businesses offering genetic tests or sharing genome-related research experienced increased visibility. And many of these businesses were ready for it. They had content strategies in place, or they quickly adapted to meet the surge in demand for scientific clarity.
These smaller biotech players understood something key, the line between public education and product positioning is now very thin. They used targeted education to drive performance. Many of these sites weren’t the top search results before 2020; after the first wave of the pandemic, they became visible digital destinations.
Executives in healthcare and biotech should pay close attention to this trend. Genetics won’t fade with the pandemic. Personalized medicine is ramping up. The public wants data, not just treatment. Companies that offer both accessibility and credibility with complex science will continue to gain ground. And those that move slowly could watch audience trust shift to faster-moving challengers.
Top SMB industry audiences trend younger, with some gender splits
The sustained traffic growth among SMB sectors has a clear demographic driver: younger audiences. Across the top-growing industries, people aged 25–34 make up the largest segment. Right behind them are the 18–24 and 35–54 brackets. These are digital-native or digital-comfortable users who seek answers fast, on their terms. They’re selective, but not patient. And they’re the engine behind many of the market shifts we’re seeing digitally.
SMBs that managed to meet this audience with value-driven digital experiences saw the most rapid growth. These users are mobile-first, driven by relevance, and more likely to recommend brands that match their expectations. That behavior consistently rewards fast, modern, and responsive digital strategies over legacy marketing funnels.
There are also notable gender skews by industry. Healthcare leans toward more female visitors. Engineering, oil and gas, and venture capital skew male. These patterns reveal useful marketing signals. They suggest that strategic content should be tuned to appeal to the dominant audience in each space, not trend toward generic brand messaging.
For C-level leaders, that clarification matters. Decisions about product rollout, digital experience, and user engagement must match the demographic target, not a legacy profile from pre-pandemic buyer personas. The data is clear: younger users are now influencing and reshaping markets. Aligning your digital ecosystem with audience behavior isn’t optional, it’s a direct driver of competitive relevance.
Direct and organic search traffic drive SMB site growth, with referral traffic important in some verticals
Most of the fastest-growing SMB websites get their traffic from two main sources: direct visits and organic search. Direct traffic reflects a level of brand awareness that makes users type the URL into their browser without depending on external channels. Organic search performance shows these companies are optimizing well for visibility on search engines, delivering content that matches real user intent.
Six out of ten high-growth industries, including Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Warehousing, Computers & Electronics, and Facilities Services, primarily rely on direct traffic. That’s a signal of strong audience retention and frequent engagement. Meanwhile, Biotech and Civil Engineering industries lead in generating their traffic through organic search, which highlights the effectiveness of their SEO strategies and how well they’re answering technical queries or specialized topics.
Referral traffic, the users who arrive through links on other sites, is also playing a strategic role. For example, Nanotechnology SMBs get 51% of their visitors through referrals. That means external platforms are actively sending users their way, possibly through research articles, partnership placements, or earned media. Computers & Electronics and Outsourcing sectors also rely heavily on referrals, suggesting their visibility is tied closely to web-based collaborations and third-party validation.
Social traffic, while not the leading driver overall, still produces considerable results in specific sectors. The Venture Capital industry, for example, gets 45% of its total traffic from social platforms. These firms are clearly leveraging digital conversations and influencer networks to generate visibility at scale.
For executive teams, the path forward is measurable: know your channel strengths and invest accordingly. If most traffic is direct, double down on product loyalty and branded messaging. If search drives growth, prioritize SEO and technical accessibility. If referrals are climbing, expand strategic partnerships and get your brand embedded in the right conversations. Each industry has different leverage points, and they need different tactics to scale.
Facebook is the most impactful social media platform, though influence varies by industry
Across all the industries analyzed, Facebook consistently delivered the largest share of social media-driven traffic. On average, it accounted for 70% of visits from social channels. YouTube followed as the second most impactful platform, and LinkedIn held the third spot, especially in sectors with professional or technical content, like Biotech, Healthcare, Oil & Gas, and Pharmaceuticals.
But the pattern isn’t uniform. Social media effectiveness depends heavily on the industry’s content style and audience expectations. For instance, SMBs in the Venture Capital space get more traction from Twitter and Instagram, which are better suited for fast-paced updates and visual storytelling. Tumblr and even niche communities like Gaia Online and Last.fm emerged as contributors in this same vertical, a sign that some firms are exploring less conventional spaces where early adopters or startups congregate.
Biotech websites, on the other hand, pull substantial traffic through Geni.com and MyHeritage, platforms oriented toward genetic data and family lineage. In the Computers & Electronics sector, the social reach extends even further. Sites in this space drive visitors from a broad mix including Flickr, Foursquare, Xing, and legacy platforms like MySpace. This wide presence shows that audience behaviors are fragmented, and influence doesn’t only come from big-name platforms.
Executives should approach social media with clarity. Don’t just go where the volume is, go where the influence makes sense for your segment. Facebook may dominate in raw numbers, but relevance and fit vary by industry. When social media gets specific, performance improves. A smart social data strategy can help identify which platforms are driving qualified traffic, rather than just pageviews. This matters more when time and resources need to be allocated with precision.
Analysts should monitor fast-growing SMBs for early signs of market disruption
Fast-growing SMBs are not just competitors. They’re indicators of where the market is going. While larger players maintain scale, these smaller, faster-moving companies excel in velocity. That difference matters, especially in moments when digital behavior shifts. They often operate in overlooked segments, with lean teams and limited market share, but with precision execution and rapid gains in user engagement.
Most traditional analysis fixes on volume. Revenue, market cap, headcount. But velocity is what reveals change early. Many SMBs reflected in the data didn’t exist in mainstream rankings just a few years ago. Today, they’re among the top performers in their sectors by digital growth. This kind of movement isn’t luck. It’s strategy aligned with timing, and timing wins often.
Using tools like the Semrush Traffic & Market Toolkit gives you necessary visibility into this. By identifying “game changers”, sites with smaller footprints but high growth rates, you can flag emerging players well before they become fully competitive threats. These platforms provide insight across traffic patterns, content effectiveness, and traffic acquisition routes, giving you an actionable view of how these SMBs are building their positions.
For executives, this isn’t just about watching competitors. It’s about adapting your retention and innovation cycles faster. When you understand how high-growth SMBs are reaching audiences, what their most engaged content is, and how their digital ecosystems operate, you can reassess your own strategies before market shifts turn into losses. Today, speed and visibility are inseparable from long-term positioning.
Most enterprises don’t lose market share overnight. They lose relevance slowly, one ignored trend at a time. High-growth SMBs are often the first signal that expectations are changing. Decision-makers who track those signals early will navigate faster, with fewer corrections later.
Recap
Fast growth isn’t random. It’s a product of market timing, user awareness, and execution that adapts faster than the environment changes. What we’re seeing across these SMB sectors isn’t noise, it’s velocity. These businesses didn’t wait for permission. They identified demand, moved early, and scaled their digital presence with sharp focus.
For decision-makers, the takeaway is simple. Don’t benchmark solely against the largest players. Watch where attention is going. Growth markets aren’t always the most visible, yet. Look at who’s gaining share of search, traffic, and user engagement. That data is actionable. When you track those signals with the right tools and layer them into your strategy, you protect not just current operations but future relevance.
There’s leverage in speed, and in paying attention to the right shifts early. The next disruptor is already visible, you just need to know where to look.
