The Most Profitable Blog Niches in 2023 (And How to Choose One)

There are loads of myths around blogging. Such as the one that says you can make money simply by ‘following your passion’. Or, ‘just write it, and they will come’.

But those don’t work in 2023. The blogging landscape has become incredibly competitive. To build a moneymaking blog and avoid wasting your time – you must choose a profitable niche.

Choosing the wrong niche is one of the most common mistakes new bloggers make. Let’s make sure you choose the right one.

#1. Personal Finance

In business, people will always pay to have their most painful problems solved. And the most painful problems in existence relate to health, wealth, or relationships.

That’s why personal finance will always be one of the most profitable blog niches out there.

(Alex Hormozi goes into the above in a lot more depth in his excellent book, “$100M Offers”).

What’s more, personal finance is one of the most popular areas – if not THE most popular – in the affiliate marketing space. You can find extremely lucrative affiliate programs within finance.

But of course, it’s also a highly competitive niche. To enter the personal finance niche as a new blogger, you’ll need to niche down hard to find something with the potential to rank well in Google.

Subniche ideas:

• Tax (International or domestic)
• Budgeting
• Managing debt
• Credit cards
• Understanding the stock market
• Cryptocurrency/NFTs
• Real estate investing
• Investing in gold/silver
• Investing in commodities
• Geoarbitrage
• Mortgage advice
• FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

Combine one of these with a specific target audience, such as “tax advice for digital nomads”, or “investing in gold for stay at home moms” – and you could be onto a winner.

Pros of the finance niche

• Highly lucrative affiliate programs
• Potential for high earnings via display ads

Cons of the finance niche

• Extremely competitive
• YMYL niche – you’ll need appropriate expertise/credentials/background

#2. Health, Fitness and Well-Being

We all worry about our health at some point – so health is another of those key areas full of painful (sometime literally!) problems to solve.

People are constantly searching for advice on various ailments, plus the best ways to lead a longer, healthier and more active life.

That makes health one of the most profitable blogging niches. In particular, it’s a great fit for selling coaching programs and affiliate products.

But, there’s a major downside. The rise of medical misinformation, along with fake health products and scams has led Google to crack down hard on blogs that publish health-related content.

In 2019, Google introduced an algorithm update called “YMYL” (your money, your life).

In a nutshell, YMYL means that blogs writing about money or life topics (i.e., finance and health), must have appropriate expertise. Without it, you’ll have little chance of being ranked on Google.

If you have the right background story, experience and credentials – for example you’re a nurse, doctor, dietician, fitness coach, psychologist, etc, then health can be one of the most profitable blog niches.

But if you don’t, then I’d recommend looking elsewhere for your perfect blogging niche.

Subniche ideas:

• HIIT (high intensity interval training)
• Running for beginners (‘Couch to 5K’)
• Strength training for women
• Pilates
• Healthy eating for busy mothers

Pros of the health and fitness niche:

• Great potential for selling coaching services and programs
• Lucrative and varied range of affiliate programs
• Potential for high earnings via display ads
• Potential to spin off onto other channels, like YouTube, Instagram or even building a coaching app

Cons of the health and fitness niche:

• Again, extremely competitive
• YMYL niche – you’ll need appropriate expertise/credentials/background

#3. Dating and Relationships

Relationships are another area of life where people experience many pain points.

In fact, it’s one of the big three. As with health and finance, that makes dating/relationships a great topic for building a profitable blog.

And it’s a growing industry with no sign of slowing down – the global online dating industry was estimated to reach 2.86 billion USD in 2022, according to Statista.

Subniche ideas:

• Marriage guidance and counselling
• Dating advice for men (from a woman’s perspective)
• Dating advice for specific groups, e.g. Muslims, Christians, over-60s, nerds, etc
• Navigating divorce
• Building a healthy relationship

Pros of the dating and relationships niche:

• Dating/relationships will never go out of style – they’re one of the core human needs (plus, people have a lot of insecurity around it and are constantly Googling related terms)
• Potential for easy affiliate income through referrals to dating sites and relationship guidance courses

Cons of the dating and relationships niche:

• Can be tricky to find high-paying affiliates (as many dating sites let people join for free)

#4. Food and Drink

People the world over are always looking for new ways to prepare and consume food and drink.

That’s why food and drink has become one of the most profitable blog niches. It’s a saturated niche, but with good keyword research you could still find a promising subniche.

Food and drink content typically performs well on social media, so get ready to grow an Instagram or Pinterest presence alongside your blog.

It could also fit well with a YouTube channel demonstrating how to prepare different dishes (check out this comparison of blogging vs YouTube).

Subniche ideas:

• Speciality coffee (beans and brewing equipment)
• Craft beer and home brewing
• Grilling and BBQ
• Different world cuisines (such as Chinese, Mexican, Thai, or Vietnamese)
• How to eat more healthily / eat to lose weight, gain muscle, etc (also overlaps with the health niche)
• How to prep for specific diets, such as keto, paleo, Atkins diet, Mediterranean, carnivore, raw food diet, etc)

Pros of the food and drink niche:

• Great potential for sponsored posts and display ads (e.g. with Ezoic or Mediavine)
• Wide range of affiliates (e.g. for food prep products, ingredients, organic delivery boxes)
• Potential to spin off onto other channels, like YouTube, Instagram or Pinterest
• Easy to sell information products, such as e-books or video courses (would work best in more specialist subniches, as opposed to simple recipes which can be found all over Google and YouTube)

Cons of the food and drink niche:

• Highly competitive
• You need to be creative to find your perfect subniche

#5. Education

The COVID-19 pandemic drove a massive shift in global adoption of online education.

For example, a popular online learning platform, Coursera, saw 20 million new student registrations in 2021.

There’s a great deal of flexibility and scope in the education niche. Whether you want to become an online English teacher, teach another language online, or educate people in your specialist topic, you’ll surely find a place in the broad education niche.

Subniche ideas:

• ESL (English as a second language) training and guidance
• Resources for ESL teachers (or other kinds of teachers)
• Helping students get through their college exams
• Advice on common college topics such as science, maths, history, or geography
• Advice for PhD students (e.g. how to write a thesis, design a research project, or handle PhD stress)
• Helping students find and enrol in Masters programs overseas (for example, in Europe)

Pros of the education niche:

• Lots of potential to create your own digital educational products
• Multiple income streams available, especially online teaching
• Lucrative affiliate income opportunities available
• Online education is one of the world’s fastest growing areas

Cons of the education niche:

• You might need a degree or other relevant qualifications to teach certain subjects

#6. Travel

It sounds like living the dream, turning your travel obsession into a profitable blog! If you’re lucky, you might even get paid to go on vacation.

But although travel is one of the most profitable blog niches, it’s also (unsurprisingly) one of the most competitive.

If travel is the niche for you, make sure you choose a targeted subniche and do proper keyword research to find the right entry point. Who are your competitors? What can you bring to the table that’s a little bit different?

On the downside, travel got hammered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many travel bloggers saw huge drops in their income. Although it’s unlikely anything of that magnitude will happen again, you should be aware of the volatility of travel as a niche.

For example, if your blog focuses on one country, then that country has a political revolution and closes to foreigners, you could lose all your income overnight.

Subniche ideas:

• Blogs focusing on one particular country or region (especially if you have firsthand experience of it)
• Slow travel
• Digital nomad lifestyle
• Adventure travel
• Luxury travel
• Solo travel
• Art hotel reviews
• Glamping
• Moving abroad advice and resources

Always be prepared to use your imagination. You could always combine several subniches in interesting and original ways. Make sure you do proper keyword research before starting out, to establish the topic’s profit potential.

Pros of the travel niche

• Great choice if you’re a frequent traveller who loves travelling
• Potential to become a destination specialist if you live in an interesting location
• Tons of affiliate potential with lucrative programs (e.g. travel insurance, travel credit cards, airline, hotel and guided tour affiliate programs, travel gear)
• Travel also does pretty well with display ads
• Good potential for branching out to YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest

Cons of the travel niche

• Highly competitive and may feel oversaturated – need to be creative to stand out!
• Income can fluctuate on a seasonal basis (more people travel in the summer months)
• Risk of catastrophic events (such as the pandemic) damaging the industry, and hence your traffic!

#7. Home Improvement and DIY

DIY has seen a rise in popularity in recent years. Many people confined to their homes during the pandemic have taken up new hobbies in home improvement and DIY. Hence, DIY has become one of the most profitable blog niches.

Even better, the DIY niche lends itself well to a mix of instructional guides and affiliate marketing programs. There’s a lot to teach, and a lot to sell.

Selling DIY affiliate products fits in naturally with creating how-to guides; with less need to convince the customer to buy. They’ve got a pressing DIY project to finish, so they need the right products right away!

If you enjoy DIY, this might be the niche for you.

Subniche ideas:

• Restoring old furniture
• Building your own swimming pool
• Landscape gardening at home
• Carpentry

Pros of the DIY niche

• DIY has become a lot more popular since the pandemic
• People involved in DIY are often at a stage when they’re ready to buy (great for affiliates!)
• Some of the most profitable affiliate programs are in this niche
• If you love DIY, blogging about it can help you learn new things and discover new products

Cons of the DIY niche

• Works best if you actually enjoy DIY yourself
• Display ad rates can be relatively low

#8. Parenting

Parenting has always been a popular niche for monetization – and that’s no different in the online space.

New parents always need expert resources to guide them through one of life’s biggest changes. That’s why the so-called “mommy blogs” are enduringly popular.

This popularity and variety of topics makes parenting one of the most profitable blog niches out there. It’s also a niche that will never go out of style – parents will exist as long as humans do.

Subniche ideas:

• Natural birth
• Pregnancy for first timers
• Maternity fashion
• How to move abroad / travel with your kids
• Homeschooling advice (also overlaps with the education niche)
• Advice on handling difficult teenagers
• Remote work opportunities for stay-at-home parents

Pros of the parenting niche

• Wide range of subniches available
• Parenting will never go out of style
• Children create major pain points – parents willing to spend big money to fix them
• Great potential for both ads and affiliates, plus selling information products

Cons of the parenting niche

• Works best if you’re actually a parent yourself – that gives you authority and expertise needed to rank (Plus the motivation to keep writing long enough to see results!)

#9. Marketing and Online Business

This lucrative niche incorporates digital marketing and online business, including ecommerce, side hustles and blogging.

Although this niche is competitive, its breadth and constant influx of new products means you can still find interesting gaps where you can build a blogging presence.

One major advantage of the digital marketing niche is its wealth of affiliate programs for software – many of which can generate high commissions. There’s also great potential for creating info products to teach people about different aspects of online marketing.

Digital marketing lends itself well to combining instructional how-to guides with affiliate product review posts – which is a dynamite combination for profitable blogging.

Subniche ideas:

• Email marketing
• Building a side hustle
• Drop shipping (e.g. teaching people how to do it)
• Writing online / blogging
• Copywriting for beginners/lawyers/real estate agents/accountants, etc etc
• SEO
• Accounting for online businesses
• Mastering YouTube/LinkedIn/Instagram/TikTok etc
• Video editing
• Personal branding
• Selling Notion templates and teaching people how to create their own

Pros of the marketing niche

• Lots of SaaS tools with high affiliate commissions!
• Also good scope for creating your own products to teach various aspects of digital marketing
• Easy to expand into other platforms, particularly YouTube

Cons of the marketing niche

• Loads of subtopics to choose from, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed
• Highly competitive, so make sure to niche down and find your unique angle

#10. Science and Technology

This is an exciting niche with a lot of potential for capturing demand in the future.

You could write about anything from consumer electronics to cutting-edge advances in biotechnology. But whichever you choose, you should always keep the potential monetization strategies in mind.

If a science-related niche is very new, there may not be much potential for monetization using common methods like ads or affiliates. Research your potential subniches carefully before jumping in.

You might have to think outside the box, e.g. by selling scientific reports or white papers, or creating your own infoproducts that make the latest science developments accessible to the mainstream.

Consumer electronics is a lot easier but a more saturated niche, with obvious potential for earning from affiliate income. It’s common for consumer electronics affiliates to earn through the Amazon Affiliate program, however this program has been paying increasingly lower commissions in the last couple of years.

Subniche ideas:

• Cameras and webcams
• Drones
• Artificial intelligence tools
• Blockchain
• Internet of things (IoT)
• Robotics
• Biotech
• New trends in science (e.g. gene editing)
• Cybersecurity

Pros of the science and technology niche

• Good potential for exciting developments in the future – get a foothold early and establish your blog as an expert voice
• Potential for lucrative referral partnerships
• Potential for affiliate income if you’re selling consumer technology, like cameras or laptops

Cons of the science and technology niche

• Some areas may not be involved in affiliate programs yet. You may have to get creative and develop your own referral partnerships with relevant businesses
• Many electronic goods are sold via Amazon, which pays low commission these days

#11. Outdoor Lifestyle

The outdoor lifestyle niche is growing fast, especially in the wake of the pandemic, as people spend more time both in their home countries and in the open air.

There’s also a growing trend towards a survivalist way of life, which can produce some interesting niche ideas. In general, the outdoor lifestyle niche is evergreen, although your traffic might be seasonal for some topics (for example, people only going camping in the summer months).

Subniche ideas:

• Camping advice and gear
• Mountaineering equipment
• Survival tips and resources
• Cooking in the wild
• Hiking boots and gear
• Homesteading
• Growing vegetables

You could monetize any of these with a mix of how to guides and review posts. You could also supplement your blog with other mediums, such as creating YouTube video versions of the how to guides.

If you enjoy taking photos outdoors, this niche offers great potential for using original images alongside your blog posts, or creating an Instagram presence.

Pros of the outdoor lifestyle niche

• Wide range of potential topics to cover
• Tends to be an evergreen niche
• Increased interest in outdoor lifestyle in the wake of the pandemic
• Plenty of opportunities for monetization, including creating your own information products

Cons of the outdoor lifestyle niche

• Some of the subniches can be seasonal (e.g. camping)

#12. Video Gaming

Blogging about video gaming offers an excellent opportunity for making money while pursuing your hobby or passion. What’s more, fans of certain video games often become deeply immersed in the game’s universe, which creates great potential for return visitors to your site.

But the video games topic is very broad, so it’s essential to niche down hard. You’ll struggle to rank on Google if your blog covers many aspects of different video games, systems, and so on.

Also, publishing on a hyper specific topic is critical for building a loyal audience around your blog – an important factor for success in the video games niche.

Subniche ideas:

• Action games
• First person shooters
• Retro gaming, e.g. arcade games
• MMORPGs, e.g. World of Warcraft
• Portable gaming, e.g. GameBoy
• Gaming for specific systems, N64, Playstation, Wii.

Pros of the video gaming niche

• Good potential for monetizing through affiliate programs, e.g. for games, gaming platforms and related equipment
• Passionate fanbases leads to lots of return visitors, if you niche down
• Perfect if you enjoy gaming as a personal hobby

Cons of the video gaming niche

• Very low CPC (cost per click) for display ads
• Highly competitive so you’ll need to niche down mega hard

Feeling inspired and ready to get started? Get a free domain name and low-cost hosting with a Bluehost plan.

YMYL, E-E-A-T, and their importance when choosing a niche

Google’s complex ranking algorithms include several quality content guidelines. Finance websites are covered by one known as “your money or your life” (YMYL). Health-related content also falls under this umbrella.

Quality content is critical in niches considered YMYL. Inaccurate or deceptive content could cause significant harm to users. It could damage their livelihoods and even their lives.

Google wants to avoid that, so it takes a serious approach to ranking YMYL content. It has much stricter requirements for ranking that content in search results. In a world overrun with fake news, spammers and scammers, this is a wise move from Google.

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. When deciding to rank a website with YMYL content, Google will carefully consider its E-E-A-T. Let’s have a quick look at how E-E-A-T is evaluated.

1. Experience. Can the main author demonstrate authentic real-world experience in the topic they’re writing about? Does this come across clearly in the article?
2. Expertise. This covers the main author (which would probably be you). Can they be considered an expert in their field? Are these credentials or qualifications clearly stated on the website? For financial, legal or health-related niches, you’ll typically need to either have relevant qualifications yourself, or work with a writer who does.
3. Authoritativeness. This refers your level of perceived authority. Do people in the industry know you and your work? Do they trust your information?
4. Trustworthiness. The final ranking factor covers the author, the content, and the website itself. It evaluates whether people can trust you and the website to provide reliable, accurate content.

In a nutshell, don’t jump into the health or finance niches unless you have specific background in those topics.

You could also consider hiring a primary writer with expertise in those areas, for example a registered nurse turned content writer for a health blog. But this would create extra expense in the early stages, so I wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner blogger.

The Best Way To Choose a Profitable Blog Niche

Having a primary author with the right expertise and qualifications is essential for niches like finance, law or health.

For everything else, my top tip would be – choose a profitable niche that also reflects your personal experience and/or interests.

Why?

For starters, it makes blogging a lot more fun. But, more importantly, to rank high on Google, you’ll have to publish a LOT of content for a LONG time.

Writing about a topic of personal interest means you’re more likely to stay motivated for long enough to get results. Choose a niche that’s not only profitable, but also makes you feel excited to get up in the morning and start writing.

One really effective approach is to sit down with a pen and paper, then just brainstorm every possible topic that you could blog about. Don’t hold back!

Think about your interests, hobbies, work experience, qualifications, career history, volunteering projects, and any other life experiences/achievements that you could potentially tap into.

Also, think about problems you’ve solved for yourself, or others. Chances are, you could find an audience online who would be interested in learning how to make a similar transformation.

For example, perhaps you’ve gone from being overweight to being a marathon runner, or left your boring office job behind to travel the world.

Maybe you’ve taught yourself how to grow vegetables at home, or how to cook delicious meals on a tight budget. Any of these could form the basis for a blogging niche.

So try reflecting on the most profitable blog niches that we explored above, and see if you can find any areas of overlap. Perhaps you could even start a blog around the best tools for bloggers, with review posts and how-to guides.

Once you’ve narrowed down a couple of niche ideas that interest you, research them online to see who else is blogging about similar topics and how they’re making money from it.

The ideal niche would have a good range of affiliate programs, advertising potential, and also potential for selling info products.

If other people are already doing these things – it’s a great sign! There’s room for you as well.