Asked about 1,100 times a month on Google, across roughly ten phrasings. It usually comes up the first time a state sends a reminder, or when an owner sees an annual report fee on a formation quote and wonders what it pays for. The follow-up is always the same: what happens if I skip it?
@GaboG4
Gabriel Gil · Software and Technology Lead, Prodezk
Dispatches
- What is an LLC annual report?
- Can I be my own registered agent?
Asked about 2,000 times a month on Google, across roughly sixteen phrasings. It usually comes up during formation, when the state form asks for a registered agent and the owner notices that the line item costs money every year. The follow-up question is whether doing it yourself is worth it.
- How do I change the name of my LLC?
Asked about 2,600 times a month on Google, across roughly ten phrasings. It comes up after a rebrand, a trademark conflict, a new partner, or an owner deciding the name they picked in a hurry no longer fits. The real question underneath is usually what else breaks when the name changes.
- What is a DBA?
Asked about 150,000 times a month across more than 30 wordings, by a wide margin the largest single cluster in this round. Most of the people asking just heard the term from a bank teller opening a business account, a landlord asking for a business license, or a friend who filed one and called it "starting a business."
- How long does it take to form an LLC?
Asked about 14,800 times a month across roughly 16 wordings. Most of the people asking are about to pick a state and want to know how fast the paperwork clears, or they already filed and are refreshing a status page. The honest answer changes by state, which is the part a generic explainer skips.
- What is a registered agent?
The largest single question cluster in this round of research, about 79,600 searches a month spread across roughly 30 phrasings: registered agent, resident agent, statutory agent, singular and plural, tacked onto "for an LLC," "for a business," or "for a corporation." Most people typing it are staring at a formation form that wants a name and address they don't have yet, or holding something an agent just forwarded them and trying to work out what just happened.
- Do I need a resale certificate?
Asked about 1,660 times a month across 26 wordings. Most of the people asking are about to buy inventory and have been told by a supplier that they need one. Almost nobody asking knows that the certificate mostly protects the person selling to them, not them.
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