Harnessing Wealth from LOCAL Search Trends

Recently, the LOCAL Search Association (previously known as the Yellow Pages Association until April 2011) released a report called the “State of LOCAL Search”. This study shows huge growth in ALL areas of LOCAL search. Sprout Media Lab brings you a breakdown of this data for your benefit and ultimate success, which a focus on Local Mobile Search.

If you are an internet marketer that uses Google, Yahoo or Bing in your daily marketing efforts or a webmaster looking for the best optimization techniques, then you are going to love the information contained here! After reading this blog post, you will understand the need to include LOCAL search engine optimization in your marketing budget.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and a host of others make up 74% of LOCAL search volume with the rest going to Internet Yellow Pages and similar sites. In January 2011 there were 2.3 billion LOCAL search queries through search engines in one given month, with the largest portion going to Google. In the year of 2010, there were 5.6 billion searches, emphasizing for the year not a given month. Now that’s an eye popping increase in demand for LOCAL search!

Mobile Search

Mobile search has been growing for a long time, and last year was no exception. A few key points/highlights from the “State of LOCAL Search” report include:

  • 94% of smartphone users performed LOCAL searches on their devices.
  • The number of mobile users accessing LOCAL information are growing an average of 34% year over year, as well as how often they search.
  • The number of users that search almost every day or more has increased by 20% while less frequent search categories have dropped.

BEST ADVICE:

  1. Start by getting a mobile website
  2. Optimize it.  Don’t know how? Sprout Media Lab can give you a free consultation and analysis!
  3. Make it responsive and easy to navigate for any type of mobile device
  4. Have your contact information easy to find — phone number, contact form and location if you have a brick and mortar business.
  5. Include a “Call to Action”.

Mobile App Users

Up to 56% of mobile users are accessing LOCAL information with apps. Although most LOCAL searches are still through a browser, that number is down slightly from last year. This is a stat that can only be on the rise with more users turning to their mobile devices instead of sitting down at a computer. Mobile marketing in the form of apps is a strategy any LOCAL businessman or internet marketer must embrace. This is a trend that is here to stay because of the ever increasing popularity of mobile applications.

This is a trend that has been taken up by search engines like Google with the Android mobile phone apps, Apple, Yahoo and Bing with their respective mobile app stores. If major internet businesses see the potential of mobile apps, it goes without saying that you as a LOCAL business person should too. You probably like to use a few choice apps on your mobile device.  However, before you head down this advanced path, determine whether your business is a good fit for developing a mobile app.  The most important thing to have a mobile website no matter what type of business you own!  Not sure? Do some research.

How to find a Mobile App Developer:

  1. Search for top mobile app developers
  2. Research their projects, particularly those the pertain to your type of business
  3. Ask the developer questions, focusing on true results
  4. Check out any posted reviews about the company.

Online Coupons

Online coupons are a LOCAL search success with 70% satisfaction and only 1% dissatisfied. This satisfaction led to 79% of customers buying coupons again. It is also a trend that you, as an entrepreneur looking to tap into LOCAL search growth, should implement in your business. With the rise of companies like Groupon, it goes without saying that when properly implemented, the online coupon business can help convert business.  Side note – Groupon has a mobile app!

Sprout Media Lab can assist your business in all SEO and mobile site optimization. Call us at (800) 617-6975 for a free consultation.