Google Reveals “Near Me” Searches Double In Past Year
What’s Up: Google announced queries with a location based qualifier, such as “near me”, have doubled since last year. 80% of those searches were from mobile devices. The data was first made available last week during the launch of Google’s new Businesses Near Me mobile ad format. Omid Kordestani, the company’s Chief Business Officer, referred to the statistic several times yesterday during an interview with Re/Code.
What Does It Mean: The announcement is proof of search queries becoming more hyper local. It puts a greater emphasis on local SEO than ever before. If in the past companies with a storefront were able to get by without engaging in Local SEO services, that’s no longer the norm. With the mobile search traffic now being higher than that of desktop devices and with the shift in search behaviour along with Google’s algorithm becoming smarter and more hyper-local it is become increasingly more and more important for businesses to focus on building authority at a local level. Given that the local search algorithm is different from the organic algorithm, Brand Managers will need to update their strategies to get all their locations properly optimized for the local search engine. Though an official statistic was only recently made public, many in the industry have been anticipating the shift towards mobile search and local results for some time. Expect more companies to follow Google and create ad units, research tools, and campaigns based in local search.
Part of the growth in location based queries can be attributed to an increase in voice searches, particularly among teenagers. 55% of teens conducted a voice based search in 2014, compared to 41% of adults. Those numbers are both expected to rise in 2015. Voice searches are inherently local. Phones use location settings to filter results from voice queries and people growing more comfortable talking to their phones leads to more qualifiers like “find {service/business type} near {location/me}” compared to typing. This trend will only grow more pronounced as time goes on. Given that smart phones are already common items but continuing to grow their market share compared to desktops, more places are installing public wifi, a projected boom in wearable tech will create more mobile devices with search capabilities, and the teenagers who grew up conducting voice searches will make up a larger portion of the market. This is only the beginning and optimizing each location for local search should be part of every company’s strategy with 1 or more physical locations.
