Search habits of consumers are constantly shifting and with mobile devices becoming the primary access point for much of your target audience. Current data shows 18% of consumer-initiated local business searches taking place on mobile devices resulting in sales within 24 hours. In fact, Google statistics show that 46% of all searches on the search engine results page (SERP) seek localized information. Your overall marketing strategy and your website’s SEO approach must take this shift in consumer behavior into account in order to remain competitive and capable of attracting local consumer traffic to both your online and physical addresses.
Google “Near Me” Searches Driving Shift in SERP Usage
Google’s VP of Marketing for the America’s Lisa Gevelber discussed in a recent article on the “Think With Google” analytics site how consumer use of the “near me” search phrase has evolved and how it’s changing search engine behaviors.
These searches are “no longer just about place, but about time and things as well.” Google has seen a 500% increase over the last two years in “near me” and variants such as “Can I buy” or “To buy”, making the search very much about the immediacy and importance of right time, right place marketing strategies to capture consumer attention in these moments. The qualifier “now” has increased in usage 150%, while “today/tonight” search qualifiers have increased 900% in the same two year period. Similarly, there has been a 200% rise in searches using the terms “open” + “now” + “near me” in combination with one another.
Behavior-based SEO Tactics to Capture Attention of Millennials Where They Are Already Looking
Localizing search engine optimization when you’re a destination-based business that relies on local consumers and traffic is vital. Understanding the market, your surrounding businesses, and capturing the attention of the customers likely to be in that space is just as important as a well placed billboard.
Capturing the attention of the soon to be predominant demographic is even more important. Capitalizing SEO content and strategies around Millennials’ online behavior of searching out activity-based experiences and events, and engaging them at that level will ensure that when they search out “near me” products, services, and activities, that you’ll be at the forefront of their search results.
While social media remains a valuable marketing tool, localized SEO focused on inbound traffic from search engines around the rise in “near me” searches will outperform your efforts in social media outlets as a source of traffic by roughly 300% .
A Service Provider with Strong Community Ties
If you need a customized solution that will maximize your ROI and draw in local business and traffic, then we want to hear about your project. While we are able to service clients from all over the globe, here at Northwest Media Collective we provide a distinct advantage to our Vancouver, WA based clients and potential clients by integrating localized SEO into the services we provide. Contact us when it’s time to build a highly effective website.
