Ryan Buddenhagen, March 29, 2012
I have written a good amount on the importance of local search for businesses with the rise in smartphones and more specifically, the rise in web searching on smartphones. The rate of search is impressive. In a recent Google study, 99% of global respondents indicated they use search engines on their smartphone, and searching for local businesses is one of the most popular searches. The essential point on this if you are unfamiliar, is that SEO companies and marketers can assist businesses that cater to local audiences by increasing their presence on local-centered platforms and features. SEO for geo-targeted search terms and optimizing pages on local features such as Google Places will improve the online visibility of businesses when searchers enter queries for their industry in their geographic area.
Google is an essential player in local search with their search engine, Google Places, and Google+. Now they have introduced a feature that makes local searching that much more convenient for the end-user. Now, when you do a search about a place on Google on your PC, for example, and get the information you need, the information will be available later when you go to Google on your smartphone under the "Recent" icon. This is convenient for all types of searching but especially local searches when you are looking at directions or details of a business before you go someplace and then you are able to bring that information back up again once on the move using your smartphone.
This feature is available for users that are logged-in and have web history enabled, so the convenience is only geared towards their Google account holders. This enhances the features available to Google users and can be an attempt to sweeten the Google experience for signed-in account holders, as they are ultimately seeking to increase the number of signed-in users to gain more user information. Regardless of the reason for its introduction, it is a small yet innovative advancement that will only make local search more convenient thus boosting it.
The main takeaway here for businesses is that local search is only going to become more important and become more convenient with innovations like the one described above. Thus, businesses need to optimize for local search and can do so by partnering with SEO companies to get the right exposure on the right platforms. This exposure can make or break a company's local relevance and exposure and by extension, their ability to do business with this local market.
Please reach out to me directly at rbuddenhagen@webimax.com if you would like more information regarding local search and how it can improve your business' ability to drive more local business.
