Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Local Search Is Hot And Doubling Every Two Years
byLocal search is afire, and the leaders are familiar names: Yahoo and Google. Unlike regular search where Google clearly dominates, the playing field for local search is evenly split between the two search giants with a share of about 30 percent each. Microsoft is third at 12 percent. Both Google Local and Yahoo Local use a map-based page. Indicate your search location and enter a search term such as “pizza.” Your map will populate with the names and locations of pizza restaurants in the vicinity.
You don’t necessarily have to go to a search engine’s “local” URL to get this information. Add some geographic qualifier (city, state, zip code, etc.) in the regular search engine window (pizza boise), and the top organic search result will almost always be the search company’s own local page for that area.
This July, 63 percent of U.S. Internet users carried out at least one local search. According to comScore, people who use local search are more likely to take action with a visit to a place of business (47 percent).
Local search marketing is popular for small businesses and others that do most of their business in a smaller, defined area. Another trend in the future will be more local searches from cell phones. As more mobile users get Internet and GPS capabilities, you’ll not only be able to search for businesses from your phone, but your phone will guide you there as well.
