LOCAL SEARCH"Online local search is growing in importance and now affects the way we all look for information in the UK". |
| More and more people are online and constantly searching for information. Today, in Internet homes, browsing online has overtaken watching television as the UK’s favourite leisure activity, and one in three online searches is local – someone looking for a product or service in a particular location. Traditional advertising is taking a back seat and digital and mobile technology is taking full control. Online local search is important to the future of each and every business as an ever-increasing number of people go online to find local information. Local search is emerging as key to any marketing strategy. Take the Internet for example. Until recently results returned from any local search were not restricted to a particular locality and therefore huge numbers of irrelevant pages of information were delivered. Today local search (any goods or services in a particular location – e.g. ‘hairdressers in Hull’, ‘venison sausages in Cambridge’) is beginning to deliver results limited to locality parameters and allows you to find exactly what you want, where you want it. This of course allows advertisers to be very specific in their targeting. Whereas the traditional internet search paradigm involved returning links to pages that contained all the user’s keywords, now commonly the local search returns pages based upon websites of businesses that have physical addresses located within the locality. With 44 per cent of online search queries relating to a product or service near a person’s home or work, local search represents a fantastic opportunity for advertisers to connect with their customers. When someone goes online they may order a pizza, book cinema tickets, find a dentist, solicitor, accountant or get a phone number for an emergency plumber. Or they may search for something more specific such as a particular type of granite worktop, a new pair of Jimmy Choos shoes, or the nearest stockist of the latest mobile phone model. The common denominator is it’s all local. When looking for a local business or service, 76% of UK consumers would first go online. This compares with 18 per cent who would first consult an offline business directory, and the six per cent who would call a directory enquiry service. Until recently, interest and activity in local search has been very US-centric, but the huge influence it has had in the US is now beginning to be felt in the UK and Europe. Local search will continue to strengthen its hold and influence on our marketing and economics. |