Locally orientated searches account for over 1/3 of the 2 trillion searches every year on Google. My presentation @ SES 2014 covers why this has happened and what you can do to maximise this

2. Pete Young
Search Director
MediaCom i-Lab UK & Ireland

3. Local search – bigger than you think

4. Back in 2011

5. Local impacts a huge proportion of searches
1 in 3
searches have local intent
Source: Ed Parsons: Google 2013

6. There are
2,161,530,000,000
a year
Source: Google Official History / Comscore - http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/

7. That equates to
720,510,000,000
a year

8. or
1,974,000,000
a day

9. Local accounts for
around
20%
of queries on desktop

10. On mobile – that’s
even higher
Over 50%
of queries are local

11. Mobile penetration has doubled in 2 years
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
2011
Source: Google: Our Mobile Planet
2012
2013

12. This affects certain verticals more than others
Vertical
Mobile Penetration
(including tablets)
Gaming
35%
Travel
46%
Automotive
43%
Finance – Banking
Finance - Insurance
24%
28%

13. 49%
Search on their smartphone every day
Source: Google: Our Mobile Planet

14. 37%
Look for local
information daily
Source: Google: Our Mobile Planet
Search for local
information at least
once a week
13%

15. 58%
Look for local
information daily
Source: Google: Our Mobile Planet US
Search for local
information at least
once a week
27%

16. 57%
Look for local
information daily
Source: Google: Our Mobile Planet US
Search for local
information at least
once a week
21%

17. Whilst searchers aren’t necessarily searching for
local content, global considerations are
increasingly influencing your search experience

18. Modern day search is more than just the searched
phrase
“Shopping Centre”
Explicit query
“Shopping Centre”
Explicit query
iPad User, in Manchester
Implicit query

19. The introduction of Venice means that we cannot rely
on a single source of truth
brighton
http://www.which.co.uk
Manchester
http://www.which.co.uk
Westminster
http://www.which.co.uk
blackpool
http://www.which.co.uk
http://www.ceswindows.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.directwindowco.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.u
k
http://www.malbernwindows.co.uk http://www.brightwindows.co.uk
http://www.directwindowco.com
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.u
http://maps.google.co.uk
k
http://maps.google.co.uk
http://www.lordshipdoubleglazing.c
http://www.elitewindows.co.uk
o.uk
http://www.yell.com
http://www.yell.com
http://www.weatherseal.co.uk
http://www.everest.co.uk
http://www.clearviewhome.co.uk
http://www.weatherseal.co.uk
http://www.abelglass.co.uk
http://www.anglianhome.co.uk
http://www.summitdoubleglazing.co http://www.jardineconservatories.co
m
.uk
http://www.fensa.co.uk
http://www.didsburyglass.co.uk
http://www.squareglazing.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.everest.co.uk
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.u
k
http://www.nolanglass.com
http://www.weatherseal.co.uk
-
http://www.jcwindows.com
http://www.ggf.org.uk
http://www.doubleglazingblackpool.
com
http://www.dgcos.org.uk
http://www.lancashiredoubleglazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org
co.uk
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.u
k
-

20. Coverage above the fold is crucial to generating the
click
Keyword Breakdown by Vertical
100%
Organic Clicks Positions 10+
90%
Organic Clicks Position 10
80%
Organic Clicks Position 9
70%
Organic Clicks Position 8
Organic Clicks Position 7
60%
Organic Clicks Position 6
50%
Organic Clicks Position 5
40%
Organic Clicks Position 4
30%
Organic Clicks Position 3
Organic Clicks Position 2
20%
Organic Clicks Position 1
10%
Paid Search Clicks
0%
Unsuccessful Searches
Travel
Retail
Automotive
Source: GroupM/Experian Keyword Study - 2013
Finance
Insurance

21. This is even more important on mobile
Source: Google: Eye Tracking Study 2012

22. Your resultset is increasingly localised across the board

23. Certain results are “hyperlocal”

24. Increasing interactivity through local

25. That functionality can be further expanded to include
more interactivity
http://www.manchesterbusinessphotos.co.uk/tourdash-your-google-virtual-tour-evolved/

26. Getting yourself in the local results isnt difficult

Ensure you claim all relevant
addresses

Make sure you spend time
associating your entries with
appropriate categories –
particularly the primary category

Make sure you provide as much
information as you can with
particular focus on:

Opening Hours

Contact Details

Photos & Videos if available

Payment

27. Location + Relevance + Engagement = Local Visibility
Location


Proximity to location of search (specified or inferred)
Relevance


Business Name

Categories (in paritcular primary category)
Engagement


Quantity of Reviews

Secondary citations

Interaction

28. The do’s and don’ts of local search
DO
Don’t
Spend time choosing the most
appropriate category for your
locations

Don’t keyword stuff – its so 1999

Use of irrelevant keywords in your
business title is not advised

Use Local Telephone numbers where
possible


Reference your Google+ Local
pages from the relevant local
content on site
Limit use of non-specified categories.
Spammy categories can actually
work against you

Don’t just leave things once you’ve
finished submitting your info – that’s
just the start….


Encourage reviews via Google+
Local via integration with wider CRM
activity

29. Reviews are increasingly important for social proofing

30. Shared endorsements are only going to get bigger

31. Organic Local can only take
you so far … to get more
granular, PPC can provide some
quick, easy and scalable wins

32. One of the biggest reasons is this

33. Before you start…..
External tools such as

GA, Adwords, Hitwise, TGI and
Moasic can guide potential
opportunities
Always cross reference with internal

data where possible

Offline vs Online

Proximity Analysis (particularly
against offline data)


Click vs Conversion
Test, learn, refine

34. And then choose the right tool for the job
Local
Extensions
Location
based
upweights
Localised
campaigns
List based
retargeting

35. So where do we go from
here….

36. Glass may have a big part to play in the future of Local

37. Local integration with wider Google products

38. Google becomes the aggregator for more products

39. To conclude

If you haven’t got Local as part of your current
strategy – get cracking

Local search isn’t one dimensional – utilise both
paid and organic opportunities to maximise share
of traffic

Make sure you verify your places – 3 weeks and
counting

Make sure you include Google+ Local reviews as
part of your CRM Strategy – this is only going to get
more and more important

41. Google is the new landing page …..

42. The beauty of paid search is in the flexibility
Localised campaigns

Where local is a factor in the
Bid Upweights by location
Useful where local is not a direct

customer journey (ie Travel – Airport)

High volume sectors where volume is
factor in the customer journey
Particularly useful for tactical activity

unlikely to impact quality score


Localised Television
Where conversion could be

Locallised doordrops/inserts etc
significantly improved by the usage
of local relevance

43. 90%
Of mobile users took action after
performing a local search !
Source: Google: Mobile Playbook - http://ssl.gstatic.com/think/docs/action-after-searching_statistics.pdf