Recent studies conducted by leading search engine companies indicate that a large number of mobile searches have local intent. At first glance, this might sound a bit confusing. But, it isn’t too difficult to understand.

Let’s look at this from a user’s or a prospective consumer’s perspective, which is Me. I am searching for a restaurant specializing in barbeque, which is not too far from where I stay. I search for such a restaurant using my web enabled mobile; this I do by putting in a query that asks Google or any search engine to list the links of restaurants offering barbeque near my locality.

I will get the links, with the address and the phone number.

Advantage for businesses

Now that you have a gathered a fair bit of understanding about mobile searches with local intent, let’s talk about why it’s important for your business. Estimates are that almost one third or all mobile searches have local intent. This means more and more people are searching for businesses, restaurants, hotels, and all sorts of vendors that have a local address. You, as a business need to figure on such local searches. Otherwise, you are going to lose out on your prospective customers. 

Closer to Your Customers

For any business, it’s important that it is closer to its customers. Think about it for a second.  Which is the kind of customer that you have a better chance of attracting – a customer who is conducting a local search or a universal search? Both have their own advantages, but ‘local intent’ is much better placed to attract customers.

It’s a good idea for all businesses irrespective of their size, but it is even a better idea for small businesses. For e.g. If I am searching for a plumber, more than his website, I want his address and/or his contact details. So, for somebody with a plumbing business, it makes more sense to be a part of local mobile search.

The years ahead are definitely going to see an increase in the percentage of local mobile searches. As the use of web enabled mobile phones increases, so will the use of location based mobile searches. It’s a win-win situation for businesses, who wish to improve their local visibility and in turn want to improve the performance of their business.