Extending Relevance & Reach with Local Search

Recently, Google worked with Ipsos MediaCT and Purchased® to better understand local search behavior. Unsurprisingly, they found that four out of five consumers prefer and expect that their searches be contextualized to their location. However, it’s important to look at just how much local search affects consumer behavior.

The majority of mobile searches have local intent. According to Google’s study, 56% of all smartphone searches outside the home are done with some form of local intent, along with a little over half of those done in-store. The information consumers are usually looking for are general information for storefronts, such as location and hours.

Consumers respond well to local advertising. When local searches are performed on a mobile phone, half of them resulted in an in-store visit, compared to a third of local searches done on a desktop. In addition, local searches are over two times more likely to result in a sale within the day than a non-local search. While local searches may inherently have more intent to convert than a non-local search, it is still important to note that there is such a significant uptick in conversion rates.

Consumers can influence impulse visits to stores. Google’s study reported that 32% of consumers who viewed localized ads were triggered to make a store visit and perhaps a purchase. Another 19% of consumers said that localized ads caused them to make an unplanned visit or purchase.

What does this all mean for advertisers? It means that if you’re not utilizing location-based advertising, you should be.

Whether it is a click-to-call button, address information, or radius bidding, localized ads drive more in-store visits, calls and conversions than non-localized advertising. While this is particularly true for brick-and-mortar stores, it can also be a factor for online-only companies – it just comes down to understanding the audience demographic which may be localized to certain zip codes or regions. Optimizing advertising budgets for contextually relevant ads will improve overall consumer experience and ultimately drive more sales.

This weekend, Marin is releasing support for Google’s location bid boost capability feature, making it easy for advertisers to take advantage of the benefits. Advertisers can use the feature to easily create and adjust location targets and exclusions, and add location bid adjustments across their Google accounts with one simple bulk form. We’re happy to help our clients extend their relevance and reach consumers on every device and at every point in the purchase process with this new support.