Local Search Outpaces Online Search
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A tremendous surge in the annual growth of local search far outpaced growth of overall Web search, according to a study conducted by comScore, Inc., a leading Web behavior research firm, and released today by the Yellow Pages Association.
Local Search Growing
The study found that local search — the practice of using online search tools to find local businesses, products, or services — grew 58 percent in 2008, reaching an annual total of 15.7 billion searches. By comparison, overall U.S. Web core searches grew at a much smaller rate of 21 percent year-over-year, nearing 137 billion searches by the end of 2008. Local searches stand at 12 percent of core searches on the top 5 portals.
“Even if the searcher doesn’t know the company or brand they will ultimately give their business to, the decision to actually make a purchase has often already been made,” Norton said. “That is a strong argument for local merchants to develop and maintain an online profile, if they haven’t already done so.”
– 75 percent of the top 100 keywords searched on Internet Yellow Pages
sites were non-branded, indicating that a majority of consumers have not
decided on a specific company or product brand when they begin their
search.
– Nearly half (45 percent) of Internet Yellow Pages and local online
directory searchers made an online purchase in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The comScore study measured real-life Internet browsing, buying and transactional activity of approximately one million U.S. Internet users who provided permission to be monitored from December 2007 to December 2008.
comScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital .marketing intelligence. comScore derives its information and analysis from a representative panel of more than two million Internet users worldwide.
