How I Leverage The Rise of “Near Me” Search
How To Leverage The Rise of “Near Me” Searches
Nowadays, with the ongoing rise of mobile searches and voice-enabled devices such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, voice-enabled devices becoming increasingly commonplace. Also, mobile searches for local services continue to rise very fast, especially voice searches.
For example, today with the different voice assistants we can just say “Hey Siri what is the best restaurant Near Me” it will give you right away what you’re looking for.
Why Should I Use The “Near Me” Term?
The searches, including the terms “Near Me” or “Nearby”, are becoming more and more and more commonplace. According to Google, people visit 1.5 billion destinations every month related to their Google searches — people searching online for local services is now more prevalent than ever before and it is becoming super high. Read more here.
If you still have not optimized your business for “Near Me” and voice-activated local searches, what are you waiting for? It is literally the time you should do so. Here, I will try to explore the importance of this, how you can rank both on desktop and mobile for “Near Me” related searches, and how to optimize for voice search, as well.
According to Google again, 28% of searches for something nearby result in a purchase.
Today’s consumers have changed the way they find their information, so you need to do so. Basically, we need to adapt our business to match their thinking way.
In fact, Google Trends shows that interest in the terms “Near Me” and “Nearby” has been on a steady rise over the past years.
As per Google, micro-moments occur when people reflexively turn to a device — increasingly a smartphone — to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something. They are intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences are shaped. They are moments on mobile that deliver the information we need to consume or act upon. They occur throughout the customer journey.
These micro-moments are an increasing phenomenon that has an effect on how now people search and, for that reason, how we approach search advertising to get adapted to their new thinking way. Customers have never been in a more powerful position to get what they want, immediately, a phenomenon we see reflected in their search behavior.
The search term “Near Me” is now suggested by Google as people type their queries into the search bar if Google feels there is a benefit to adding geographical specificity.
To see the effect, go to google.com and search for anything. Let’s say a search for “mall shop”. You will notice that the “Near Me” suggestion is the first on the list. and so with other searches.
The Rise of “Near Me” Searches.
In the past years, “Near Me” searches have witnessed exponential growth, as highlighted in the stats below, as per Google: In the past two years, we’ve seen:
- 150%+ growth in mobile searches for “___ near me now” (for example, “food near me now,” “gas station near me now,” and “delivery near me open now”).
- 900%+ growth in mobile searches for “___ near me today/tonight” (for example, “open houses near me today,” “cheap hotels near me tonight,” and “movies playing near me today”).
- 200%+ growth in mobile searches for “Open” + “now” + “near me” (for example, “restaurants near me open now,” “stores open near me right now,” and “pharmacy near me open now”).
Growth in “near me now” searches
These numbers are huge. Don’t you think we should take them into consideration?
How Do I Optimize My Business For “Near Me” Searches?
Make sure local customers can find you online by optimizing for local search.
According to Google, the “Near Me” searches doubled, and the volume of queries like this has increased multiple times since 2011.
Before we jump into how we can show up in the results for a “Near Me” search, it’s important to understand how “Near Me” searches work.
“Near Me” searches are location-based search queries that are often conducted by someone who is ready and able to make a purchase.
Making sure that your website is optimized for local search is important for being found by the local audience.
Today’s consumers changed the way how they find their information, so you need to do so, basically, we need to adapt our business to match their thinking way.
- Update your Google Business Profile page listing.
Below are the 7 of the most important business directories for me you should be listed on:
Google | Bing | Yelp | Apple Maps | Facebook | Foursquare | Trip Advisor
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Create a different web page for each location, in case you have multiple ones.
- Encourage your customers to leave good reviews.
- Include relevant keywords in your tags and website text.
How Can I Use “Near Me” To Boost My Online Sales?
Since you sell online and you ship to different locations, you can use this rise to drive traffic to your store so you can transform it into sales.
- 1st Drive Visitors to your Store.
- 2nd, convince them to buy it.
I will share with you my way of doing it.
Myself, I love Shopify. It is more powerful from my POV (Open New Store). So basically, today we’re going to take it as an example.
My idea is to get more traffic from search engines using this “Near Me” search rise.
How Do I Get Traffic With This?
I post on my Shopify store a huge number of blog posts talking about buying my product from Cities/States.
For example, I posted a 100k post that says “Buy Baby Toys Near Me In Sitka, Alaska”. In this case, I targeted customers in Stika, Alaska, and so the same for other cities/states.
Let’s talk briefly about the steps.
1- I do my keyword research for my brand.
2- I write a good article to keep the visitor interacting with my content. Keep in mind to refer to some products in your blog post and some sections to recommend products mostly bought in the state. You can randomize them.
Keep in mind to use the keywords you found in the 1st step.
3- I well design this blog page to be clean and attractive. Include images, banners, or videos if available. I recommend hiring a designer to do it for you.
4- I implement the article and design into the store. I use some custom coding to achieve that.
5- I submit my new store sitemap to search engines.
That’s it.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article. Please leave your opinions in the comments area or contact me personally here. Let’s catch up on the next ones.
If you want to set this on your store checkout here.
