Later this morning it's rumored that the HTC Dream running Google's Android operating system will be unveiled. Most of the conversation about Android is grounded in comparisons to Apple's iPhone which ushered in new thinking about the potential of geographically aware personal mobile devices. When the Android device is rolled out tomorrow, search engine optimization and search engine marketing might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but if you're an online marketer it certainly should be. The Android-powered device, like the iPhone, is acutely aware of its location. Location is desperately important for the biggest players in search, and it's getting more important with each passing day.
Search... Local Search... Mobile Search...
Consider online search as it stands today. Depending on whose definition you want to go by, somewhere between 10% and 50% of online searches have local intent. For simplicity of this discussion, let's say 25% of online search has local intent (I arrived at that percentage after mulling through a pile of data, and then coming across a great analysis of much of it by Greg Sterling).
At first 25% seems high. But, if you think about it from the perspective of an average Internet user, 25% is quite reasonable. Searches with local intent covers a lot of ground: finding a restaurant, a new car, a job or home, a hotel for an upcoming trip or vacation, or a contractor to put an addition on your home.
Now factor in searches being made with mobile phones. Think about their intent. 25% might actually be a conservative number. Trending for searches being performed on mobile devices? Increasing every month. Year-over-year comScore recently reported mobile search in the U.S. was up 68%.
comScore mobile search data - June 2007 vs. June 2008
Local Data and Mobile
Who is competing to be the one to serve this data? Some companies that you're familiar with and a few you may have hung out to dry years ago. Here's just a few:
* Google (Google Local)
* Yahoo (Yahoo Local)
* AOL (MapQuest)
* Live (Local)
* Internet Yellow Pages
* Yelp!
* Local.com
* Superpages
* CitySearch
* and... a long and growing list of niche sites
What all the data providers want is to be THE data source for local search, paving the way for ulterior advertising motives. Google isn't the only game in town, and they don't have the local search market locked down by any stretch of the imagination. Google isn't innovating in local search just because they are creative, they're innovating in local search because they have to.
With the dawn of the Internet the biggest promise was that anyone, anywhere could market or buy a product or service from anyone, anywhere. Now data is telling us something that we may have lost sight of along the way: what's local to us is often far more important. If you look at some of Google's most recent announcements it's clear that being a leader in local is their agenda. Having a mobile OS is just one more sign. Local search is one of the most important search battle fields, not just for the data providers, but for marketers whose clients need a presence there.
