Here is a quick look at how customers are finding or will find your business in the near future. Take your phone (or use a laptop if you are not a smart phone user) and search for “x” item “near me.”
Since the BillboardOnline team can be frequently found in local coffee shops, we will use that as an example. Our current location is in Cary, and when we put that information into a smart phone, we get the following:
Another interesting feature of “near me” is clicking on “use my location.” At the top of the resulting screen, you will find a link that lets you view stores that are “open now” and will be given a list that only includes locations that are open at the time of your search. See screenshots below:
Interestingly, the coffee shop that is closest in proximity to our current location is not the #1 ranked spot as we refined our search results. Once more users start to interface with this technology and more reliable information is available, we expect Google will alter the criteria it utilizes in its map rankings to better reflect user’s data patterns, so keep an eye on how these search results change in the future.
How is this information applicable to my business?
As this brief example outlines, mobile search technology gives customers immediate access to information on a product or service that they need now and is near their current location. Even though the results may not be perfect, it is definitely worth a brick and mortar store’s time and monetary investment to get its business listed in mobile and geolocation oriented search results. But even more importantly, by creating a presence now, you will likely make it more difficult for your competitors to overtake your spot in this valuable virtual real estate in the future.
Contact us if you are interested in learning more about geolocation technology and how it can help your small business.