Local and Mobile Are the Same

Our CEO, Howard Lerman, has a talk that he gives sometimes that boils down to one message: people are local. The entire local marketing industry is built on this premise: people spend where they live, and they want convenience above all. In that regard, the rise of smartphones and geolocation has been a boon to local marketing; smartphones make it easier than ever to find and target users within a specific geofence.

In fact, just last year, we released our Yext Quarterly in which Greg Stirling reported that mobile accounts for 50% of local searches — even though mobile accounts for only 15% of all internet traffic. The search number has unquestionably gone up in the year since, as people come to rely more and more on their mobile phones. In addition, the rise of location-based apps (e.g. Tinder, Ingress, and Swarm) has spurred the explosion of mobile in importance and as a make-or-break factor in the local marketing space.

On the Bing Ads blog, John Gagnon talks about the most important metrics to look at on mobile platforms to measure performance. He outlines his top three:

• Click-through rate. You want to drive calls and clicks, but your ad position on mobile matters even more than on desktop due to limited screen size. So that calls for smart bidding that gets your ad in the top spot.
• Mobile impression share. This is simply how often your ad will appear in relevant searches. You can’t afford to be in a low ad position on mobile, because you won’t be seen. Focus on keywords used by people who are looking to buy right now.
• Mobile cost-per-click. This has a big impact on your cost per conversion and mobile CPCs are typically lower than desktop, as there is less competition as advertisers opt out. But mobile CPCs are rising as advertisers understand the strong purchase intent that’s motivating the mobile search. So take advantage of the situation while you still can.

Even though a year has passed, the best practices for mobile attention have not:

• Accurate location information — If your customers can’t find you, no amount of their intent can be captured by the business. Make sure you have your clients represented correctly online by taking control of their listings.
• Manage seasonality — Stay search relevant by updating content for the seasons; things like holiday promotions, different photographs to celebrate the season/deals, and switching out other enhanced content to reflect the time of year.
• Enrich your listings — This goes hand-in-hand with the above point: take advantage of images and video content to stand out from the competition. With every smartphone equipped with a camera, and programs like Instagram and even Twitter’s native mobile app offering simple filters and image editing capabilities, skimping on photographs is no longer an option.

As the world grows more local, mobile will be inextricably linked to the movement. Get ahead of the competition by making this connection for your clients first and optimizing their locations for mobile discovery.