What is Hyperlocal Marketing?

what-hyperlocal-marketing

Hyperlocal marketing is an important element when it comes to online marketing that often gets overlooked. Consumers are constantly searching for local businesses on their mobile devices using various map applications such as:

  • Google Maps (Google My Business listings)
  • Apple Maps (Yelp listings)
  • Bing Maps (Bing Places listings)

Accurate and up-to-date information on these popular directories will improve your rankings in search engines, not only for your business name but for keywords or services as well. These various services and platforms also allow users to write reviews and gives your business the ability to respond directly to your customers.

Hyperlocal marketing is the process of targeting prospective customers in a highly specific, geographically restricted area, often with the intention of targeting people conducting “near me” searches on their mobile device. If you’ve ever found yourself looking for a very specific type of business when you’re out and about, you’ve probably already conducted a hyperlocal search.

Why Your Business Needs Hyperlocal Marketing

In terms of objectives, hyperlocal marketing’s primary purpose is to drive foot traffic to physical locations and capitalize on near-me searches, which have strong commercial intent.

Near-me searches have become immensely popular in recent years. Data from Google indicates that near-me searches grew in volume by 130% year-over-year between 2014 and 2015 alone, and since then, Google users are using near-me searches to find everything from post offices to New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations.

Although near-me searches remain popular, advances in search technology are shaping how users search for businesses near them. Let’s consider a specific category of searches with high local intent: restaurants. Zip code or Postal code qualifiers (“Thai restaurants near 94939”) are fairly common. But over the past two years, while restaurant-related searches have grown by double digits, those same searches that include a zip code qualifier have declined by over 30%. More evidence that local relevance is expected, but not always overtly requested.

Data from Google suggests that local searches without “near me” or other location qualifiers (such as zip codes or city names) have grown 150% faster than searches including “near me,” revealing that many users now expect Google to automatically take their location into account when serving results. This also means that users expect local search results to take precedence over wider results, even when they do not explicitly state they’re looking for local results.

Just as search technology is changing the ways in which we search for and interact with local businesses online, so too is consumer behaviour shaping search technology. We identified “research online, purchase offline” – also known as ROPO – as one of the biggest ecommerce trends to watch this year, and this will likely drive further interest in and demand for locally focused search results over time.

 

For more information, learn more about how Hyperlocal relates to Mobile. Plus, we’ve compiled detailed steps on getting listed on Google My Business, getting listed on Bing Places, and getting listed and claimed on Yelp.

For even more information, read through these blogs relating to Hyperlocal Marketing:

Get Noticed with Hyperlocal Marketing

Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

Why You Should be on Bing Places

Optimize Your Yelp Listing

Other Hyperlocal Listing Considerations