{"id":3677,"date":"2021-10-21T17:32:13","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T17:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/judinc.com\/blog\/?p=3677"},"modified":"2026-03-21T21:01:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T21:01:53","slug":"how-to-get-found-by-customers-who-want-to-buy-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/judinc.com\/blog\/how-to-get-found-by-customers-who-want-to-buy-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominate ‘Near Me’ Searches: How to Get Found by Customers Who Want to Buy Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local search ranking matters to businesses with a local customer base. But searches for \u2018…near me\u2019 aren\u2019t just about location. They\u2019re also about time and need. Increasingly, searches that contain this search term are from prospects with purchase intent<\/strong>, who have passed the evaluation stage and are looking for the best local option so they can go there and buy. If that sounds like something you should be optimizing for, do we have a blog post for you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll look at how the growth of mobile, GPS and local search have driven an explosion in web searches by people who are looking for something they can buy now, today. And we\u2019ll talk about the most important elements to get right if you want your local search results to shine. Let\u2019s start with just how much, and how fast, searches like this have grown.<\/p>\n

\u2018Near me\u2019 searches are growing rapidly<\/h2>\n

\u2018X near me\u2019 searches are among the fastest-growing searches in the world. Growth in the mid-2010s was fast as mobile-oriented search marketing and consumer habits caught up with a populace who were (and are) constant mobile internet users. However, they\u2019re growing rapidly now too. Here\u2019s Google Trends\u2019 view on the last five years:<\/p>\n

\"2017<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

(Note: Google Trends uses a percentage scale to gauge interest rather than raw search volume numbers.)<\/p>\n

This growth is part of a trend toward using search as part of normal life, rather than sitting down at a computer to \u2018do research.\u2019 You can see that by looking at Trends data for \u2018X near me tonight\u2019:<\/p>\n

\"2017<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

(I\u2019m not sure what was happening from July 2-8 2017, but it got a lot of attention on Google.)<\/p>\n

These searches are often for consumer-level spending: people looking for somewhere to eat, a bar, a cinema, a haircut or an electronics store where they can buy something more or less immediately. Searches for food and events account for a large swath of this increase in volume. But the same trend doesn\u2019t just apply to professional services \u2014 it\u2019s actually even clearer.<\/p>\n

Check out the graph for \u2018attorney near me\u2019 in the US over the last five years:<\/p>\n

\"2017<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

The pandemic shows up as a dip-and-correct interruption to the general upward trend in these figures, but the overall picture is clear enough: organic search is about two thirds mobile. A 2018 study found<\/a> that 82% of respondents had made a \u2018near me\u2019 search on their smartphone over the course of a single week.<\/p>\n

Local search, predominantly on mobile, is increasingly the last step in the customer journey before they visit someone\u2019s office, practice or store and spend some money. This is an enormous opportunity, particularly if you\u2019re a \u2018relationship business\u2019 like an attorney or a physical therapist, where it\u2019s much easier to convert someone to a long-term customer than it is to get them through the door in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u2018Near me\u2019 searches indicate immediate need, purchase intent<\/h2>\n

Marketers talk about TOFU and BOFU actions and customer behaviors. That\u2019s Top-Of-FUnnel and Bottom-of-FUnnel; TOFU might be \u2018how much should I spend for a deep carpet clean?\u2019 At this stage, people are aware that the service exists and is valuable to them, but they\u2019re considering and evaluating. They need education, guidance, support, nurturing \u2014 all of which sounds time-consuming and expensive, because it is. <\/p>\n

Down at the BOFU (bottom of the funnel, remember) is \u2018deep carpet clean near me.\u2019 These searchers have an idea of what\u2019s on offer and they\u2019re ready to buy. It\u2019s not limited to short-term consumer decisions like where to get takeout or car tires: it\u2019s a part of the customer journey that\u2019s always been there, moving online. <\/p>\n

Between 2015 and 2017 searches for \u2018buy X near me\u2019 grew 500%<\/a>, and as we\u2019ve seen, the growth applies to business and professional searches purchases too. In 2021, Google shared a report<\/a> on customer decision-making that included what the authors called a \u2018surprising insight\u2019: \u2018The power of showing up\u2019 meant that \u2018simply being present in moments of deliberation can be enough to win or retain consumer preference.\u2019 (By \u2018moments of deliberation,\u2019 Google means those times when people\u2019s searches are part of a decision-making process. They\u2019re telling us the value of being found when a choice is being made.)<\/p>\n

Being findable when potential customers are looking for \u2018X near me\u2019 can be enough to tip the balance in your favor and net you genuinely-interested prospects with immediate purchase intent.<\/p>\n

The pandemic moved the needle too<\/a>: 35% more conversions happened through websites and phone calls, and custom for local businesses rose 11% \u2014 with 82% of those surveyed saying they planned to continue buying more locally after the pandemic was over.<\/p>\n

Top near me searches<\/h2>\n

What are people searching for in local search?<\/p>\n

The most-searched categories are:<\/p>\n