Comments on: How Often Does Google Show A Local Map? More than a 1 billion times per month!

By: Google Places vs Facebook Places: It’s Search vs. Social

Google Places vs Facebook Places: It’s Search vs. Social — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:12:34 +0000

[...] queries with local intent are estimated to make up roughly 20% of all queries, and almost everybody clicks on one of the top three results, this aggressive placement of their [...]

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:33:54 +0000

I am doing maaavalously!

By: MiriamEllis

MiriamEllis — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:31:20 +0000

I see. Well, that makes more sense. Such different numbers, but when you look at it that way, I can understand the variation. Thanks, Mike. Hope you are doing well!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:36:05 +0000

Yes I have heard them and it comes down to the definition of “local intent”. Greg Sterling has argued for those higher numbers with the logic that even a search on a word like “Ford” ultimately often involves local intent. IE a very broad definition.

My sense is that when Google used the term in their rollout of Places it meant, “mostly explicit local intent”…ie either it included the local modifier or could be reasonably assumed based on their experience to likely include local intent.

By: MiriamEllis

MiriamEllis — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:26:06 +0000

Wow, more than 1 billion times a month! That is quite a figure.

One thing I’m puzzled about is that quote of 20% of searches having a local intent. I have also seen speakers at conferences quoted as saying that anything from 40%-60% of searches have a local intent. Have you heard these figures, too, Mike? What do you make of them?