{"id":13778,"date":"2012-11-13T13:51:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-13T17:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=13778"},"modified":"2012-11-14T10:56:11","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T14:56:11","slug":"ed-parsons-1-in-3-searches-at-google-are-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/13\/ed-parsons-1-in-3-searches-at-google-are-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Parsons: 1 in 3 Searches at Google are Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated: 9:26 am 11\/14\/2012<\/p>\n

Ed Parsons<\/a>,\u00a0the Geospatial Technologist of Google, \u00a0has indicated in a recent talk at Google PinPoint London 2012 that “about\u00a01 in 3 of\u00a0queries that people just type into a standard Google search bar are about places, they are about finding out information about locations. …this isn’t Google Maps just people normally looking at Google”.<\/p>\n

The number of searches with local intent at Google has long been a topic of interest to marketers, directories and SEOs. In December of 2010, Google indicated that searches with local intent were 1 in 5 of all searches. Recent research by Chitka\u00a0indicated<\/a>\u00a0that the number was closer to 1 in 4. Ed Parson, who should know, says that the number is 1 in 3. Based on Comscore’s September Core Searches that puts the total number of Google searches with some local intent is in the ballpark of 3.6 billion searches a month. Clearly not all of those\u00a0show<\/a>\u00a0pinned results. It is not clear from Parson’t talk but it would appear that the 1 in 3 number applies to the desktop. If one were to then include mobile the % would\u00a0obviously be higher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Yesterday afteroon, I put this question to Ed Parsons on Google Plus to get a better understanding:<\/p>\n

I was wondering if you add some detail to your quote at about 2:16 where you said: \u201cabout 1 in 3 of queries that people just type into a standard Google search bar are about places, they are about finding out information about locations. \u2026this isn\u2019t Google Maps just people normally looking at Google\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Is that both desktop and mobile? What percentage are Map\/Driving direction related? What are the other categories of query types?<\/em><\/p>\n

Ed’s answer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It’s a composite figure both Mobile and Web, we don’t have an exact number but it’s between 30-40% – These also [are] not always [as] explicit [as] ‘Find me a pizza restaurant in Chelsea’, a more generic search request say for Football Teams would be framed geographically to highlight teams local to the individual searching..<\/em><\/p>\n

This answer validates David Mihm’s logic in his post 20% Local Intent Number Is 50% Too Low<\/a> where he put 30% as the lower boundary for searches with local intent at Google.<\/p>\n

Here is the complete video. The comment about local search volume occurred at 2:15 of the video:
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