The past few years, including 2016 has seen a rapid expansion of online marketing and distribution techniques. Local searches include local services and technologies for marketing that help businesses and their promotions become easier to find by consumers. The coming years will only witness further expansion in local search engines, which will lead to a greater demand for content writing services and more work for the web content writer.
Predictions for the coming year
Even though Google in one of the major players it is not the only local search that people visit. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have a multitude of services that are used by its members. There are several other local search engines that are popular and are widely used by consumers despite Google being the first go to option for many.
Facebook Vs. Foursquare
Facebook’s check-ins vs. Foursquare is an ongoing battle. Even though Facebook has made their check-in option more viable, foursquare continues to be the first choice for many. Both the companies may revamp these programs in order to make them more available and in tune with client needs. With its large number of users, Facebook can easily become second in terms of place searches after Google, while foursquare is still most popular for check-ins.
Google will improve its features like the Google maps option. The site has already seen several upgrades. Even though Google Plus was not such a success since its launch, more efforts to make it attractive to businesses are likely. Google Plus may be integrated with Google places.
Spam messages will continue to thrive, unfortunately. While well- established local searches are exhibiting strong resistance against hijackers and spammers, popular sites like Facebook and Twitter are experiencing a lot of unwanted listings and data hijacking their sites.
Twitter will probably grow in its local business marketing sector. The availability of paid promotional packages for businesses is a possibility. This will leave the consumers exposed to more brands and larger companies that are using the site to communicate their products.
Several yellow pages companies have been entangled in bankruptcy issues over the last year. This has made them unable to compete properly with local searches. However, with most of them regaining their grounds, a lot of these companies are likely to now use social media and other such means of attracting clientele.
Mobiles and other smart devices will gain popularity as a means for business marketing. Local searches that are mobile friendly will become more common. More standards will be established across websites that are mobile friendly, ensuring optimal usage and security. Mobile devices will be simplified in order to widen accessibility.
