A summary of the article Google Searches With ‘Near me’ Surged 34 Times Since 2011 by Search Engine Watch published April 15th, 2015.

Mobile devices have made searching for places near where you are , with your phone, a popular service. You are out there in the real world and want to know what is near you at that very moment in time. A recent article we published shows the searches for restaurants using this technology is one of the most common searches in America.

This article from Spring 2015 delves in deeper into this subject. Here are the highlights.

Near Me” searches are increasing as are “closest” and “nearby“. The increase in those keywords is 34x the 2011 volume. Mobile accounts for 80% of those search phrases. related note: Store Locator Plus for WordPress has a Power add on that is also part of the My Store Locator Plus Professional and Enterprise subscriptions.

Consumers making those searches: 50% visit the store within a day. 18% purchase that day.

Searches for “Near Me” spike during travel and on weekends. There is a 55% increase during Christmas and New Year’s when people travel most often.

Common near me searches include: gyms, tailors, jewelers, shoe stores, furniture stores, appliances, dermatologists, plumbers, and jobs. note: our own study shows restaurants and food related searches are the most common.