Local consumer search behavior breakdown

An in-depth analysis of Google Business Profile trends by vertical in 2021

Consumer behavior shifts occur often, given economic changes, current affairs, and other unforeseen disruptions.

However, the shifts marketers have seen and experienced over the past two years are a reminder that your local strategy must continually evolve.

Keeping a pulse on how others are performing in your industry is one way to recognize ongoing trends and benchmark your success. E

That’s why we release an annual study on how COVID-19 and other external factors impact Google Search trends for enterprise brands.

In this study, Rio SEO analyzed local search data for more than 170,000 U.S. business locations over the span of 2021. These locations were organized in eight diverse categories including service businesses, financial services, sit-down restaurants, quick-service restaurants, hotels, retail, healthcare, and multi-family residential.

For each business location, we tracked:

• Clicks on a MapPack listing
• Clicks to a website
• Clicks to make a phone call
• Clicks for driving directions
• Local organic search volume
• Local search (Map Pack) views
• Direct local search volume
• Discovery local search volume

In visualizing the impact of the pandemic on local search volume and clicks to call, get driving directions, or visit a website, we get a clearer picture of the level and type of disruption to local businesses when in-store restrictions are imposed.