The pandemic has without a doubt caused noticeable changes in consumer behavior. During the height of the lockdowns, consumers faced closed stores, reduced hours, and social-distancing requirements. As a result, they started to prioritize essential needs, bought fewer impulse items, and turned to e-commerce to transact. Research conducted by Google in the retail, travel, and
COVID-19 changed every facet of life for millions globally and disrupted local search trends for the majority of the past year. Businesses were forced to close their brick-and-mortar locations, workplaces went fully remote and consumers were subject to strict stay-at-home orders, and the world turned inward. Rio SEO has been tracking changes in local search
Managing and boosting your reputation management efforts is a key area of focus for local marketers, however, best practices for doing so are constantly evolving. Shopping experiences have vastly changed over the past year, and in turn, so have customers' expectations of local businesses. Review sentiment has shifted based on updates to store hours, closures,
Given that the vast majority of consumers read online reviews before purchasing goods or services, third-party review sites are an important place for brands to build and maintain a strong local presence. And, when it comes to the places local customers search for the social validation of reviews, Yelp is one of the most trusted and popular.
The Coronavirus pandemic brought with it sweeping, wide-ranging, and impactful local marketing disruptions for all brands, with hospitality one of the hardest hit. In November, while tracking local search metrics in GMB for over 200,000 locations each month to better bring to light the impact of the pandemic, we found that hospitality brands’ metrics were
This month, our analysis of local search trends across over 200,000 U.S. business locations’ Google My Business accounts shows marked increases in search interest in every vertical over February. While there is certainly some seasonality at play, the larger trends of vaccination rollout and economic recovery are driving the strong results you’ll see below. In
The local search marketing landscape is constantly evolving. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that it’s almost never “business as usual” anymore and we must always be ready to pivot at a moment’s notice. As your priorities and strategies change, so too should the technology you leverage to run your business. Rio SEO’s
We’ve all heard bold statements about how the world will never be the same following the current pandemic. And while it’s certainly true to say that the global marketplace has experienced unprecedented shifts in consumer behavior over the last year, it’s worth noting that global, of course, also entails local. In a time characterized by
The Coronavirus pandemic is driving dramatic shifts in consumer behavior—that much is clear. Consumers are having to put more thought into everyday decisions such as where to shop, what time of day to visit a local store, or how to procure necessary items without having to go inside a store to get them. How are
It’s difficult to even hazard a guess as to how consumers will behave leading into and throughout the critical holiday shopping season. As we’ve learned throughout 2020, the state of affairs can change near-instantly. What is certain is that enterprise brands will face unique challenges in connecting with consumers at the local level and will