A recent study has highlighted an increase in consumer engagement with business listings in search results over the past year.
Consumer interactions with business listings have risen by 17%, encompassing actions like requesting directions and clicking to call businesses. This data was sourced from a study on 2020 search trends, drawing from a sample of over 400,000 US business listings.
One notable upward trend is in the area of business reviews. Consumers are leaving more reviews, with the average review count per business location increasing by 27% year-over-year. Specifically, financial services experienced a 91% growth in review volume per location, the highest among industries.
Businesses are also doing better at responding to reviews, with response rates climbing 47% from the previous year. This improvement in responsiveness could be encouraging more consumers to leave reviews, knowing their feedback is likely to be acknowledged.
Search impressions for business listings have seen a 10% rise compared to last year, which may partly explain the increase in consumer actions. Interestingly, consumer engagement is growing at a faster rate than search impressions.
Here are some notable business search trends for 2020:
January: Healthcare organizations witnessed a 17% increase in clicks to their online listings compared to the previous month.
February: Financial services institutions saw an 11% rise in consumer engagement over the annual average.
March: Real estate listings experienced a 22% increase in clicks from February to May.
April: Phone carrier and telecommunications provider listings saw a 14% drop in clicks compared to the previous month.
May: There was an 18% increase in clicks for automotive service provider listings compared to the annual average.
June: Recreation and entertainment listings saw a 35% increase in clicks, while hotel listings were up by 20%.
August: Store listings saw an 18% increase above the annual average, and educational services listings rose by 18%.
September: Recreation and entertainment listings experienced an 18% drop below the annual average.
October: Listings in the education category saw nearly a 10% increase in clicks compared to September.
November: Restaurant listings experienced a 13% drop below the annual average.
December: Retail listings saw an 11% rise above the annual average, while hotel listings fell to 26% below the annual average.
