Don’t just appeal to a local searcher’s wants or needs, focus on the journey

Millennial travelers have been yearning for genuine, local experiences that deliver a special and unique taste of authenticity. They don’t want to merely cross an experience, city or place off a bucket list.

These travelers and searchers would like to experience life, while accidentally encountering experiences worthy of Snapchat stories, Instagram images and other forms of bragging, which are usually motivated by an honest urge to foster curiosity and cultural learning — or at least appear that way.

For millennials, there are a variety of options to satiate this type of hunger, including Airbnb, VRBO, asking Uber drivers for local recommendations, couch surfing and more. For marketers, offering services to these folks — opportunities to benefit from off-the-beaten-path journeys and trends — requires focus and attention, especially within the local search landscape.

The digitization of local search and its placement at a mobile traveler’s fingertips gives us local search marketers opportunities to outdo the traditional local search marketing approach.

From ride-sharing services like Uber to brick-and-mortar restaurants, companies have been working to make these customer-driven experiences a part of everyday optimization to better serve a stronger result within the local search space.

[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Lydia Jorden

Lydia Jorden is an SEO and digital marketing expert with a passion for helping companies compete in the digital landscape through local listing optimization, PPC strategy, experimenting with conversion optimization techniques, and utilizing various digital strategy. Lydia currently works as a digital strategist at Greystone Technology.