Online Local Marketing 101: What’s hot in your area for local search?

Suppose you live in New York City, health insurance probably figures in one out of your every three online searches. Then, you are likely to be searching for either credit cards or travel – after all, it’s nice to get out of the Big Apple once in a while. As the consumers continue to shift towards a faster paced lifestyle focused on information, local search is becoming increasingly relevant to both advertisers and publishers. Based on this hunch, Chitika Inc, the online advertising network, derived a study focused on uncovering the most popular categories for local search in metropolitan areas across America.

With the large sample sizes guaranteed by bigger cities, Chitika Insights determined the major topics piquing consumers’ minds today. The infographic below gives a sneak-peak at America’s most populous cities. On the west coast, Californians residing in L.A. are more likely to search and be interested in Hollywood, entertainment, and tattoos. It’s not just a dichotomy between the coasts. The Boston metro area is concerned with industrial tools, entertainment, and electronics. This sharp contrast to NYC and L.A. could perhaps be attributed to Boston’s manufacturing and technology focus. Finally, with healthcare reform clearly on top of many American minds, health insurance ranks among the top three online local searches in seven out of eight cities in this study.

It is becoming more and more relevant for firms irrespective of industry or geography to measure their marketing adventures against trending topics and ideas. To assist on this business end, Chitika Insights has created a graphical display mapping the topics which currently interest consumers in eight of America’s largest cities.

The big question is how should advertisers change their strategy based on current trends? The most searched topics seem to correlate with each city’s economic engine. Thus, knowing one’s highest revenue grossing categories will help advertisers and firms alike with Marketing 101, Know Your Market.

Stay tuned for future market and trend analysis coming out of Chitika Insights.