The power of localized, mobile search is just starting to become clear as the first smart phones equipped with GPS (or other location technology) and local search capabilities start to move into wide use. So what exactly are mobile searchers looking for? According to info from TeleNav — Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Target led the business name searches while pizza, chinese food and burgers led the search for food.TeleNav, which makes standalone connected GPS systems and also delivers its software for use on mobile devices,said its survey results we taken from millions of monthly searches made using its platform.
Cross-referencing search and nav terms by city yielded some interesting results:
Search data from December 2009 showed that pizza is the top food item searched for by customers using TeleNav’s GPS applications. Residents of Chicago led the way in GPS searches for pizza while residents of New York City were most likely to search for the nation’s second preferred cuisine type, Chinese food. Rounding out the top five of America’s most searched food types are burgers, American food and Mexican food, respectively.
With local/mobile search being so precisely tied to users most immediate desires and wishes, it’s not hard to understand why the battle over search engine placement on mobile devices and services is heating up.