Google data shows huge mobile search statistics on St Valentines Day

February 17th, 2012  |  Posted in blog

Some interesting data has been released by Google that SEO UK has noticed and it covers the searches performed on Valentine’s Day (which happened this Tuesday for those who forgot!).

 

This data is all about mobile search and restaurants, these being an obvious choice to pick on given the significance of the day. Google reveals that a huge 62% of all searches on Valentine’s Day for a popular chain of restaurants in the US came from mobile devices. This is a piece of information that every business owner should take note of and if it isn’t obvious enough think again – 62% of all searches came from mobile devices.

 

And when you take into account that this was just a study of national chain restaurants (easier for Google to measure) then this 62% could easily apply to all the other restaurant searches out there. But not only that, what about searches for all the other kinds of things? Ok we’re speculating here however chances are mobile search will make up some large proportion of total searches.
Google did say that in some cases they can’t tell when a user is searching for a restaurant or something else like a recipe or factual information.

 

Rather unsurprisingly Google reported that searches for florists and other flower type terms grews 227% in the week leading up to St Valentines and mobile clicks for directions increased 514% on the day itself as people clearly rushed to get themselves a bunch of flowers in time! 560% more users were also likely to click to make a call on the day.

 

Tablet queries also saw an increase in the weekend leading up to the day itself, however this is normal as tablet use usually increase at weekends and in the evenings. The last minute searches came from mainly PC’s and Smartphone devices.

 

 

So what does this data mean for you?

 

Well its actually very important. This study showed that if a florist or even a restaurateur in the US didn’t have a mobile friendly site then the chances are they would have missed out on bookings and lost business, on what should be one of the most profitable days of the year for them. The scary fact is that businesses that traditionally fared well on St Valentines but rely on old websites and outdated techniques could now be losing business to new competition who has taken advantage of the advances in Smartphone technology. This data doesn’t necessarily just apply to Valentine’s Day, it’s a snap shot of what could be occurring in all sorts of other industries.

 

SEO UK can construct websites that are both mobile search friendly and optimisation ready. We always keep up to date with the latest news and developments in the search engine industry.