Nielsen-WebVisible Data on Local Search

WebVisible just came out with the second installment of a survey initially conducted last year with Nielsen. It has lots of juicy data (2000 consumers surveyed using Nielsen’s online panel). I have to get on a plane shortly so I’ll just provide a tantalizing chunk (for now) from the write up of the findings I saw.

Except for the bold headings below, this is verbatim from what I received:

Local Internet/search usage:

• 86% of those surveyed say they have used the Internet to find a local business from which to shop, a dramatic rise from last year’s survey that saw 70%.
• 78% use the Internet more today to find a local business than they did 2 years ago
• 20% use it the same as they did 2 years ago
• 2% use it less than they did 2 years ago

Telephone directory usage:

• 6% use telephone directories more than they did 2 years ago.
• 43% use it the same.
• 52% use it less.

Downtown areas saw the highest rate of growth for the Internet as a tool to find local businesses, with 88% growth over the last two years. In addition, telephone directories are making a surge in downtown areas with 13% growth, while urban, suburban, and rural areas showed only a modest 5% gain. The Internet as a local business finding tool grew mostly with incomes over $75,000 with more than 80% growth over 2 years: by contrast, telephone directory use dropped significantly in those same income categories; falling an average of 62%.

I have a longer explication of the findings on SEL.