# New Local Search Study by Comscore



## y.painting (Jul 19, 2009)

Read full post here.

Highlights:

*1) Print Usage Declines, Especially among Younger Demographics*
24% of adults under 44 said Print was their primary source of information. 41% of 18-24 use the search engines primarily, and were far more likely to use social networking sites as their primary means to find business information.

*2) Online Searchers Were More Likely to Search for Businesses They Didn’t Know About*
Print was far more likely to be used for _recovery_ searches (where consumers were looking for a specific business)–40%, whereas online was used much more in the _research_ or _discovery_ phase–trying to find NEW businesses or products 

*3) Google Maps’ Growth Explodes
*Google Maps’ share alone of Local Searches has increased from 15% to 26%. Gregg surmises that it’s largely driven by the 10-pack’s integration into Universal search. Is Google Maps taking away traffic from the IYPs.
*
4) Search Medium Depends Largely on Category
*There was a huge medium variation in terms of _types_ of searches — 95% / 86% looked for bankers or home repair professionals via a general search engine respectively. Meanwhile, customers were more likely to look for a plumber on an IYP or even a Print direcotry.


----------

