Retailers originally used beacons for couponing to target customers and aid the customer service process, but they have now taken on a much more crucial role in location-based marketing. Eddystone’s recent updates, the launch of Eddystone Ephemeral Identifier (EID), Android Instant Apps, and Google Nearby are all part of Google’s ongoing effort to shape the location landscape to its specifications. Since beacons are now used to target local search, proximity marketing experts have outlined how beacons are likely to affect local search.

Local search will benefit from beacons

For someone who hasn’t heard of beacons yet, you might not understand how they connect to local search. A beacon is a tiny device that sends the information to any Bluetooth device within range (mobile devices, fitness bands, smartwatches, etc.). A Bluetooth beacon is able to locate a location to within a few meters.

A map’s coordinates were the primary means of localisation in the past. They were great for finding buildings, but not so helpful once people entered the space. The solution is beacons.

In this context, proximity detection devices offer marketers and brands an advantage, since they enable pinpointing precise locations and transmitting and receiving data in real-time. Imagine that a user is standing next to a museum artifact. Using beacons, marketers can deliver an audio that dwells on the historic references of an artifact in detail, which in turn enhances the experience of the visitor.

Due to their ability to only be activated when consumers are within certain geographical ranges, beacons can significantly expand the importance of local searches. Business owners may even be forced to prioritize local searches thanks to beacons, according to proximity marketing experts. Beacons can be used to inform prospective customers about the locations they would want to visit in the future to find the products and services they frequently seek out whenever they are near their mobile device through near-me moments.

Having explained why beacons will improve local search, it’s time to see how beacons can help optimize local searches in 5 different ways.

1. Hyper-local search could be enhanced by beacons

There are signs of growth on the local search front among small businesses, but a majority of local search isn’t intended to be contextually relevant. The primary reason for this is that local businesses are unfamiliar with this process and do not have the time to do so. Many people who run businesses in the hardware industry, such as an Auto Repair Shop, for instance, would not be able to spend much time or money on good SEO.

Beacons are poised to change this situation for users on the ground as their adoption grows. By 2020, 400,000,000 beacons are expected to be deployed, paving the way for beacons to be deployed across a wide range of locations as a general infrastructure. Local search will now be a priority for companies that sell through those locations rather than for the locations themselves.

Considering that beacons can be tied to specific locations, they are a great way to provide context-sensitive interactions.

2. Personalizing search results with beacons may be possible

The vast majority of marketers view beacons as interruptive marketing tools, despite the huge hype surrounding them. Beacons, however, enable brands to use contextual marketing as the very opposite of interruptive marketing. As a matter of fact, beacons offer brands the capability of reaching out to their users in the right place and at the right time. Take the case of a customer who recently searched for handbags online. Using beacon technology, brands are now able to send alerts to consumers to let them know which stores are holding sales on handbags nearby.

Beacons have proved to be highly effective in connecting retailers with customers looking for products, as reported in recent reports. The use of search marketing and beacons is so widespread that 42 percent of retailers are already using them and 39 percent will by 2018.

An example of a brand that used beacon technology to enhance personalization in 2015 was Elle magazine. Through the beacon-powered ‘Shop Now’ program, Elle provided its editors’ recommended products via ShopAdvisor, a personalized shopping concierge, and RetailMeNot, a couponing app.

By using beacons, the Consumers who have subscribed to push notifications via RetailMeNot were notified whenever they were shopping for a product recommended by Elle. As a result of the program, Barnes & Nobles, Levi’s, Guess, and Vince Camuto all saw about 500,000 in-store visits, and over 12 percent of consumers engaged with their content.

3. Data from beacons could be used to improve search results

Eventually, beacons will be integrated with mobile information, such as contact information and likes on Facebook, to facilitate more relevant social interactions. As a result, beacons would be able to pull in such critical consumer profiles, and therefore, search engines would be able to respond more appropriately to users based on their location. The result of this will be personalized search results based on a consumer’s location and search history.

4. Consumer needs could be better anticipated with beacons

In this technique, users will be able to interact with their surroundings through Google’s project called the Physical Web, which is currently developing. Today, Google is fast approaching making the ‘Physical Web’ a reality with updates to Eddystone, Android Instant Apps, and Google Nearby.

With the rise of the Physical Web, SEO may become just as much about answering questions as about searching. The ability to anticipate a user’s needs and deliver messaging accordingly will therefore become increasingly important for marketers.

Brands and marketers can benefit from implicit search opportunities, or searches that don’t require the user to explicitly type a query, by becoming consumers’ go-to brands. In fact, there is already an opportunity out there. For instance, what brand of milk does your smart fridge order when it runs out? Which Italian restaurant does Siri recommend if you ask her to find one nearby?

IoT and AI are set to revolutionize implicit search in the near future. The implicit search algorithm is still selected by a computer algorithm, regardless of the fact that it might look different from today’s Google search. So, the ‘chosen brand’ spot is open to a wide range of brands.

5. Open networks could be optimized with beacons

Eddystone’s ability to broadcast URLs is one of the things that sets it apart from iBeacon, if you have been closely following the beacon market. In the future, beacon data could be leveraged for SEO with this exposure to the mobile web.

A beacon network would allow brands to interact with their users once it becomes part of the general city infrastructure. Brands of CPG could serve relevant content to consumers in stores by leasing space on beacon networks of retailers such as Carrefour. 

Search Engine Optimization will play an increasingly important role in selecting which web content is served to beacon network users going forward. Considering how fast beacon adoption and deployment are ramping up, that day may not be far away.