Over the past few years, search volume for local queries using the qualifiers “near me” or “nearby” has grown at a rapid rate. Whether we were looking for a restaurant, a pharmacy or a coffee shop, modifying our search to give us the nearest location seemed natural to get the most relevant results. But as consumers became more demanding and their expectations for location-specific results grew, user behavior once again began to change. While the use of “near me” and “nearby” are still popular and growing, comparable searches without local modifiers have grown by 150%, proving to be even more common than those that include the modifiers.

With one-third of all mobile searches in the past two years being related to location, users began to assume that their results would be localized as Google noticed a shift toward dropping location qualifiers such as neighborhood names or “near me” phrasing. For example, according to Google, while restaurant-related searches have grown by double digits in the past two years, restaurant searches that include a location modifier have declined by over 30% during that same time span.

So how do marketers keep up with the constant evolution of search? If people are sharing less information and intent is less clear, marketers will need to work harder to interpret contextual signals and user behavior. Looking at device type will be a good place start.