2015 will be the year when search will not only be used to look up things on the internet or to purchase online, search will help us, assist us in our day to day activities as well.

With voice commands taking over from the keyboard, 2015 promises to be a year that will see a gradual shift from the regular “typing and finding” to “asking, finding, and executing”.

For businesses, it is a must to have location specific information. With more and more searches happening from mobile devices , it makes sense to have updated location specific information so that businesses can maximize the chances of letting visitors know that they exist.

The other day I wanted to pick up sweets for my friend who was visiting and I wanted to find out if there were any sweet shops near the location that I was in. On my mobile, I opened Google voice search and said “Okay Google, sweets shops near my location” and within no time you get a list of sweets shops with location details. There are various other applications that will do the same thing, however, I have found this the most useful and the fastest way of getting to the information that I need.

There are a few messages here for online marketers:-

1. You must have your business registered locally, and it is a must if you want new customers.

2. Since people are only concerned with getting to the information that they need, the source that provides them the fastest and the most accurate information is what they will go for. It could be an application, a website…anything. Here is a chance for marketers to find various innovative ways of reaching out to their target audience.

3. For 2015, the main focus for marketers will be visibility across any and all online sources. Be it Google Local, Google Plus, Yahoo, BING, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Youtube…marketers will need to ensure that they have a presence everywhere. And to be successful, marketers will need to know how to customize and optimize messages across each of these online sources.

4. Content will continue to play a major role in impacting online visibility in 2015 as well.
I came across a very useful tip regarding publishing content at “Searchenginewatch.com”-

In order to ensure that Google indexes your new content almost as soon as you create it, go to Google webmaster tools, click on “Crawl” and then go to “Fetch as Google” and add the URL in the field provided and click on “Fetch”.

This has a couple of benefits:-

a. You want to be the first one to announce your content; after all it is your content. By submitting it to Google (before anyone else) you are letting Google recognize this as your content.

b. Your content gets indexed as soon as it is published.

5. And last but not the least ensure that the content is mobile friendly.

The key takeaways for marketing your business online in 2015 are:- building businesses that are optimized for Location, Content, Social Networking, and are Mobile friendly.

Here is wishing you happy searching, finding, and fulfilling all of your wishes this New Year!

Happy New Year!