I had a banker once tell me that people don’t need to Search for local banks. Well, they may not search for local banks, but if you don’t think people are searching for car loan rates, CD rates, and mortgages online you are sadly mistaken.

Last year, 80% of people said a Search Engine was their top choice of digital and non-digital ways to find information about local businesses.  Here are some highlights of research by Burke (March 2017). These are sources that U.S. internet users have used to search for local products in 2016:

• Search engine   80%
• Company website 63%
• Friend/family 57%
• Social networks 48%
• Online video 38%
• Newspaper magazines 36%
• Printed yellow pages 13%

What is interesting is that the most trusted source is not friends and family (13%), but search Engine (37%). Number 3 on the most-trusted scale was company website (11%). The most surprising result was that ratings and reviews were rated in the middle of the pack for both questions. Too many fake reviews and rankings have ruined the source.