Will rising gas prices fuel local search?

Number 5 on Yahoo’s Top 10 news searches for 2007 was Oil and Gas Prices (Google reports its details differently, focusing instead on fastest rising/falling, not total volume). Additionally, “Yahoo! Searches found that people searched for ways to help the environment, on a global and personal level.”

So, will environmental concerns hurt e-commerce or business overall? Not likely. What it may do though is keep folks closer to home, which in turn likely will drive further increases in local search. How well do you show up in search? Does your business use its locale to its greatest advantage?

Seth Godin encourages businesses to see these types of “problems” as opportunities. And this looks like a great opportunity.

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