Mobile Sites and Driving Directions

Welcome to Moz Academy! Ever wonder how to integrate really awesome driving directions in your mobile site? Let’s ask Aaron from Spyder Trap.

Determining Traffic Volume

When you click on a Google listing, you’re taken to a page where you have the option to get driving direction, call the owner of the listing or visit the website. That’s an easy entrance point and something that you can see in Google My Business Analytics. Use Google My Business to see how many people are requesting directions to your business. This is something you might already be familiar with.

NYC or Bust

On the content side, take a look at where your business is located and think about your target market. For example, being located in the heart of Manhattan in NYC will be different from a place like Buffalo, Minnesota. Buffalo, MN will have an immensely smaller population there may not be many, if any mass transit options to make it to your business location. Think about how people might arrive at your business. Chances are, the majority will ask for driving directions, either by requesting them online (via Google, Bing, etc.) or by calling in.

Choices FTW

When providing directions, most websites will offer the very traditional “jump on this specific interstate, turn on this specific street, and then it's two blocks located on the west side”. But that often varies from what you might tell customers when you pick up the phone and talk to them. On the phone, you're going to give them specific landmarks, things to look for and just how far they need to go. Because of this, you may want to consider providing directions using both methods; straight-forward for the traditional set and with landmarks for the more visually inclined.

People learn and adjust. They have different navigational methods when they're driving, so try to adhere to both audiences. Doing this has the added benefit of providing some great location and contextual content on your website as well as bring in other terms that could end up being helpful to you in a search format. But first and foremost it is helpful for that user.

Public or Personal?

If you are in a metropolis you have public transit options. You have the bus, you have the subway, you have the monorail. Who knows what's going to take you to the places you want to go? Consider that you also need to know how long it takes to get there as well as which specific bus, rail line or subway car do you need to take to get there. Try to frame it up as much as possible for people so they don't have to guess or do the research on their own on another site. Make it one stop shopping.

Think Green

The last one, think about whether they can reach the location by bike or walking. Again, being able to show the amount of time from specific locations, hotels, places where they might be coming from to get to your location can be extremely helpful. Laying out all three of those is a great content play and a great way to help people access how to get to your specific location.

Google, Google Everywhere

Lastly, keep an eye on what Google is doing. They recently applied for a patent that provides a direct correlation between the number of times people request driving directions and the popularity of that site. So it's giving off a trust signal for the popularity of that specific location, but it also related to the number of reviews being left for that business. The easy correlation that you have there; the more people are looking for it and the more people requesting how to get there end up being more people leaving reviews for your business.

By also using on your website specifically linking to Google’s driving directions you're likely going to help out with the amount of reviews that might end up being left at your specific location. With this in mind, put a nice review process into place to encourage them.

In closing, make it easy for people to find you and walk through that door. We hope you’re able to leverage some of these tips. Thanks for tuning in!