Gas stations tend to have convenience-based customer journeys, and low brand loyalty – so SEO is key to attracting customers. We used PinMeTo data to explore insights & trends for gas station local SEO.
Do you have a favorite gas station? If you do, you’re a rarity – gas station brand loyalty is low and getting lower, says American gas station app GasBuddy. According to one study, only 10% of people searching for gas stations already have a particular station in mind.
"Unlike grocery and apparel retailers, the fuel and convenience industry is servicing a truly brand-agnostic consumer," says Sarah McCrary, the CEO of GasBuddy.
How Do Drivers Find Gas Stations?
They search for them, usually on mobile (2 out of 3 drivers say they only use mobile to search for gas stations) and usually with a high likelihood of buying gas: one study found that 90% of mobile searches for gas stations resulted in a purchase.
Check out our case study on Preem, that more than doubled their Google Maps appearances using PinMeTo, for more information on petrol stations and local SEO.
To take a closer look at search trends for gas stations, we used PinMeTo data to analyse 734 European gas stations across multiple brands, comparing their 2018 search results appearances to 2019. We found that the amount of people finding gas stations online increased year-on-year.
The growth in Google Maps appearances was especially dramatic, nearly tripling from 2018 to 2019 - implying that more people searching for petrol stations online are doing so directly in Google Maps.
The customer's (physical and figurative) journey, however, does not end there: clients may either require directions or contact the petrol station.
These numbers showed how important it is for petrol stations to have complete, accurate data in their web listings and profiles. Customers will choose petrol stations based on convenience, and while petrol stations cannot pick up and relocate to the most convenient place for the client, they may do the next best thing by making their petrol stations as visible as possible.
This means that petrol station chains must disclose their locations in every available online area where customers may look for them, including search engines, in-car navigation systems and mapping software.
Key takeaways
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Gas station brands have convenience-based customer journeys and low brand loyalty
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Customers are increasingly searching for gas stations using mapping apps
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Complete and accurate information is key, when it comes to allowing gas stations to appear in search or map search results.
To Sum Up
Managing location information for various stations across multiple networks can quickly become time-consuming for petrol station brands. Contact us to see how PinMeTo can provide a single platform for managing your location listings across key networks and directories like as Google, Apple, Facebook, Huawei, and in-car GPS systems such as HERE and TomTom.
Give us an overview about your business below and we'll prepare a free local visibility audit.
Reviewed & Updated: August 7, 2023
