• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 19, 2018

Two years after Google began working on its mobile-first indexing strategy, the company announced Wednesday that more than half of the pages served globally in search results are done using its mobile-first indexing. This means Google indexes the content using the mobile version of the page.

Rather than analyzing the desktop version of the page, Google first looks at the mobile version of the page when crawling and indexing web pages. In fact, it crawls and indexes web pages based on how it renders on a mobile phone versus a desktop computer.

This may explain why a Uberall study released on Wednesday shows more than three-quarters of shoppers have done a "near me" holiday search, and 79% say they used a “near me” search from their mobile device during the holiday season or believe they will before the New Year.

Uberall polled more than 1,000 smartphone users across the United States and the United Kingdom between December 7 and December 11 to understand "near me" preferences and behavior during the holiday season.

Only 21% of those surveyed have not done a “near me” search and do not expect to do so this holiday season.

The study also found that 30% of shoppers have left a review of a brick-and-mortar store across sites such as Yelp, Facebook, Google, Foursquare, and Instagram during the holiday season. About 71% of respondents have not.

In the U.S., leaving a review online for a store or location was more common than in the UK. Among U.S. holiday shoppers, one-third left a review, versus 26% in the UK.

About 71% of survey participants said they were likely to conduct a “near me” search for the nearest restaurant -- mostly quick-service or fast-food -- while holiday shopping. Just 15% said they were unlikely to do a “near me” search, and 14% were unsure.

U.S. holiday shoppers were more likely to conduct a “near me” search for restaurants than UK shoppers, at about 77% vs 66%, respectively. Those in the U.Ss also led when it came to searching for a bank or ATM, 54% versus 46%, respectively.

Merchants made it much easier to make purchases from a smartphone this holiday season. In fact, I made three purchases. Here are the top five reasons. About 80% said they searched on a phone to compare prices, 79% said they did so to make a purchase; 72%, to research products; 71%, to check for store hours; and 65%, to search for coupons or deals.