Local Google

Google is unveiling a local search feature:

Google Local Search

An AP story describes:

Online search engine leader Google Inc. is introducing a new system designed to make it easier for people to find things closer to their homes, paving the way for the company to make more money selling ads to small businesses.
The new algorithmic formulas unveiled Wednesday will allow Google to display more local information in response to search requests that include a ZIP code or a city’s name.
Google says these geographic queries will now be more likely to generate phone numbers and specific addresses on its main results page. In many cases, Google also will display an icon of a compass that can be clicked upon to open another page containing a detailed map and directions to the location.
. . .
Despite their rising popularity, Google and the other search engines still haven’t found a way to siphon much of the estimated $22 billion that small businesses spend annually on local ads in the Yellow Pages, newspapers and direct mail, Sterling said.
By making it easier to find local information, Google hopes to entice more small businesses to buy text-based ads that eventually will be displayed next to its search results, Mayer said.