In a few years, Google Local will replace the hunt for the Yellow Pages

Google launched its Local search tool in the UK in 2005, and it has become more and more prominent as each year has passed. Combining its own search index with the business database of Yell.com (Yellow Pages), this search option allows users to search for a particular type of business within a local area.

This new local search function on Google reflects the increasing trend for search engines to offer a more targeted search option for regional areas. It was originally developed and launched as an American tool and also follows the earlier move in Google AdWords to limit the way some adverts are displayed to localised searchers. But it has been over here in the UK for a while.

Google Local can be searched for directly from the new ‘local’ section of the site also known as Google Maps, or it can be accessed from the top of the main search results list if listings are available from a relevant search.

By combining a type of business or service with a location name or post code, Google Local will display a list of relevant companies taken from Yell and relevant web pages listed on Google. In most cases, companies are listed in order of distance from the chosen location, although alternative rankings may be displayed based on Google’s relevance criteria. Clicking on a company link will bring up a page with information about the business, include web links to its own site or other sites on Google that refer to the business.

Google Local Map

A map is also displayed from the new Google Maps service, which marks the locations of the companies listed. This map is interactive, allowing you to zoom in or out, move around and also request a route map to a selected business from another specified location.

You can see an example of the map in the top image on the right hand side.

This new service will undoubtedly support business listings on Yell.com as it becomes more popular. This is good news for Yell, who are facing increasing pressure from the use of search engines to display results for localised searches. It will also further extend the range of options being offered by Google and provides a powerful new business search tool.

We would highly recommend that you sign up or a Google Local listing. It takes around 4 weeks to be confirmed by Google. Its not something we can do for you, as it has questions about your company that creativesuit would not know, and it also involved a confirmation phone call from Google themselves in some cases.

You can sign up for Google Local using this link, if you have several offices, sign up each office individually. You will need a google account. Any problems, give Matt a ring in the Marketing Department.

click here to sign up for Google Local