The Web’s global nature is a blessing and a curse — a blessing in that it puts the world at our fingertips, and a curse in that it can be difficult to sift out the local information many users seek. While directory sites like Yahoo have attempted to categorize local information, no search engine has figured out an effective way to comb through the Web and extract websites geographically — until now. And I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn I’m talking about Google.
Google launched a beta (test version) of a new local search engine Wednesday, which searches Google’s database of 4.3 billion Web pages and then cross-checks those results with Yellow Pages data to pinpoint the local resources you want to find.
One useful feature of Google Local is that each results page gives you a “See these results on a map of this region” option. When you click on that link, you get a map of your geographic area with the results’ locations. This could help reporters looking for businesses to interview near a specific location, such as a crime scene.
The result is a site that’s much more powerful than either Google or traditional Yellow Pages sites on their own. For example, say you want to find mosques in your town for a story. You can see where they are on a map, plus each of the results links to the mosque’s website, so you can quickly find not just phone numbers and addresses but information about the results.
Google Local also lets you limit your results to listings within a set distance of your starting point.
You can search Google Local directly from local.google.com. You can also get to the results using the regular Google search — if you include a zip code or the name of a town or city with your regular search terms at www.google.com, several Google local results show up at the top of the results page (I actually had mixed results when using city names, so if you chose this option I recommend using a zip code).
Google Local only searches for locations in the United States right now, though the company plans to expand this service to other parts of the world once it works out the kinks in the beta version.
Google tends to keep its products in beta for a long time, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t start using it now. It’s an excellent tool for reporting — or finding local contractors for your house!
Plus, it makes a great complement to Topix.net, my tip from last week, for tracking down local information.
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