Not just search anymore.

The term "local search" generally means when people use the big search engines, like Google or Yahoo, to search for goods and services in a specific local geographic area. The scenario typically involves searching with terms like "pizza in Naperville" or "plumbers in Batavia" in the hopes of finding a result that matches what the searcher needs. In earlier times, this was typically a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) containing a list of links, many of which were useless.

In the world of Web 2.0  this is no longer true. Today a Google SERP might, in addition to web page URL links, return a map image of the community mentioned, along with icons representing relevant businesses (including their addresses and links to web sites) along with relevant paid search ads, links to YouTube videos, blog posts, and images.

Local businesses need to take charge of this mass of information and make sure they are coming up when appropriate search terms are being used, and not just name and address: video clips on YouTube; photos on flickr; recommendations and reviews on user comment sites; blog posts; news items; and of course representation on all local guides, directories, and civic organization sites.