February 27, 2010
Google's Nearby Search
Google has added an option on Show Options for search Nearby - but, as of Feb 27, this shows in Google.com but not Google.ca
The idea is to find the stores or events or other locally relevant thing near where you live or plan to be - mainly the city.
You can pick a location (override the default) to localize results. In my search for locavore markets toronto I didn't notice any particular improvement when using Nearby However, using Nearby on the query locavore markets returns results related to Toronto. But they were only so-so in quality. Google has said Nearby works on geography, not a keyword. Relevance was much better with Toronto as a search term.
For Canadians, it's not worth using Google.com to get this feature. It will turn up in Google.ca in time and perhaps by then it will be better at selection and relevance.
Two articles:
Google integrates Nearby location in search results, Don Reisinger, Digital Home (Feb 26)
Google said the Nearby tool works by geography, rather than keyword, which means that results will include surrounding areas; they won't be limited to the single town or city a user selects."
Google search goes local with new ‘Nearby’ option, Martin Bryant, The Next Web (Feb 26)
Does it work - the UK perspective
"We’ve found mixed results so far. Searching for “Bars” near Manchester brought up a mixture of results, including the usual Google Map with pins marking local bars (no different from a usual search) and a mixture of local results and disappointingly general results from Wikipedia."