Google makes results more local

Monday 06 April 2009 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter

The world's favourite search engine has introduced new technology to help Internet users find what they're looking for. Google's research found that many people looking for products and services in their locality don't specify a town or area in their search terms. For instance, they search on 'restaurants' rather than 'restaurants in Manchester'.

Now Google can estimate the location of users that don't state where they're looking, enabling the search engine to provide meaningful results on a map, just as when an area is specified.

Software Engineers Jenn Taylor and Jim Muller explained the new system on Google's official blog, writing "We like to make search as easy as we can, so we've just finished the worldwide rollout of local search results on a map, which will now appear even when you don't type in a location. When you search on Google, we will guess where you are and show results near you."

How is this magic performed? Google will simply match your IP address to a broad geographical area. Users can also specify their likely location using the 'change location' link above the results map.

Good old Google! Or are they encouraging us to be lazy?

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