On April 6th, Google announced they were going to integrate Local Search Results into the regular SERPs more frequently. And they weren’t kidding.

While it is far from perfect in serving true “local results” it is headed in the right direction. Here are some examples:

You can see the ZIP Code entry, however, if you input your ZIP code, the results will NOT all be local. This is something that they are still working on and clearing out the bugs in the system, however, it goes beyond because most of the AdWords ads displaying are from areas 200 miles away.

That’s hardly local.

Sure Google states that they will give you a “broad” geographical location based on your IP address and you can change your location by clicking on the “Change Location” link, but a 200 mile radius for local search is ridiculous.

Let’s get more specific and search for just “flowers” and look at your results. They should all be local to your area. In my area, even though she only does wedding flowers, my wife’s site is appearing #5 for the generic term “flowers” but more importantly, above her main competitor – which is always good.

If I search for “shoes” I don’t get any local results, but I do for pizza, dentist, doctor, and even if I type in “indian food.”

What does this mean?

Well, if you are selling ANYTHING you can now get in the main search results with your local listing. In my view, this is going to be huge and makes my Local Blueprint even more valuable. I’ll be finishing a complete analysis of this new change in Google and I’ll be posting the results for the members of the SEO Revolution (shameful paid membership plug).