What does Local mean to domaining?

[kubativity]

I was thinking about SEO today and I was considering how local search is changing the way we search

Search engine giants are heading the way of local by providing custom results based on where the search is searching from. Also Bing and Google are using local map results for search queries that include a local city or region name. But what does this mean for domain names? Well, for one thing, local sites are strongly competing with global sites for searches like "new york apartments". However, with search engines increasingly returning local results, web users - who are notoriously lazy when it comes to typing and clicking, will prefer to simply type "apartments" and let the search engine figure out the "new york" part. So search term oriented keyword domains such as "new-york-candy-store" will likely lose value over time, whereas strong local sites with actual relevant local content will likely gain value.

Local is such a strong concept for search and online marketing these days and the proof is in the fact that the word local is taken in all tlds as far as I can see.

How do you think local search and local marketing will effect your sites and domains?

 

[angilina]

I think localized searches are a very good thing. This makes competition less for small sites.

If a business is targeted towards any particular country/city, then localized searches are at their best.

If I want to search for weather in my city: and I type "weather" in google and it suggest me "weather in XXX", then that is good. Or if I simply search for "todays weather" and google show me results that show weather in my city then it is beneficiary.