Searching for local information

Google has a database of business information tied to geographic locations. How does it work? Enter a business and a location either in the main search box or in Google Maps, then press the Search button. Google will return a map of the location with businesses of the specified type marked on the map.

What keywords can you use for businesses? The database receives most of its data from Yellow Pages, so you can use the same keywords as you would with Yellow Pages. In fact, you can try anything, and if it doesn't work well, try something else. Examples of businesses are hotels, restaurants, red lobsters, medical clinics, wal-mart, parking lots, pizza, and gas stations.

To search from the main search box, you can use just a keyword for a business and an acceptable description of a location.

You can also use the search operators near:, near, or 'in'. They all return very similar, but somewhat different results. If you need more precision, try them all and compare.

Searching for businesses with Google Maps is described in Google screens> Google Maps. Click Find businesses and read comments.