I’ve just come across Google Local as a USA based service. I’ve never really noticed it before, mainly because I do most of my Googling through the UK based version. From the time I’ve spent using it so far, I’m very, very impressed.

For most of my location based searching at the moment, I use Yell.com. That does the job relatively well, and I remember at the time it launched there was a lot of interest relating to the design, layout and more specifically, the searching tools on the website. I find it to be informative, and very effective for most of my queries.

However, Google seem to have (once again) worked the magic they always seem to have up their sleeves. The simplicity and ease of use of this new service has really astounded me, and as soon as they roll it our across the UK website I’ll certainly be using it instead of Yell.com.

Favourite features?

• Ease of use - Just type the place name or postcode
• The map - Very easy to alter your location to be more or less specific
• Phone number - Exactly what you need when you need to get that pizza ordered
• Remembering - It remembers your location for next time