Many people don’t realize that they can find information about businesses close to home without ever touching their yellow pages… using nothing more than the search engine that they are most likely already using. Google Local allows you to find listings by category(pizza, recording, music, etc), business name, or even text found within a website that resides in your area! A fun search is to try and build a pizza with all of your toppings, and see who, in your area, has pizza toppings listed. Just for kicks, I tried “chicken parmesan hot peppers pizza” in Avon, OH. Although I found no results within 1 mile, 5 miles did turn up a result. 15 miles turned more results and I still had the option to search up to 45 miles. I decided to search for “habanero pizza", and Google was kind enough to suggest that I expand my search to 90 miles when it found no results and provided a link to perform that search. Initially you don’t have that option. In addition, Google provides maps and directions once you find exactly what you’re looking for. Try that with your local phone book.

How you decide to use this information is up to you, but I know that this will always be the first place I turn to from now on! You get more focused information faster than you find the categories thumbing through the yellow pages.