SmallBusinessNewz

Caroline Melberg at Small Business Mavericks  has pointed out that YouTube has added a local search feature.

As far as I'm concerned, this is good news for business owners, particularly ones that wish to market via online video.

We all know that local search is becoming quite popular. I for one, go straight to Google rather than the Yellowpages these days.

Not only will YouTube users be able to view local videos, and network with others in their area based on these videos, but let's not forget who owns YouTube.

Google (in case you did forget). This is all purely speculation, but I know Google has a thing for integrating different features into it's search results, so it doesn't seem too far fetched that they would at some point integrate local YouTube videos into local search results and Google Maps.

Google Maps already has local images integrated, so why not videos? I envision this being a great new marketing tool, or a great extension to an existing one at the very least. It would be like using the yellow pages and being able to watch videos provided by the businesses in your search.

Sounds like a good way as a consumer to help  reach a decision about what company to go with for any given need, and it sounds like a great way for local businesses to demonstrate why customers should choose them over their competition.

I am very interested to see if Google goes down a path like this with YouTube videos.