Local search marketing tactics need to consider the needs of the desired customer base, and where they might go to satisfy those needs.

The investments made by search companies into local search have been rewarded with extremely satisfied visitors, who become customers converting offline.

A recent comScore analysis revealed that not only are significantly greater numbers of Internet users turning to the Web to find local information, but two sites, Yahoo and Verizon, dominate the scene.

comScore Networks just released new data on the growth of of the local search market.

Those two Internet players own nearly 60 percent of the local search market, which continues to grow at a strong pace.

People in the US tend to spend 80 percent of their budgets within 50 miles of their homes, and the Kelsey Group thinks that bodes well for local advertising’s $110 billion market to shift more into local search ads.

The major online players, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, all have advanced their efforts at serving local markets with improved mapping products, high-quality imagery, and advertising tools aimed at bringing the offline small business into the online world.

There’s still plenty of room to grow for local search marketers, according to panelists at the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) Annual Conferences. Though small businesses that have invested in local search advertising report good results overall, many of them still aren’t exploring the medium.

Business Week has an article that focuses on the growth of local paid search ads.

A rainy Friday afternoon and I’m in the mood for a movie. I can’t easily recall any recent movie previews and I am not really sure what’s out there.

The paltry $420 million spent in 2005 on local search advertising was the calm before the nine-digit storm begins this year.