"Why so local, son?"

After a two-month hiatus, mostly due to my limited ability to concentrate on things other than healing and working, I’m finally back. Well, actually, in all honesty, I’ve been back for a little while, but most of my blogging energy went into a different direction: The Wedding Blog.

But, in the spirit of constructive criticism, my first “back from the dead” post will be about my frustration with the uber-localization of Google, but really, of everything.

Take Google search: If you run a search for “beer” on Google from your computer while logged into your Google account, thanks to the search titan’s latest localization efforts and the launch of Google Places, your search results will first list nearby pubs and restaurants and possibly liquor stores, along with a small Google map full of red dots, to help you find your way to the closest place where you can quench your thirst. Not much about, say, the history of beer. The experts agree that Google is going local and so is the world. 

(Yelp is also falling in the same localization rabbit hole: every time I search for Bob Hope Airport, I get San Francisco-based entries like Bob’s Donut and Pastry Shop or Bob’s Steak and Chop House. Granted, Yelp has made a name for itself as a web site where people review businesses in their towns, sometimes revising reviews after subsequent visits, so it’s clearly all based on proximity, I probably shouldn’t complain about it.)

Some people salute the new utilitarian location approach as adding true and immediate value to web search. 

I, ever the idealist, shudder at the thought that I’m becoming, yet again, a target for advertisers. But online-only retailers have much to fear, too, as local search simply pushes them out of the picture. 

Should I feel better because the local advertisers are more likely to be mom-and-pop stores than big-box retailers or Newcastle Brown Ale? Maybe, but I don’t. I still feel like my eyeballs are being commoditized without my consent. Why should Google and all the others assume that I’m primarily interested in Buying Stuff Now and Ideally Without Moving My Buns Too Far?

Whatever happened to the sense of adventure that web search used to provide in the olden days? You know, when you typed “Library” and spent the next hour reading about the Library of Alexandria? … I never thought I would come to say this, but: I think I miss AltaVista.