Accurate location based search has always been a key goal of Google's but to make it successful they need to be able to target your location accurately, something they freely admit to not getting right all of the time.
To improve this they are providing users with the ability to edit their location in the sidebar of the search results where your current location, or where Google thinks you are, is displayed.
What does this mean for business owners?
Previously if you wanted to change your location it was always doable but a pain to do.
Now searchers have the ability to easily change a location and see what the results will be.
This makes it much easier to check the location of available restaurants, shops or other business services for locations you are going to visit.
I can see down the track Google expanding the ability to expand the location targeting feature to compete head on with other location based business models such as Foursquare and Facebook Places.
So for businesses with multiple units at different locations it means making sure your outlets are properly listed in Google Places and are optimised to appear high in the maps.
You can read more on the Official Google Blog.
