It seems like everyone is jumping on the local search bandwagon. Here's some history.

With Google’s launch of a local search option, this stepchild of search finally has arrived -- but it was a long journey.

In fact, almost a year ago, back in April, 2003, our own Kevin Ryan wrote,  “There’s a real need for advertisers to provide consumers relevant, local search results. As search engines begin to move in the direction of providing this, marketers struggle to make it happen.”

Search engines struggled to make it happen as well, because it wasn’t until October when the industry had matured enough for Ryan to write Local Search Comes of Age,  providing a breakdown of local search developments, what they mean to advertisers, and how the search world was about to change forever.

In November and December, local search got more boosts when two major alliances took place: LookSmart teamed with BellSouth to help local advertisers get into search results, and FindWhat.com partnered with Verizon Communications.

In late December, when pundits are prone to make stunning predictions for the next 12 months, The Kelsey Group's Greg Sterling proclaimed that 2004 would be the year of local search.

What’s next for local search? Stay tuned to iMediaConnection for the latest announcements. And visit our Research Connection  for search help.