A recent report from leading internet analysts, comScore, shows that Local Search grew faster than traditional search by 40% this year. 

In a single month, more than 850 million local searches were performed in the United States resulting in an average per year of 1 billion local searches.  According to many industry analysts, this total is expected to grow to 30 billion per year by 2009 (less than two years away).

Another interesting statistic in this study was that almost 50% of local searchers visited a local business as a result of performing search online.  This clearly demonstrates the importance of online marketing to offline conversion.  This issue of "offline conversion" has been considered by many as being the "last mile" for internet marketing and is notoriously difficult to track but should not dissuade businesses from engaging in online marketing initiatives.

Currently, the majority of local searchers still rely on directories such as the Yellow Pages.  I believe that this grip will be weakened in the near future as the main search engines really start to flex their muscle in this segment of the market.  Furthermore, mobile internet usage will also play a huge role in changing the landscape of local search over the coming months and years.