Several sources are reporting that Google is now running local listings on search engine result pages (SERP) no matter what region you search. This might signal an influx of work for SEOs, and perhaps the start of some debilitating competition for more conventional business listings such as the Yellow Pages.

For the moment, these local listings still seem limited by the service being searched. Certain industriesjust don't advertise online very much.

Nevertheless, others have ran searches for different categories in different regions, and are viewing local results. As Fused Nation reports:

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I’ve seen these results in random local searches before but as of today they are showing in pretty much any town or city search I’ve tried so far. Looks like local search on Google just got a little bit more competitive - it’s the top spot or nothing now guys! Let the spam begin!

Now with a standard screen resolution, there are only 2 organic results on the page before you have to scroll down - and around 12 paid for results (Google Local + Adsense) - I guess you can buy your way into Google after all!

A search for Montreal restaurants, however, still looks relatively standard:

Of course, now that it looks like this kind of detail listing is becoming standard on SERPs, industries that have been reluctant to advertise online, such as the food-service one, may change their way of thinking. In other words, this can be good news for SEOs, and bad news for conventional business listings such as Yellow Pages.