Google has added a neighborhood search capability for 50 U.S. cities, so a user can search for things like bagels upper east side new york or restaurants, over the rhine, cincinnati on Google Maps.
As Greg Sterling points out, in this case Google is playing catch-up with sites like Ask.com (which launched this in December with its AskCity local search tool, as well as Trulia and Yelp. Yahoo has defined neighborhoods in large cities for some time as well.
Local marketing is a huge topic and there’s a lot to do here but one fundamental task to start working on first is building your organic search presence
Mordy Oberstein explores how Google is democratizing the SERP and driving more search equity, here's what it means for the future of SEO
Consumers are most likely to search for a local business on Google or Yelp and pick a winner based on those reviews and ratings. Helping pointers on dealing with positive and negative reviews, and how they can boost your business' local ranking.