LOCAL SEO & PERSONALIZATION
Around 2004, Google and other top search engines started
improving results for queries that had a geographic intent (e.g.,
a restaurant, plumber, or some other type of business or service
provider in your city or town).
By 2006, Google rolled out a Maps Plus Box, which I was quite
impressed by at the time.
It was also around 2004 that Google and search engines began
making greater use of end-user data, such as search history and
interests, to personalize search results.
This meant that the results you saw could be different than what
someone sitting next to you in a coffee shop saw when he or she
did a search for the same query.
20 YEARS OF SEO: A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION