Yes, Google is making searches more local now. This is a part of improving the Algorithm so that the searchers on Google get the most relevant results
Some of the people on the Internet do not like this change as they think that Google is making the results limited by localizing those results, however, most of the internet users do not agree to this.
When it comes to optimizing your website locally, make sure you have your website on the servers which have IP address of the country you are targeting. Submit links in local directories and take part in forums related to the niche of your website and which belong to the country you are targeting and add signatures with keywords you are targeting. Submit links in local Social Bookmarking websites which will certainly help. Also, you can add the name of the country you are targeting in the keywords which can also help you to optimize your site locally
