Adding "local" to the DNS Search Domains has no effect

I have a Mac Mini (Yosemite) on my local network and it's not running a DNS server at all. When I want to access it over SSH from a Terminal on my Macbook Air (Yosemite), I can type:

$ ssh myserver.local

And that works fine.

But I wanted to avoid having to type the ".local" domain every time, so I added the "local" domain to the Search Domains list in Network Settings (for my Wi-Fi adapter which is the one currently in use in my MBA).

If I then try:

$ ssh myserver

that doesn't work (Could not resolve hostname).

Any idea why?