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Google Pigeon Update and Local Results
On July 24th, Google confirmed the release of the latest Google Pigeon Update for its Local Search Algorithm. The name is in fact not the real name. It was nicknamed Pigeon by an SEO news channel, after Google failed to reveal a name for its latest algorithm.
So Who Was Affected By The Algorithm?
The truth is, we still don’t know. In the first few days and weeks the rankings for many SEOs went haywire. Whilst some experienced little or no change to their rankings others have experienced vast influxes that are still ongoing. This gives the impression that the update is still not complete.
What does the Google Pigeon Update Involve?
Well there is plenty of advice out there on what to do if you have been affected by Pigeon. We have put together a few of our own personal top tips on what could help. But first off, let’s have a look at what the Google Pigeon Update is aimed at.
- The Google Pigeon update doesn’t affect any search queries that are entered outside the UK and the US.
- It aims at reducing the amount of duplicate local results for businesses in the SERPS. For example, your business won’t show up on the large information pack and on the main local results pack.
- The search radius has been reduced for queries that are entered from certain locations.
- Pigeon has boosted sites that have links to good quality local directories and dropped ones that don’t.
So what’s the biggest change overall?
The biggest change to the algorithm for SEOs, is the reduction of the amount of results appearing in the local pack which has been shrunk from 8 to 6. This now means that 2 local search results have dropped from the first page. Which has meant that some SEOs have seen a drop in rankings, and web visitors for their relevant search queries.
The advice from the experts at SEO CoPilot is to just keep plugging on. Until the results have settled down and influx of rankings has stopped, no one will be able to have a clear indication on how to react to the Google Pigeon update. But rest assured, professionals are studying the update around the clock. They are constantly monitoring its progress across the web to see if there are any further changes. After this, tips and tricks will start to be produced to help people recover from any drop in rankings. It will be a stressful wait for some optimisers but there is simply nothing more that can be done but to play the waiting game.
How we would react personally is to check the status of your local directories. Try to boost your ratings on these directories and also build a much larger natural profile of quality directories. This will hopefully help your rankings to pick up when the next algorithm refresh occurs in a few months’ time. Until then the rankings for your keywords are simply reliant on the reaction to the current update.
