Launch Date- 22 August 2017
It has great affect on local SEO. Google has been using the filtering system for many years. Filters are intended to ensure that a single company or brand does not monopolize search results simply because they have several business listings rank well. Last year, in September, Google would have had another update called the Possum algorithm update, which had a similar impact on the operation of the filters. During this update, search engine robots would physically filter the listings close to each other. As a result, your website will simply not be lost on major search engines if you have several competitors near you with more relevant and better rank.
As a business, this means that if your competitor is in the same building as you, or perhaps in the street, it becomes twice as difficult to compete online for the same target audience. Your website is simply leaking from local search results if another company is physically close to you. In addition, this created an even more problematic problem in which its competitors could increase their list.
This change to the search filter that affected local search results clearly did not serve its purpose effectively. Therefore, Google resulted to making another change in August this year which is what we refer to as the Hawk update. The filter is now stricter and is no longer filtering out as many businesses that are near each other as it was last year.
One of the most surprising aspects of this update is that there really are no negative results after implementation. Companies that share the same street or building with their competitors can now take advantage of this opportunity and continue bidding for similar search terms, as they are more likely to be among the best. The local list of a company will not be filtered simply because it appears near a competitor that has more relevant and better ranked pages.
This update took place after Google realized that its proximity filter after last year's Possum update was too broad and filtered several local search listings. Note that only the results of the local search have been affected. Create a local SEO campaign that takes advantage of this update and make sure your ads continue to feature prominently in the relevant search terms.
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