Pigeon Update
Launch
Date: 24 July 2014
The Objective of pigeon
update is to increase rank of local listing in SERP. It affects both Google
search results and business listings.
One of Google's stated
goals in updating Pigeon was to connect its local algorithm more deeply to its
traditional Web algorithm in order to take full advantage of the hundreds of
classification signals entered into the Web algorithm. These new links with the
Web algorithm also highlighted the need for local businesses to have a strong
organic presence on the Web in order to compete for local rankings.
3 Pack Result
One of the most notable results of Pigeon was the loss of
local results in 7 packages (the sets of 7 local Google companies that were
typically displayed when a query from a search engine had a local intent, such
as "pizza chicago" or "lawyer in Denver".) Over time,
Google has consistently reduced the number of local business listings in its
local result packages, starting with 10 in 2015 passing at only 3 per
package in almost all cases.Pigeon was launched a year before the massive
change in package of 3, and can be considered retrospectively as a step towards
the complete adoption of these reduced packages. The package left many
companies out of local results, struggling as never before for local
visibility.
At the same time,
Pigeon needed to improve Google's ability to calculate the distance and
location of local businesses. In many cases, it seemed that the search radius
had been reduced, favoring the closest companies to the physical location of
the search engine. For example, when searching for a query such as "pizza
san francisco", a user in the North Beach area of San Francisco would
receive reduced local results in that area rather than results spread
throughout the city.
With the map boundaries
redesigned and narrowing radius after Pigeon, many companies suddenly found themselves
out of the packages in which they have been classified.
So far, local
directories, such as Yelp, have received a boost in ranking. After the launch of this algorithm, the results of Google Place
searches increased by 28% for hospitality consultations, 19% for food
consultations and 13% for education. Other consultations increased slightly,
including: spa, store, law, medicine, transportation and fitness.
Unfortunately, the
algorithm is not good news. There were losers after the launch. According to
Bright Edge, requests for job-related information have dropped 68% and real
estate applications nearly 63%. In addition, the update had negative effects on
films, insurance, finances, furniture and government consultations. Many
companies related to these queries have suffered from the fact that the
algorithm has altered the local carousel and the results of the package.
Comments
Post a Comment