In this country hardly noticed, there was a major algorithm update by Google late last week. Google itself although not officially commented, but Barry Schwartz could make but A few details by searchengineland in experience. The most important thing in the near future:
Roll-out beginning: 24 July 2014
Affected countries/languages: so far only US/English
Affected queries/SERPs: local search queries/results
Number of searches: no indication on the part of Google
Effect: Directories/evaluation portals related local winners include, local (small) businesses to the losers
Local businesses lose, win Directories - Effects of Pigeon updates
Of course, such effects can be made shortly after the start of the update still no definitive statements (long term) because Google is probably still busy with fine tuning. But trends are already apparent, and should this country entrepreneurs sit up with a regional focus can. If the Pigeon update - the name has forgiven moreover search engine land, because Google itself has the update so far donated a name - reach Germany, major changes in the local search results are also expected here.
Apparently large portals and directories with local relevance of the new algorithm version are preferred. As a result, the websites of local businesses and service providers are pushed out of the top 10 search results. Such deterioration of the rankings leads to immediate experience, traffic losses and produce significant revenue losses, which can quickly become problematic, especially for smaller companies.
Integration of several ranking factors - Pigeon update ensures convergence between Web search and local search
According to search engine Google has integrated many country ranking factors of "normal" web search in the algorithm for locally oriented queries. Was before the update so especially the location of a company's important for a good result, he is now though still a prerequisite for rankings in the local search results, but added now many "classic" ranking factors. This means that companies and portals, which have a lot of manpower and budget for search engine optimization, compared to "smaller" competitors are at a considerable advantage.
Review of Pigeon updates
This algorithm matching can certainly see critical. For users seeking as a restaurant in Dresden, probably want to get even restaurants in Dresden displayed in the search results. If suspicions regarding the impact of the update confirm, would in future review sites and local business listings appear on the top positions before the actual service will be displayed on the rear search results pages. Local businesses must therefore not only retain their position in the Google SERPs in the eye and fight for good positions, but also make greater efforts to many good reviews on various sites such as Yelp, etc.. In addition, could (partly paid) entries in regional business directories regain importance. It would therefore just for small and micro enterprises, whose action and offer radius is regionally restricted, are much more difficult to meet all these requirements.
This begs yet another question: Would Google through the possibly strengthen the in-house AdWords offer Pigeon update? This is purely conjecture, but makes SEA a relatively well-to-control option is to buy their top positions on the first SERP page with ads.
