Last month, Google rolled out one of their largest local search updates in quite some time. Since Google didn’t name the update, Search Engine Land named this one the Google Pigeon Update. It’s seemingly unrelated to Google’s Pigeon Rank, an April Fools joke from back when Google did good and funny things.
This update does not penalize sites, but does change how local results are shown:
– Fewer queries are generating a map listing / “local pack”
– More traditional SEO signals are used, such as title tags and quality inbound links.
Some interesting things are happening with this update:
– When a query includes the word “yelp”, those listings on yelp.com are back at the top. This fixes a recent bug.
– Web design and SEO companies are getting shown in local queries again!
If you depend on local traffic, hopefully your results weren’t negatively impacted by the update. The best approach for local visibility includes these tasks:
– make sure to update and creat local directory listings on authority sites such as yelp.
– Use the highest quality photo on your Google+ business profile, and get more reviews. You might make it into the Carousel listings at the top of Google for some queries.
– Make sure your business Name, Address and Phone(NAP) are consistent on your site, google+ business page, and local directories.
– Be sure your city/state is in site’s title tags
And now for something good, and funny:
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