Google changed how it ranks local results last Thursday, July 24, without naming the change. Search Engine Land called it Pigeon, in keeping with Google's animal-themed update names and the pigeon's ability to find its way home. The name appears likely to remain in use.
For now, the update affects only US English searches. Businesses in Bali will see no change, and no date has been announced for other countries. Updates of this kind generally expand over time, however, and this one indicates clearly where local search is heading. We recommend understanding it before it reaches the markets where your customers are.
What does the Google Pigeon update change in local search?
Until now, Google could be understood as running two separate rankings. The first was the standard web ranking, the ten blue links, determined by the usual factors: links, content, relevance and the trustworthiness of a site. The second was the map, the group of local businesses shown with pins, which followed its own logic: your Google listing, your category, your distance from the searcher and some reviews.
A business could perform well in one and be absent from the other. Many businesses with poor websites ranked well on the map because their listing was properly set up.
Based on what is being observed this week, Pigeon brings the two rankings closer together. Google told Search Engine Land that the new local algorithm is more closely tied to its traditional web ranking signals. The Pigeon entry on Wikipedia already summarizes the early reports: local listings reordered, distance and location handled differently, and local directory sites given more space in the results.
In our assessment, the key point is that map results and websites are now evaluated together.
How does website quality affect map ranking?
This is the point small businesses most need to understand, and the one most likely to be overlooked.
Many owners treat their website and their Google listing as two unrelated tasks. The listing is claimed once; the website was often built years ago by a relative. After Pigeon, a weak website can lower your position on the map, and a strong one can improve it.
A strong website does not require anything unusual: a page that clearly states what you do and where, your town name in the text where it naturally belongs rather than repeated artificially, substantive content about your services, links from other local sites, and a site that loads and works on a phone.
This advice is the same as before. Pigeon simply increases the cost of not following it.
Google also reorganized its business tools last month. Places for Business and the Google+ page features are now combined in Google My Business, a single dashboard for how a business appears in Search, Maps and Google+. If you have never claimed your listing, this is a good time to do so. The same applies if you claimed it three years ago and no longer have the password.
Why do local directories matter more?
One of the first effects observed after the update was that directories such as Yelp appear more often in local results. For some searches, a directory's page about a business now ranks above the business's own website.
Rather than viewing this as a drawback, businesses can use it to their advantage. If Google displays a directory page when someone searches for your type of business in your town, that page should be complete and accurate, with quality photos and recent reviews.
For tourism businesses here, TripAdvisor already functions this way. For all businesses, it means giving proper attention to directory listings: Yellow Pages, Yelp, the regional tourism board, your chamber of commerce and the directories specific to your industry. The focus should be on directories that people actually use, not on hundreds of low-quality ones.
Why must your name, address and phone number be consistent?
This leads to one of the least visible rules in local SEO, and one of the most useful.
Your business name, address and phone number should be written identically everywhere they appear: your website, your Google listing, Facebook and every directory. SEO specialists call this NAP consistency.
The details may seem minor: "Street" versus "St.", whether a suite number is included, or an old phone line discontinued years ago. Google, however, is trying to determine whether all these mentions across the web refer to the same business. When the details match, it can do so with confidence. When they do not, it hesitates, and that uncertainty results in a lower ranking. As Pigeon relies more heavily on signals from across the web, we expect consistency to carry more weight.
How can the cleanup be done in one afternoon?
- Choose one exact version of your name, address and phone number, and record it.
- Search for your business name and open every listing on the first two pages of results.
- Correct each listing to match, starting with Google My Business and the major directories.
- Set a calendar reminder to repeat the review next year, since inconsistencies tend to reappear.
What should businesses do this week?
None of these tasks is particularly engaging, which is partly why they are effective: most competitors will not complete them.
Businesses in the United States may already see their map position change, upward or downward. One week of data is not sufficient to draw conclusions; updates of this kind fluctuate for some time before stabilizing.
Businesses elsewhere have time, and we recommend using it. Strengthen the website, claim and complete your Google My Business listing, and clean up your directory listings. When Pigeon or a similar update reaches your market, your business will be prepared. These steps form the foundation of any sound local SEO plan, and they require only a few hours.
We recommend starting with a search for your own business name. Most businesses find at least one outdated phone number.