The Google Pigeon Update

Late last week Google released an algorithm update that so far seems to only affect local search listings. This update has been dubbed “Pigeon” by Search Engine Land, Google has not given an official name for it yet.

So far all we know is that the update is related to local search only and it has only rolled out for US English results. To date there has been no mention of when it will start to roll out to other countries and different languages. Something to look forward to.

The update is aimed at improving the relevance to Google’s results for their organic local listings in their Map & Web search. Local directory sites are gaining better search results in Google for certain topics. Reports indicate that a problem with Yelp related results has been sorted due to this newest offering from Google.

Read Barry Schwartz’s first report on the “Pigeon” Algorithm Update here.