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Does Google Pigeon Forgive/Ignore Penguin Penalties???
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Discovered a new theory that helps to explain some of the Pigeon results we've been seeing. I'd noticed some of the listings showing up post-Pigeon were sites that used to rank but for a long time had dropped out of the pack. Then suddenly after Pigeon they were back. I think we've all noticed many listings in the pack are pretty spammy.
Just heard about a theory that makes perfect sense and could help explain things. Penguin penalties do not always affect the pack. That's why I'm seeing listings that rank high in the pack that DO NOT RANK IN ORGANIC. They have a Penguin penalty, but Pigeon ignores the penalty and still puts them in the pack. Here is the back story and lots more info...
We have a Ranking Puzzles section of the forum where we investigate and try to figure out interesting rankings we see. In the following post, the Penguin/Pigeon connection came up and once I investigated a little, it made perfect sense to me.
<a href="http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/ranking-puzzles/22269-local-search-engine-optimization-why-ranking-so.html">Local SEO - Why is this ranking so high?</a> START READING POST #8 and down.
Joshua said:
He has a Penguin penalty. Penguin penalties will affect organic listings but will not affect the local pack. The local pack ignores them. It creates a type of buffer.
Almost any time you see someone ranking high in the local pack but not anywhere organically, they're under a penguin penalty.
Same thing as above. October 4th I believe was Penguin. Sounds like they got hit but the local pack buffer kept them in the local pack ranking.
Then Ben said:
Often times if a site has an algorithmic penalty such as Penguin, it will still rank well in pack results. But there is also something Google uses called the diversification of search results by merging (Worth looking up if you want to read about it.) Most of you have seen it in action, basically merging the organic and local listings to only display a domain or page once per SERP result. This factor/algo gets tweaked at times (usually with updates) and you will see changes.
So then Joshua wrote a really in-depth post that goes into more detail and also covers other Pigeon related issues as well. It's written for business owners but worth a read by consultants as it explains more about his Penguin/Pigeon theory.
<a href="http://university.tutelarymarketing.com/2014/09/09/local-seo-why-does-my-competitor-rank-in-googles-local-pack-but-not-organically/">Local SEO: Why Does My Competitor Outrank Me in Google’s Local Pack But Not Organically?</a>
Joshua goes into a lot of 101 stuff about how the algo works, for SMBs to understand and the part about the Penguin/Pigeon connection is a little buried so I'm quoting that part here:
Unbeknownst to almost the entire local SEO community it seems, Penguin actually doesn’t affect the local search results. The local pack seems to act like a buffer against it. Which is extremely odd as you would think Google would make sure anyone caught by Penguin was banished from all ability to rank well.
The “buffer” we’re talking about means that if you were penalized by Penguin and took a death drop to the bottom of the red section (organic), you would still survive in the green section (local pack). Odd, right?
If you were to go back and type in “roofing dallas tx” into Google and you knew what to look for, you would see that a whopping 5 out of the 7 businesses in the local pack don’t rank well organically (4th page of Google or further) while they rank very, very well in the local section.
You can see how this would create tremendous confusion among the local SEO community when the rule we knew before to be true which was, “If you rank well in the organic section you will rank well in the local section,” now seems to be utterly wrong (also, props to Linda Buquet of Catalyst Marketing for being the first person to really push this theory that I was aware of, even if I didn’t agree at the time I became a believer Linda!)
I actually was fooled a bit myself for a awhile. I even started doing an analysis of certain cities and industries after Pigeon hit because I was so confused. After about an hour of looking at Facebook likes, social metrics, Google+ driving direction requests, and anything else Google may be taking more into account, I decided to start checking into the penalty issue on a hunch.
Amazingly, in every city/industry I checked, every single search result could be explained through this explanation: if Company A was ranking high in the local pack but not in organic, they were under a Penguin penalty.
I would check for a Penguin penalty and 99% of the time, sure enough, they had been hit by Penguin.
They had hired some Local SEO companies to engage in tactics that Google had deemed unworthy of their search results and had popped them. They got caught.
In fact, if we go back to the “roofing dallas tx” screenshot, those same 5 of the 7 of the local businesses in the local pack are under a Penguin penalty right now.
Considering the local pack acts as a buffer and protects the local business from getting penalized from Penguin, this explains 99% of the local results I’m seeing.
That Dallas SERP is very interesting to look at and kind of proves Joshua's point.
I tagged a Google engineer about this because if someone is penalized for spammy techniques and violating guidelines, I don't think they should be allowed to get a pass and rank in the pack.
What do you guys think???
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