Google Pigeon Update: Why you dropped and how to fix it?

[Dustybones]

Eric offers a few good tips on recovering from Pigeon, but when all is said and done, Google is still in flux with this update.

Why Did My Local Rankings Drop After Google Pigeon?

The goals of the Pigeon update are fairly simple; make local search results for businesses or services clearer and more accurate. To do this, Google is returning to more traditional ranking indicators and away from more local-specific indicators. If this seems like a backward move, perhaps it is; it remains to be seen how permanent these changes are. It’s possible Google is testing different scenarios and the current plan is different from what will eventually be finalized.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Good one. Thanks for sharing Justin!

And just to circle the wagons for anyone new here. Here are our 2 big posts about it.

<a href="http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local-important/21058-google-pigeon-collateral-damage-what-you-can.html">Google Pigeon Collateral Damage & What You Can Do About it</a>

<a href="http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local-important/20630-major-google-local-algo-update-google-pigeon.html">Major Google Local Algo Update - Google "Pigeon" Update Shakes it Up!</a>

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Good stuff guys! I've seen some great things come from the update and I've seen some horror stories. It looks like things are still shifting, so i'll be keeping a close eye on what others are seeing

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ya I had a pleasant Pigeon surprise over the weekend.

One of the star Dentists I use for an example in my training has been ranking in the C spot for a long time. You'd have to see the SERP to see that it's a good ranking for where he's located. It's a huge spread out competitive metro and he's so far north he's almost in the next city. Def the farthest north of the pack.

He jumped to the A spot over the weekend. And he's the type that does not really do any marketing aside from the optimization I did on his page and site 3 years ago. So what we did Pigeon likes. Many of my other clients are still A or high too.

My concern is just some of the spammy or bogus or out of business listings.

I've been seeing a bunch of expired domains ranking on top with no title tags. So makes you wonder what these "traditional" ranking signals are that she likes so much. Backlinks???