New Google LOCAL Algo Changes - Here's the Scoop

[Linda Buquet]

Google does an average of 2 algo updates a day. Did you know that?

Matt Cutts Tweeted on Sept 30th. "500+ algo launches/year mean 1-2 a day. I know of at least one other algo rolling out over same timeframe for example." (We was referring to the top 2 algo changes I link to below that happened almost simultaneously, starting last week.)

Many new Google algos go un-named. If they are named, they are worth noting!
A few new algo updates recently rolled out and some ARE affecting local.

You've probably heard about this 1st one which involved "Exact Match Domains". I posted about the impact (or lack thereof) on local. Local Exact Match Domains Still Rank - Google Algo Update

HOWEVER, there was another much more major algo that rolled out at about the same time and folks that dropped are confused about which algo caused problems. THIS ALGO IS AFFECTING LOCAL, from what I've read. AND it's still rolling out, so watch your rankings. Google Panda Update 20 Just Released

Then just this AM, Google released their search quality highlights for August and September.
Below I feature some of the latest Google algo changes that affect LOCAL.

Search quality highlights: 65 changes for August and September

LTS. [project “Other Ranking Components”] We improved our web ranking to determine what pages are relevant for queries containing locations.

nearby. [project “User Context”] We improved the precision and coverage of our system to help you find more relevant local web results. Now we’re better able to identify web results that are local to the user, and rank them appropriately.

#82279. [project “Other Ranking Components”] We changed to fewer results for some queries to show the most relevant results as quickly as possible. (General, not local-specific, but could affect local listings.)

#83406. [project “Query Understanding”] We improved our ability to show relevant Universal Search results by better understanding when a search has strong image intent, local intent, video intent, etc.

#83670. [project “Snippets”] We made improvements to surface fewer generic phrases like "comments on" and "logo" in search result titles. (I included this one because I've helped lots of folks with local listings where G overwrote title tag to something bogus like the above - SO hopefully this will help.)

#81360. [project “Translation and Internationalization”] With this launch, we began showing local URLs to users instead of general homepages where applicable (e.g. blogspot.ch instead of blogspot.com for users in Switzerland). That’s relevant, for example, for global companies where the product pages are the same, but the links for finding the nearest store are country-dependent.

OH and there's a brand new front page SERPs display change for local no one has discovered or talked about yet. I need to do a screenshot and will start a new post, then add a link here. (Hopefullly will have time later today, so stay tuned or check back.)

What do you think?
Have you seen the impact of any of these changes yet?
(Feel free to post examples)

 

[Pankaj Kumar]

Hi Linda,

Thanks for sharing the updates summary. Yes it is correct that Google is keep on getting changed its algo and the ways to show results to users.

By the time I had seen some changes for these updates with few of my clients. They were ranking on top for the targeted keywords before the updates of August. After updates of August, my clients fell of first page too. I came to knew there must be some updates with Google.

Thanks to you that you confirm me over this.

Moreover I would like to add few words about Google.
Yes it is correct that they are keep on getting algo more helpful for users, but in mean time they must think for the business owners. There are several technical problems going on with Google for Local part. Like problem with reviews getting posted, Do not support location error, Getting listing live, 500 page error in getting merging process. Google must work on them firstly.
Linda kindly pass my thoughts to Google. Hopefully you can do this.

Thanks
Pankaj Kumar