Pigeon Rolled Back? They say yes - Linda says no, but is cautiously optimistic

[Linda Buquet]

Interesting stats and discussion. Head over to read at Search Engine Land.

<a href="http://searchengineland.com/pigeon-rolled-back-law-firm-study-says-yes-205060">Pigeon Rolled Back? Law Firm Study Says Yes</a>

Local search marketers have been concerned about the impact of Google's Pigeon update on small businesses -- has the search giant taken notice?

Now I admit I barely scanned because as some of you know, I'm launching something big today. If you aren't one of my Local Search Pros (training clients) then don't worry, you'll find out next week. (Yes, I know I'm a big tease!)

However, from what I'm seeing in the SERPs I track, Pigeon is still alive and well.

My comment over there:

"I'm not really seeing a rollback per se I don't think. That LA personal injury attorney SERP was cleaned up because so many of us blogged and complained about it. And I had lots of my members report those 2 as GYI
and others did as well.

But the SERPs I'm tracking, while still volatile, still look like Pigeon SERPS to me. You can check by either viewing the same query in classic maps or with google.ca which will both show the old pre-pigeon ranking order."

I mean maybe they are starting to see signs of a rollback and if so that would be AWESOME!!!

What do you guys think??? Are you seeing signs of rankings reverting?

I've been too busy launching the new thing today to check SERPS much.

 

[whitespark]

Definitely not seeing a rollback. Run any local search on Google.ca and compare it with Google.com and you'll see all the signs of Pigeon.

Looking forward to whatever big announcement you have brewing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for the confirmation Darren. I was afraid to say too much since didn't have much time to check - but researched enough to see that it's not affecting the SERPs I look at.

But that isn't to say there is not change. Maybe in some verticals or markets they are testing a different algo or possibly a rollback. We can hope!

Sent you an email...

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Yikes. Surprised Search Engine Land posted that with such little evidence.

But, if they feel like that reverted those SERPS back to normal, it sounds like maybe the effect we think we're seeing from Pigeon in terms of a significantly new ranking algorithm is false.

Maybe we're just seeing a bug where Pigeon is allowing spammy listings to populate that would have populated the same way before except that there were filters on it.

For example, if the LA serps really do seem to have "reverted back" due to some manual spam actions (actions that would have been algorithmic/automatic pre-Pigeon) then maybe we've all been on a wild goose chase?

Maybe Pigeon has released all the filters and that accounts for how screwy the ranking seems.

 

[Linda Buquet]

No Gyi posted the proof.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GyiTsakalakis1/posts/83iGpGbrj8x

As Gyi's screen shot shows .ca has the old algo (and classic maps too) so you can compare and see the difference. This is a totally different algo with many new listings ranking that did not before. And they aren't all spammy either. It's just tuning into different ranking signals than before.

Plus if you check all my Seattle Chiro tracking you can see Pigeon clearly, even though it keeps changing.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Very interesting.

Guess we'll just have to keep digging.

 

[DanLeibson]

Definitely not seeing a roll back, other then the course correction that happened right after launch. Droppings are still prolific.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Dan!

Adam Dorfman from Sim Partners who I believe has lots of tools and data, just pinged me on G+ to say he's not seeing a rollback either.

So I guess we are all on the same page and it's confirmed.

Pigeon is still alive and well and has still not come home to roost.