Google "pigeon" update, is Google turning search over to all the directories?
-
The recent news re an update by Google is beginning to show some interesting changes. The first major piece on this came from SearchEngineLand and had top local people like Linda Buquet commenting. Another post on this regarding a "yelp" correction from Search Engine Land was also illuminating. With the real estate vertical, I am seeing zero local companies in Houston, in the first couple of SERP's, other than the large MLS system, HAR. The others showing are all real estate directories that are nationwide like realty com, zil low, tru lia, etc. You literally cannot get a local brokerage to show on the first two pages of serps using any high volume keyword.
Does this mean Google is choosing to begin relegating its search results to the directories?Obviously, there is no right answer, but it certainly means those of us in the agency world need to be very careful (yes, even more so) going forward. I appreciate your comments.
Robert
-
Hello Miriam,
It is the same. I understand from a local perspective a lot of people are giving this a thumb's up. I am not sure I would at this juncture and we have had a winner or two from it. With Real Estate, if you are a broker, it is a disaster in terms of terms like home(s) for sale, townhomes, real estate or these terms and a geo-locator like Houston. (Dr. Pete spoke to this around my comments on his post The Month Google Shook the SERPS.)
You know I am not a "Google done me wrong" person; it's their web property and as EGOL said for a while they did not monetize it and people had a grand ole time. Today, they are going to monetize it just like we would.The issue is more that, IMO, user experience will suffer and I think they will begin to lose market share, but over time. I talk to enough users who are not in our field and they complain about not being able to find someone local when they are looking. For me as a searcher, I find it odd that if I want to find a specific breed of dog or a specific area for a home, etc. I am forced to use a "national" directory of some sort. Doesn't this remove the need for the search engine??
Best
-
Hey Robert,
A few days in from your original post, are you still seeing same or seeing changes? I totally feel like the dust hasn't settled where the pigeon has landed
-
Hi Robert,
It looks like so. Directories are ranking higher than the actual official sites for many keywords which further forces us to diversify our marketing to different platforms. Let's see what happens this month. They might add a few tweaks.
Noticed that the 7packs are also gone. More 3packs now.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to go about SEO when the content on all the pages is in a regional language (with its own script which is non-roman) but majority of searches are in the same language but roman script?
For example, the entire content is in an Indian language called Gujarati and the script is also Gujarati. However, when I did a keyword research, I found that majority of the searches are in Gujarati langugage by roman script e.g. "gujarati sahitya" meaning Gujarati literature. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Local SEO | | Tumul0 -
What markup/schema is "responsible" for location pin in mobile rich snippets?
Howdy, Saw this new(?) feature in mobile rich snippets (attached here). Anyone knows what part of schema (or whatever else) is making this appear? P.S. From all responses, and some thinking, it looks like the answer would be "who knows", as usual with Google. But most likely it would be related to usual LocalBusiness addressLocality itemprop. 0739Z5v
Local SEO | | DmitriiK0 -
Why does Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA) gives different results than a Google search for a very similar or identical query?
My client Dr. Harris ranks #1 in SERPs and Local results for many terms, including "hair transplant surgeon Denver" However, when I did a voice search w Siri ""find me a hair transplant surgeon in Denver" Siri said she could find no results. A similar search for a clinic returned 2 competitors, but not my client. How do I ensure we are served up in voice queries? This surgeon deserves it, he invented most of the technology in use in the world today.
Local SEO | | CalamityJane770 -
When you think you know Google, but realise you don't
I've just typed "Private Investigator" into Google, location set to "Coleshill" (it's near Birmingham!)
Local SEO | | Solid_Web
The search results were surprising:
Position 6: <cite class="_Rm">birmingham-privateinvestigators.co.uk</cite>
Position 8: <cite class="_Rm">privateinvestigator-coventry.co.uk</cite> Both sites are the same source of information altered to suit the city - INCREDIBLY SPAMMY. They are just full of SEO text stuffing. No doubt any city you enter they will appear with [city]-privateinvestigators.co.uk..
How are they ranking with such old-skool dirty SEO tactics? You can't say they will be found eventually, because Google has released algorithm after algorithm updates to penalise sites like this. Could it be the importance of having a local phone number and (supposedly) physical address?0 -
Search Analytics Vs Search Queries
I am completely stuck on one of my SEO accounts. In Search Queries (the OLD search), it is showing me that my client is ranking for keywords on pages that I know they are not ranking for. They are ranking for keywords in New Jersey when they are not New York. No where on the website do we say anything about New Jersey at all. So it makes absolutely no sense. Then in Search Analytics, the data seems to be much more accurate. All the New Jersey keywords are gone. But then the clicks are all ZERO! Which I know is wrong because they are showing up in Google Analytics. I have been at this for over a week now and I am racking my brain trying to figure out how to fix this. Anyone have any advice?
Local SEO | | blackrino0 -
Google Webmaster and Multi Country
Lets say I have: www.domain.com/au www.domain.com/uk www.domain.com/nz In Webmaster, should each of those be setup as a separate site, targeted to the relevant country? Does the country targeting in Webmaster bear much weight? Cheers 🙂
Local SEO | | blitzna100 -
Google My Business
HI everyone, I hope you can assist me. I am trying to set-up the Google graph that appears in the Google search results pages that appear to the right hand side of the screen. I have tried contacting Goolge but never receive a response from them, which I think is rather strange. If anyone knows how to action this please help. Regards,
Local SEO | | KJDMedia0 -
Have you heard of any white hat methods for influencing Google's auto suggest/auto complete?
We have a client who has a "friend" who says he can get keyword phrases that include their business name to show up in Google's auto suggest when doing a search. We have not heard much about this and are skeptical to these claims as we know how Google comes up with these suggested keyword phrases. Wondering if anyone in the community heard much about tactics to influence auto suggest/auto complete and would like to know your opinion about it.
Local SEO | | CraigSDM0