One of the lovely animals in Google’s algorithm farm is the pigeon algorithm. But this pigeon, unlike real pigeons, does not have much flying power and cannot fly more than users’ proximity. The pigeon algorithm can be a smart option for small businesses whose scope of activity is limited to their own city.
The Pigeon algorithm was created to personalize the results to show the most relevant results. This algorithm shows the closest results based on your location, which can be a smart option for small businesses for local SEO.
But how Google’s pigeon algorithm works and how it helps local SEO and businesses is the topic we want to address in this article. So stay with us.
What is the pigeon algorithm?
Before we try to explain the working of the Pigeon Algorithm, we will show it with an example. For this reason, it is enough to close your VPN first and search on Google: “Bookstores near me”; You will be surprised by the result!
When you search for this phrase, Google understands what you mean by searching and shows the nearest bookstores based on your location. You probably noticed that this algorithm considers the factor based on location.
Google introduced this algorithm in 2014, added a location to its factors, and showed that content is not limited to text, image, and sound in Google’s view. But how does this algorithm work?
How does the pigeon algorithm work?
Google has 200 different factors that it uses to rank sites with different keywords. Among these 200 factors, there was no place or distance; Until the pigeon, the algorithm was introduced. For example, if you try the phrase “bookstores near me” in another city, you will see other results. This shows that Google analyzes the users’ location well to show the closest result and does this by matching your search algorithm and other sites.
Pigeon algorithm and local SEO (local SEO)
Local SEO means optimizing the site based on the location. Local SEO comes in handy when you, as a business owner, want to be at the top of Google results in searches related to locations.
Local SEO has the advantage of sending real customers to you and can be considered one of the important factors in the success of businesses. and at the last moment, you remember to prepare some of Tabriz’s famous baklava as a souvenirs and to eat; search for the nearest sweet shop or the nearest confectionary and find their address and phone number and return to your city with your hands full. As you can see, local SEO and pigeon algorithm are useful for users and business owners.
What effect does the pigeon algorithm have on a site’s traffic and conversion rate?
Traffic and conversion rate are two separate issues; For example, a site may have a lot of traffic, but its conversion rate is low; On the other hand, a site may have a high conversion rate despite low traffic. The pigeon algorithm can reduce your site traffic and increase your click-through rate.
But imagine that you have optimized your site for the pigeon algorithm, and your site is shown to users in your city; in this case, the amount of incoming traffic to your site will decrease, but real and targeted customers will visit your site. And your conversion rate will increase. You can easily use the pigeon algorithm to increase your click rate.
Can the pigeon algorithm be useful for all sites?
It cannot be said definitively and 100% that the pigeon algorithm can be useful for all sites; Because this issue also depends on the nature of the sites; for example, imagine that you have an online service site, in this case, local SEO cannot affect your success, and the reason for this is that it does not matter the location of your users. Where to be; The more people you reach, the better.
So you have to decide, according to your customers and the nature of your site, whether you want to optimize your site for the pigeon algorithm.
What changes has the pigeon SEO algorithm undergone?
Any algorithm that Google offers to satisfy users affects search results, and for this reason, all sites are affected; the algorithm affects the SEO of their site and their ranking. Therefore, in this section, we want to check what effect the pigeon algorithm had on the SEO of sites.
Personalize results for each individual
Personalizing the results for each person means that when different people search for different terms, they will come across different results on the search page. For example, the result you see for the bookstore near me on the results page differs from the result I see on the results page.
The Pigeon Algorithm is a no-no in favor of small and local businesses
As we mentioned above, this algorithm has greatly impacted local businesses. People who had different businesses realized they could use the pigeon algorithm to grow their businesses, grow their customers, and increase their real customers. (Use or abuse? That is the question!)
Changes in the package are displayed.
The pack is the part shown to you in the search results, and the pigeon algorithm provides you with location and site information. Most of the time, Pigeon Algorithm shows three sites in the pack, which helps you get results faster.
How to optimize our site for the pigeon algorithm?
If the nature of your site is such that local SEO and optimization for the pigeon algorithm can grow your business, using the following methods can help you:
Register your site in directory sites
A directory site or internet directory is a type of directory in the web world that provides information about a specific group. The purpose of the directory site is to show users various sites related to their search. Users enter these directory sites and search for sites related to their desired topic and can find their search with a diverse list of sites related to the topic.
You can register your site in these web directories and see its effectiveness in optimizing for the pigeon algorithms. Our recommendation is to register your site in several directories to see an increase in traffic easily.
Register your site or business on Google Maps
Another way to optimize your site for the pigeon algorithm is to register your site in Google Maps. This helps Google to understand your location better and prioritize you in the search.
The problem with this is that due to the sanctions, it is impossible to register local businesses on the map, but you can easily do this as a job just by having Gmail through Do the mobile app or the web version of Google Maps.
When registering, you should add contact information, a picture, the field of activity, and working hours.
Include your name, phone number, and address on all site pages.
You may not believe it, but Google bots can have addresses and phone numbers and influence them in local SEO; It is enough to repeat your address and phone number in the footer of the pages to attract the attention of the pigeon algorithm. In this work, you should keep in mind that this information should be the same on the pages so that Google does not get confused in understanding your position, and you can get a good result from local SEO.
Consider a contact us page for your site where you can record your contact information, phone number, email, and address.
Do not neglect the comments section of users and customers
One of the factors that can be useful for the pigeon algorithm is recording the opinions of users and customers. This can greatly help you in site optimization. You can encourage users to register their opinions in different ways.
Do not neglect the schema markup language.
A schema markup language is Google’s language, and when you use it, Google bots will better recognize your information and content and show it to users with higher results.
Do not neglect the overall SEO of your site.
Site optimization for the pigeon algorithm can be useful, but you should not neglect other Google algorithms and site SEO.
You can read our What is SEO article if you don’t know much about Google Pigeon.
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about the pigeon algorithm and how it works and about site optimization methods for this algorithm. Any existing algorithm may be useful for some sites, not others! But there is one point: Google wants to show the best results to users and uses all algorithms in this direction.
Do not forget that if you use white hat SEO, no algorithm will penalize you (if you want to know how to use this SEO, refer to our article What is White Hat SEO.) But suppose you use black hat SEO, eventually, one day. In that case, It gets the wrath of one of the algorithms (if you don’t want even to use this SEO by mistake, check out our What is Black Hat SEO article); It’s best to use gray hat SEO that doesn’t burn or grill (see our What is Gray Hat SEO article for more information).