What Is Google Pigeon? What to Know About the Pigeon Algorithm

Google Pigeon is a local search algorithm released by Google that improves the accuracy of results based on the user's geographic location. Besides being used to assess the level of SEO of a website, it also helps businesses reach the right potential customers in their target area, optimize local SEO and improve the search experience. In the article below, MONA Media will explain what Google Pigeon is, how to raise your website's ranking with the Pigeon algorithm, and the changes that came after this algorithm was introduced to evaluate website SEO.

What is Google Pigeon?

Google Pigeon (the Pigeon algorithm) is an algorithm Google developed to improve local search quality. It shows services or places near the user's location when they search, giving a convenient search experience that fits real needs. When you enter a query about a service near you, Google Pigeon identifies your current location and prioritizes the most suitable results. For example, if you are in Da Nang and search for “shop quần áo trẻ trung” (trendy clothing shop), Google will prioritize clothing shops in Da Nang over places in other provinces.

Why should SEO practitioners pay attention to the Google Pigeon algorithm?

Compared with the Google Pirate, Google Penguin algorithm, Pigeon gives businesses more chances to reach potential customers. This is especially useful for small businesses, or those selling regional specialties, that want to grow in one area before expanding to a wider one.

By studying the algorithm, SEO practitioners learn how Google Pigeon affects their website. From there, you can optimize SEO Onpage and off-page factors sensibly, improve rankings sustainably and reach local customers more effectively.

Also, by understanding this algorithm alongside Google's other search algorithms, SEO practitioners know the ranking principles better and avoid violations that could lower a website's ranking or lead to penalties. This is an important foundation for building a long-term, safe SEO strategy.

>> Learn more: Google algorithms that SEO practitioners need to know

What changed after the Pigeon algorithm went live

Before Google Pigeon, search results relied mostly on the how to do SEO of each website. Pages that met Google's evaluation criteria well had a chance to appear high in the rankings, while pages that were not optimized struggled to compete.

Once Google Pigeon was rolled out, geographic location began to play an important role. Besides SEO techniques and useful content, Google prioritizes results that match the searcher's location and the context of the keyword. For example, if you search for “yến sào tại Hà Nội” (bird's nest in Hanoi), results favor suppliers in Hanoi. Conversely, if you are in Khanh Hoa and search for a general keyword such as “đơn vị cung cấp yến sào” (bird's nest suppliers), results show pages near that location.

Benefits of the Pigeon algorithm

The Pigeon algorithm is one of Google's important updates, aimed at improving search results based on geographic location. It helps users find services or information that fit the area they are in, and it also brings practical benefits to organizations aiming to optimize bring your website to the top of Google.

For businesses

The Google Pigeon algorithm has the most positive effect on businesses that specialize in regional specialties. Small, newly started businesses that target consumers in a particular locality before expanding also benefit from this algorithm.

When the Pigeon algorithm arrived, competition on the SERP became fairer. Before, a search for the keyword “sữa cho người già” (milk for the elderly) was dominated by big foreign brands such as Ensure Gold, Anlene Gold 3, Diabetic Formula and Aged Care Formula. Today, products from Vietnamese brands such as Vinamilk Canxipro and Nutifood Enplus Gold hold high positions on the SERP.

For people searching for information

Google Pigeon gives users more accurate and useful results, because the algorithm prioritizes content related to the location mentioned in the query or the user's current location. This helps them find a website that fits their needs faster, saving a good deal of search effort and time. 

Some limitations of the Pigeon algorithm

Besides the positives Google Pigeon brings to businesses and people searching for information, the Pigeon algorithm has some limitations. Specifically:

• Google Pigeon sometimes over-prioritizes results by geographic location, making it hard for users to find the best product or service across the whole market if they don't care about distance.
• Managing many branches across the country becomes complicated, because a business has to make sure the Google My Business information for each location stays accurate and consistent, or errors easily appear.
• Product or service options from other areas can be limited in search results, making it hard for users to reach the best-quality products outside their own region.
• Also, if a searcher wants to search nationwide, it takes more time and effort.

How to build an effective SEO website with Google Pigeon

Each algorithm Google launches serves a specific adjustment goal. Therefore, the SEO specialists on this search engine need to understand each algorithm to make full use of it. Here is how to build an effective website with Google Pigeon:

• Build the website and optimize the related factors together: declare information, adjust functions, and create useful, unique content.
• and campaigns Local SEO, localize the website by declaring the business address, branches, business lines and distribution addresses, and by putting the address in titles and content…
• Besides focusing on local factors to meet the Google Pigeon algorithm, SEO practitioners still need good SEO technique to meet Google's other important algorithms. These technical factors include SEO-standard articles, title tag optimization, captions, Image SEO, internal links, external links, backlinks, anchor text…

This article has given you the details of what the Google Pigeon algorithm is? We covered how Google Pigeon affects websites and how to build effective website SEO with this algorithm. We hope you now know more about one of the SEO evaluation tools Google uses to control search engine optimization. If you need MONA Media's full-scope SEO service, contact us today to get SEO price list with full details.

Other Google algorithms you may be interested in:

• How a website gets out of the Sandbox algorithm
• What is the PageRank algorithm? Why it matters for SEO