
Barry Schwartz first broke the news of Google Pigeon on Search Engine Land on July 24, as near enough as I can tell.
As with the Google algorithms of Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird before, Google Pigeon tries to make users’ experience on the internet better. They do this by:
- Tying deeper into web search capabilities to really answer those difficult, and perhaps long, user queries;
- Better consider ranking signals from a variety of sources when considering your search query;
- Improvement to distance and location considerations when considering your search query.
Those ranking signals are interesting, as Google is again trying to get ahold of human synonyms, something that has confounded it before. Yes, the machine is getting smarter.
Anyone who lived through Google Hummingbird shouldn’t be surprised by the new emphasis on local and distance. This is a key component of mobile, and we know that more and more sites are going to increase their receptivity to mobile through better design as more and more people begin using this platform.
Additionally, we know that whole economies and populations are bypassing standard web practices entirely to get onto the internet for the first time with mobile. Could Google Pigeon be taking things like that into account?
I doubt it, and frankly I doubt a lot right now. Matt Cutts is on vacation and August is just around the corner. Congress is taking five weeks off for heaven’s sake! I’m not expecting a lot.
And that’s exactly when Google likes to hit us hard with these “updates.” And as usually, we’re left standing in the dark wondering what’ll happen next.
Obviously Search Engine Land is a good site to check in at, and I know Moz will have some stuff coming soon as well, and perhaps even Quicksprout.
Those are all good sites to keep abreast of developments, as well as the usual social media channels. I’m not worried, and if you’re writing good content and not doing silly linkbuilding things you shouldn’t be either.
That Google bird shan’t be shitting on this site!