Hello. Before we move into the specifics of how to develop a local SEO strategy, let's take a look at the recent history of local SEO. Since Google is the biggest player in Internet searches, their algorithm for returning local search results is important to understand. In this lesson, we'll discuss an important update to Google's algorithm, called the Pigeon Update. We'll take a look at why Google made this update, and examine some of the ways that the Pigeon Update affected local listings, both positively and negatively. Beginning late 2014 and through 2015, there were a lot of changes and shake-ups to local search. In July 2014, Google release a new algorithm update. This algorithm update focused on local search space. This algorithm was dubbed the Pigeon Update and both positively and negatively affected many businesses who rely on local search. The idea behind this algorithm is to tie in local search ranking factors more closely to traditional web ranking signals, along with adding features such as tie-ins to the knowledge graph, spelling correction, synonym recognition, and more. This also improved local ranking parameters by increasing the distance that search engines would display nearby results, such as coffee shops, for example. Another improvement that Pigeon corrected was accuracy of results for local directories and review sites, such as Yelp. Over the past few years, Google has been embroiled in a number of anti-trust complaints due to their practice of providing preferential rankings to their own services, like at Google+, over sites like Yelp. Yelp published evidence of this in mid-2014. And the Pigeon Update helped correct that problem by pushing Yelp's specific queries ahead of its own. If you are interested, you can read more about the study and see past screenshots of local search results in the link I provided within your study materials. Since the Pigeon Update, Yelp, as well as other local directories such as Urbanspoon, Tripadvisor, and OpenTable, have gained better visibility in Google Search. One of the most notable changes caused by the Pigeon Update was the decline of local packs, or a small box of local listings linked to Google Maps. This would appear for a variety of local industries. Various tools and measurements, one from Moz, showed that there was roughly a 24% drop in the amount of local listings displayed. While many industries saw an increase in traffic, other business types were hit pretty hard because they lost their local packs. These business types included mold removal, DUI lawyers and attorneys, real estate offices and realtors, some plumber terms such as emergency plumbers, and commercial related queries such as commercial construction. Working with a number of clients who are ranking well in local search prior to this update, I noticed that this change caused an immediate and significant drop in traffic. Let's move on to some examples of what the current day SEO landscape looks like and how this affects small businesses. That completes the video portion of this lesson.