Google's search engine is highly popular, which is why when they change their algorithms, every industry is affected by it. The recent change however was especially beneficial to the travel industry.
Pigeon, Google's new algorithm, was launched in July 2014. According to the company, the purpose behind the change is that they want local searches to mimic more closely the traditional organic rankings.
The algorithm has had a negative effect on many companies. Hospitality and food businesses, however, experienced a boost thanks to Pigeon.
BrightEdge, a Search Engine Optimization provider, has reported that the main form of Internet traffic are organic searches, accounting for 51% of the traffic received by the websites that they studied.
The phenomenon by which this algorithm is helping travel-related business is called "hyperlocalised" search results. This means that the geographical radius of a search has been reduced very significantly.
Travel-related businesses have now the opportunity to benefit enormously from the reduced radius by focusing on regional and local marketing. Marketing will have to put extra effort in creating content that is focused on the area that surrounds the business. Then, the local or regional authenticity of a specific company will be pointed out to Google.
Today it is extremely important how well a certain business' website is positioned in the top internet search engines. A better position means that the website will receive more traffic, which means more sales for that particular business. Thanks to Pigeon, travel-related businesses have an easier time getting a better position in Google's search engine.