Google Hummingbird update
Google Hummingbird is the most recent update of Google’s search engine algorithm. This enhancement focuses on recognizing the value of a site’s content. Google Hummingbird relies on a semantic technique to understand whole sentences rather than just rely on a few keyword phrases during a query. This means that Google is slowly gaining the ability of a human. You can now talk and ask your questions directly.
As with any other Google updates, any change related to Google algorithm must be taken seriously by webmasters. Especially those who are keen to maintain or boost their search engine rankings.
With Hummingbird, Google now pays close attention to every word typed by users when searching something online. This way, it is able to determine the context and intent of each word submitted to its search engine. At times, users prefer using longer search terms when performing a Google search. Longer search terms typically results to more meaningful search results.
According to Senior Vice-president of Google, Amit Singhal, this algorithm is aimed at eliminating unnecessary keyword stuffing made by SEO writers. It will also help do away with contents that were constantly spamming the system, thus encouraging website owners to write good and quality content in order not to be affected by this update.
While Google Penguin and Google Panda were intended to clean up search results and get rid of spam content. The Hummingbird is designed to improve Google’s capability of responding to users questions depending on the words they’ve used to perform their search. Even so, Hummimgbird continues to use some features of Panda and Penguin.
What does this mean to website owners?
Broaden your keyword research
Since Google Hummingbird update has gone an extra mile in ensuring relevant search results for users, you need to broaden your keyword research knowledge or face the penalty in drop in your website ranking, hence making your internet marketing efforts redundant. This new version can determine what a page is about not only by its main primary keywords but also by their synonyms. It is, therefore, more important than ever for website owners to expand their keyword research knowledge. Google Suggest is a great tool to get inspiration for keywords that could add to your traffic.
Change Design approach
A well-designed website sends powerful hints to Google and other search engines that you are a genuine company with a well-planned and effective site. Google has employed staff who manually review sites, and one of the things they take into consideration is design. With the Google Hummingbird, websites that lacks a mobile responsive design run the risk of losing their rankings. So, if your site is not rendering well across multiple devices, then it is time to do something about it.
Overall, Hummingbird has not changed many things. If you have unique, high-quality content, and you have a well-designed site with relevant content, then your site is still going to rank well. While many website owners were frustrated by Panda and Penguin, there is no need to see Hummingbird in a negative light.
All said and done, there is no need to rebuild your entire site because of the latest Google’s update. You do not have to abandon your SEO strategy. Just focus on the user experience. Google is simply trying to tell website owners to focus more on their customers than focusing on search engines.
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