Google Hummingbird – What Should You Change About Your SEO Strategy?

You may have heard the phrase “SEO is dead“. Though many people believe this saying, experienced professionals know that it is far from the truth.

Search engine optimization has not died. It has evolved into an advanced practice. Little is going to change in the ways marketers pursue search engine rankings except for some tweaks in their strategies such as the resurgence of long tail keywords.

Every time Google revamps its search algorithm or releases a new update, panic ensues in the SEO world. The same thing happened when the Hummingbird update was released. However, with a thorough understanding of these updates, marketers can still get maximum benefits out of their optimization efforts. With the Hummingbird update, some things are expected to remain the same.

These include:

• Quality content is still the king
• Legitimate links prove SEO creditability
• Keywords must be logically placed
• Keyword stuffing is still a no-no

The noticeable change is that the new algorithm is highly intelligent, and it can interpret the meaning behind search queries.

Breaking conventional search habits

The older version of the algorithm displayed results based on the keywords that were used in the queries. However, now Google trained the new generation searchers to raise questions in keyword phrases in an innovative way. The users are now capable of guessing where Google may take them and do the exact trial and error search.

Hummingbird’s intelligence

When compared to all the creative intelligence that Panda and Penguin brought to the table, Hummingbird proves to be smarter. It is an entirely new algorithm, which approaches the search engine queries brilliantly to utilize the latest technology combined with the best features of the existing algorithms. You can assume it from the way Google named its new algorithm as Hummingbird, one of the fastest and accurate tiny birds.

Notable things while planning your campaign

There are a few things that Saint Louis optimizers and digital marketers should keep a note of while confronting Hummingbird. Let’s discuss these in detail.

The revival of long-tail keywords

Hummingbird is Google’s latest and greatest algorithm. If all the rumors about it are true, this algorithm will be capable of taking the search engine queries using long tail keywords in a logical sense rather than chasing the keywords within in it. The goal, as always, is to provide the most accurate results to the question in no time.

The concept of knowledge graph

When we think about this change that Hummingbird may bring in as an algorithm which focuses on the context, it is very much possible as Google is now running for more than a decade and a half, collecting what we can assume to be the largest knowledge base ever recorded.

Technically, the knowledge base collects data only for a short while. However, people understand it differently. Up to this moment, knowledge has been gathered, filtered, categorized, and cross-checked, and stored in thousands of ways. This massive knowledge base is now available to Hummingbird.

With such a vast collection of knowledge graph, it is not unlikely that Google will eventually find ways to make use of this data store with a perfect algorithm which can decipher the actual context of all words in a user query. That is what Hummingbird is destined to do.

No wonder that this new algorithm from Google surprised everyone, but those who use Google’s conventional search have seen it coming. For those who are still surprised, let’s discuss what you have missed.

The concept of conversational search

Those who use Google’s Chrome browser may have already noticed a little microphone icon at the corner of the search box. If you click on that microphone icon, you can ask a question which would have been typed into the search box. You can see the results of it along with the question displayed on the search screen.

If a perfect answer for your query is there in the Knowledge Graph, then there is an Information Card displayed on the screen with the most pertinent facts shown along with the list of site links. So, the users of “Google Speak” have now come to realize that with more conversational queries, they can get more accurate information.

Why did Google create Hummingbird?

There are a couple of reasons why Google created Hummingbird:

♦ The search engine promises answers by creating its unique search methods. The actual problem is that people are simply asking questions there, not keying in random words to search.

♦ The majority of users have shifted to using mobile devices for search. Google now knows how important it is to understand the intent behind a query.

There is a unique aspect of Hummingbird that no one talks about. As web searchers, one expect the search engine to provide results page with links to the top websites as per their ranking.

Hummingbird answers a question by giving the searchers an answer in an “Information Card” form, which is taken from the Knowledge Graph and shown on top of the results page.

How to take advantage?

You can gain the maximum advantage of Hummingbird by giving the search engines more and more opportunities to find you. Many entrance pages with original and engaging content will help you accomplish various goals. Here’s what you need to know:

• A higher number of original pages offers more opportunities to answer common search engine queries.
• Covering a wider range of topics centering around your niche will attest your expertise.
• Making use of the opportunity to introduce more relevant long-tail keywords.
  Surf more official news websites related to you niche to write creative content based on latest stories.
• Videos are proving to be the most alluring and hot results for user questions.
• Infographics are turning up to be an excellent way to answer queries in a much attractive and easy to infer manner.

In essence, Hummingbird Algorithm open doors to the search engine optimization aspirants to apply creativity in the competitive keyword market to take advantage. As a rule of thumb, original content must be produced as frequently as possible. Your website and blog also need to grow along with your business.

Author Bio:

Asher Dylan is a software engineer cum SEO specialist. Serving as the CEO of a Saint Louis start-up, Dylan is also an active tech blog writer and a marketing expert.

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