August 24, 2019 - TDHSEO.COM

August 24, 2019
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The influence of Google Hummingbird Algorithm on SEO

Tags : Google Algorithm Google algorithm update Google Hummingbird Algorithm Google Update

Matt Cutts said that the Hummingbird algorithm actually effects 90% of all searches but he said only to a small degree. So while Panda may have impacted 10% or so and Penguin closer to 3% or so, Hummingbird impacted 90%. But Matt Cutts said only to a small degree where users should not notice.

How does Hummingbird work?

Well in short it’s faster and more precise than previous versions of Google.

One of the deepest changes that makes Hummingbird so different than past versions of the Google algorithm is that it now focuses more on conversational search. Google has said that less people are searching seriously with short keyword terms and focusing more on the longer tail keyword searches asking for multiple data points simultaneously.

This means Google is ultimately looking less at what each keyword in your query means and more at what your entire query means.

What Does Google Hummingbird Enhance?

In my opinion the Google Hummingbird change signals three pretty clear objectives for Google.

Google wants to communicate conversationally.
Google wants to deliver a seamless experience across all devices.
Google wants to anticipate your needs and answer your questions before you have them (they want to be your assistant).

Let’s break these down one by one.

Google wants to communicate conversationally– When search engines started the only way we could interact with a search engine was by keyboard. At that time the search engines operated by looking for keywords and that was pretty much what you would enter into the search. For example if you think about the video above Matt Cutts wants to know how fast a cheetah can run. Instead of searching for, “how fast does a cheetah run?” he searches for, “cheetah running speed.” So in the early days of search we stripped out unnecessary words from our search queries to make it easier for the user to search. Why would Google want to change this? Because today more searchers are using their mobile devices and the big difference is that you can actually speak to your mobile device. That brings us to the next point.
Google wants to deliver a seamless experience across all devices– As we have already discussed users are searching more frequently from a mobile device. As a result Google has made some strategic changes make sure that users can have a seamless experience whenever they access the web. For example the Google web browser Google Chrome now works on mobile devices. This means where ever you surf the web on any device if you are logged into Google Chrome Google can present personalized search results to you. You can also access your bookmarks, and browsing history seamlessly across all devices. Google is also working hard to enhance the Google Now app. Which brings us to our final point.
Google wants to be your assistant- Google Now is much more than a search app. Google now starts to get to know you and learns about your activity. When I wake up every morning Google Now tells me how many minutes it will take me to drive to the gym. Google Now also has access to my calendar, contacts, location… almost anything I tell my phone. Because of that Google Now reminds me of deadlines, birthdays, places I have visited, and things I have searched for. Ultimately Google wants the Google Now app to act like the Star Trek Computer. They want you to be able to say, “OK Google” and have Google assist you with any task you can think of. I know I’ve shared this video before but it is the ultimate example of what Google wants Google Now to be.

The implications of a Hummingbird search world

It is important to remember that this step forward being described by Google as a new platform.

Like the Caffeine release Google did in June of 2010, the real import of this is yet to come. Google will be able to implement many more capabilities in the future. The implications to search in the long term are potentially huge.

For you as a publisher, the implications are more straightforward. Here are a few things to think about:

1. Will keywords go away?

Not entirely. The language you use is a key part of a semantic analysis of your content.

Hopefully, you abandoned the idea of using the same phrases over and over again in your content a long time ago. It will remain wise to have a straightforward definition of what the page is about in the page title.

I’ll elaborate a bit more on this in point 3 below.

2. Will Google make the long tail of search go away?

Not really. Some of the aspects that trigger long tail type search results may actually be inferred by Google rather than contained in the query. Or they may be in the user’s query itself. Some long tail user queries may also get distilled down to a simpler head term.

There will definitely be shifts here, but the exact path this will take is hard to project. In the long term though, the long tail will be defined by long tail human desires and needs, not keyword strings.

The language you use still matters, because it helps you communicate to users and Google what needs and desires you answer.

3. You need to understand your prospect’s possible intents

That is what Google is trying to do. They are trying to understand the human need, and provide that person with what they need.

Over time, users will be retrained to avoid short simple keyword-ese type queries and just say what they want. Note that this evolution is not likely to be rapid, as Google still has a long way to go still!

As a publisher, you should focus more attention on building pages for each of the different basic needs and intentions of the potential customers for your products and services. Start mapping those needs and use cases and design your site’s architecture, content, and use of language to address those.

In other words, know your audience. Doing this really well takes work, but it starts with knowing your potential customers or clients and why they might buy what you have to sell, and identifying the information they need first.

4. Semantic relevance is the new king

We used to speak about content being king, and that in some sense is still true, but it is becoming more complex than that now.

You now need to think about content that truly addresses specific wants and needs. Does your content communicate relevance to a specific want or need?

In addition, you can’t overlook the need to communicate your overall authority in a specific topic area. Do you answer the need better than anyone else?

While much of being seen as an authority involves other signals such as links, and perhaps some weight related to social shares and interaction, it also involves creating in-depth content that does more than scratch the surface of a need.

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August 24, 2019
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The important knowledges of Google Hummingbird Algorithm

Tags : Google Algorithm Google algorithm update Google Hummingbird Algorithm Google Update

Category : SEO News

Google Hummingbird was an updated algorithm released by the search engine in 2013. The goal of Hummingbird was to help Google better understand semantic search. Rather than matching words in a query to words on websites, the Google algorithm now strives to understand the meaning behind the words so that it can provide results based upon the searcher’s intent. This helps to improve the quality of the results because users can be matched to pages that might better answer their query, even if websites use slightly different language to describe the topic at hand.

Since 1998 Google has used the same old algorithm and upgrading it iteratively every year. Google recently replaced it’s entire algorithm with a new version.

Google Hummingbird is actually a project that seeks to improve the Google search engine experience for users by going beyond keyword focus and instead taking into account the context and all of the content in the entire search phrase to provide more of a natural-language, or conversational, approach to search queries.

Unlike two similar projects from Google, Google Panda and Penguin, which both serve as updates for Google’s existing search algorithm engine, Google Hummingbird introduces a completely new search algorithm that is estimated to affect more than 90% of all Google searches.

Google wants to process “real” speech patterns

Having the best platform for processing conversational queries is an important part of that, and that’s where Hummingbird fits in, though it’s just the beginning of a long process.

Think of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm as a two-year-old child. So far it’s learned a few very basic concepts.

These concepts represent building blocks, and it is now possible to teach it even more concepts going forward. It appears that a lot of this learning is derived from the rich array of information that Google has on all search queries done on the web, including the query sequences.

For example, consider the following query sequence, starting with the user asking “give me some pictures of the transamerica building”:

The user looks at these results, and then decides to ask the next question, “how tall is it”:

Note that the latter query recognizes the word “it” as referring to the Transamerica Building because that was identified in the prior query. This is part of the sophistication of natural language queries.

Another example is the notion of comparison queries. Consider the query “pomegranate vs cranberry juice”:

The Knowledge Graph

These examples involve Google’s Knowledge Graph, where natural language search benefits from the ability to pull real-time answers to queries that understand the specific context of the query.

Note that the Knowledge Graph has accepted some forms of conversational queries for a while, but a big part of Hummingbird was about expanding this capability to the rest of Google search.

I have seen people argue about whether or not Hummingbird was just a front end translator for search queries, or whether it is really about understanding more complex types of user intent.

The practical examples we have now may behave more like the former, but make no mistake that Google wants to be able to do the latter as well.

The mind reading algorithm

Google wants to understand what is on your mind, well, before its on your mind.

Consider Google Now as ultimately being part of this mix. Imagine being able to have Google address search queries like these:

Where do I find someone that can install my surround sound system?
What year did the Sox lose that one game playoff?
What are the predictions for the price of gas next summer?
What time is my dinner on Tuesday night, where is it, and how do I get there?

No, these queries will not work right now, but it gives you some idea of where this is all headed.

These all require quite a bit of semantic analysis, as well as pulling in additional information including your personal context.

The 4th question I added was to show that Google is not likely to care if the search is happening across web sites, in your address book, or both. Not all of this is Hummingbird, per se, but it is all part of the larger landscape.

To give you an idea on how long this has taken to build, Google’s Amit Singhal first filed a patent called Search queries improved based on query semantic information in March of 2003. In short, development of this technology has taken a very long time, and is a very big deal.