Google Shared their 15th birthday with the world, announcing changes to their search algorithm and search experience. This was celebrated at a press conference held on September 26th 2013, where they discussed the launch of a new search algorithm, code named Hummingbird.
According to Google, this search algorithm is much smarter. It can answer questions, filter the answers, and give you comparison data, at a glance. You don’t have to click away from search results, hoping web pages will have answers…the data will be right there for you, easy to find.
Focused on Making Google Better at Gathering Information, or Example, Indexing websites more often and Identifying Spammy Content.
Hummingbird is Focused on the user.
It’s About Google getting better at understanding what searchers Really Want and providing them with Better Answers.
Now Google is Focusing on Context and Trying to understand user’s intent in order to Deliver more Relevant Results and Better Answers. Google has made search more “human friendly” by Making Google Better at Understanding Language and How People Communicate.
Most people won’t notice a huge change in the search results, but for longer, more complex, conversational queries, Google now gives much better answers. For example, say a user searches for “Hair salons near my house.” Previously, Google would analyze each word individually and provide results based on that — so you might get a Wikipedia article about hair salons, some map results based on your current location, and home improvement websites with pages titled “my house.” With Hummingbird, Google better understands what you’re asking for, and displays a list of hair salons near your house (provided you’re signed in to Google and have provided them with a home address in Google Maps). The results match the meaning behind the search, rather than just individual words.
Signed in users will be the biggest benefactors of these improvements, and this is the best example to date of Google tying all the information it has about its users together to improve their experience. In addition to the search query, additional information is pulled in from the user’s location (and saved locations), Social Connections (on G+), time of day, even previous searches.
Ultimately, this is the driving force behind Hummingbird — making sure Google is prepared for a future where its users interact with it constantly, quickly, and verbally.
By making its search engine better at understanding people, Google is paving the way for the future.
Before too long the idea of typing a search on a keyboard will seem very quaint indeed.
They’ve also redefined their mobile search results page.
“It’s cleaner and simpler, optimized for touch, with results clustered on cards so you can focus on the answers you’re looking for. “
Google’s intent is to give you great answers to questions at your fingertips, anticipating what information you will need and helping you build queries and results.
By streamlining the algorithm so it improves complex search retrieval and improves data available via knowledge graph, Google is keeping users on their search results pages longer. This in turn, increases exposure to sponsored ads, which, in turn improves ad sales and revenue.
Optimizing the algorithm for Artificial intelligence, semantic analysis, and an underlying understanding of language is Core towards fulfilling the dual objective of increasing time on site and revenue.
The second key objective is the massive shift towards mobile search. As more people ask questions on their Mobile Phones the Algorithm has to evolve to understand these longer, more Complex queries.
“Google will keep Reinventing itself to give you all you need for a simple and intuitive experience.
At some point, pulling out a smartphone to do a search will feel as archaic as a dial-up modem.”
This new algorithm, Hummingbird, will give Google the foundation to evolve as mobile search grows and the experience of seeking information becomes infinitely more complex.
Other than information available from their blog or press conference, what else do we know about Hummingbird?
Hummingbird affected 90% of searches worldwide.
How is it possible that a change that affected 90% of searches went unperceived by the webmaster community? Penguin only impacted 3% of queries, yet the impact was as loud as a 12.5 earthquake.
It stands to reason this wasn’t an algorithm impacting general search quality, but instead, focuses on data retrieval, artificial intelligence, and how data is accessed and presented to users.
When asked what Hummingbird impacts, Alpesh Sharma Stated, “With more complex queries, the algorithm can better Understand concepts vs. words as well as relationships between Concepts.” So Hummingbird is focused on Natural Language Processing, thus being more visible in the very long, conversational tail.
Sharma also stated that Hummingbird is also a way to Present and reuse new services to improve search results, which will tie in nicely with the changes Google has rolled out in the last 24 months:
When you Search for Broad Topics, like “censorship” you will now see in the SERP’s links to detailed content about censorship. Google now identifies “evergreen” articles that are increasingly broad and detailed, and presents them as part of their In-depth Articles. The key to In-depth articles is that the sources are very established, Reputable Publications and the Articles are Long, Detailed and Descriptive.
Hummingbird is paying more attention to each word in a query, ensuring that the whole query – the whole sentence or conversation or meaning – is taken into account, rather than particular words. The goal is that pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages matching just a few words.
From a Strategy point of View this opens the horizon for companies and webmasters considerably. From a practical perspective, the need to identify the USP of each business and become authoritative within it is now a key criteria for continued SEO success. The comparison element that has been integrated suggests that semantic mark-up may begin to confer an advantage now when it comes to helping index information in products and services.
Even though the post was published ten months before the new search algorithm was announced, Tips for SEOs are especially relevant in light of the Hummingbird release:
• Businesses must understand and adapt to semantic search and the knowledge graph.
• Positioning yourself to be the provider of answers that people are seeking.
• Identify intent, needs and problems. Provide solutions and answers.
Look at queries and what they really need. Give them what the people behind the queries want.
More About Hummingbird will be Discussed During this Week’s show in New York City. The Conference includes an entire track devoted to “Semantic Search” with The Coming “Entity Search” Revolution session scheduled on day two (October 2) of the conference.
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