The Hummingbird update is
what is new. It is a fundamental change to the way that Google works. There has
not been a change this drastic since they adopted the caffeine index in the
year 2010. It has a lot of effects because it is changing the way that Google
works. It is not just about cutting out bad links this time or getting rid of
spam.
Have things changed yet?
Yes, the update is
already up and out there. There are already websites falling off of the search
engine results pages like leaves from an autumn tree. What will happen now is a
little different to the other updates because now comes the time when websites
start changing and as they change the search engine results change. Google is
saying that you need not focus on keywords anymore. They are saying that there
are better ways of getting up the search engine results pages, such as writing
in-depth and non-keyword friendly texts. Now it is just a case of waiting for
websites to evolve in their race to the top spot on Google.
What has happened so far?
Google started laying the
groundwork for the update earlier in the year, so some people with their ear to
the ground knew that something was in the pipeline.
6 August 2013 - Longer
and in-depth articles update
A part of the algorithm
identifying and ranking in-depth articles suddenly appeared as an update. It
made no sense as it contradicted the fact that smaller articles such as lists
and such were also search engine friendly.
28 August 2013 - The
removal of the keyword tool
By this point there were
a few raised eyebrows, but Google has done stuff like this before. The current
incarnation of the Google Trends tool is actually three programs they smushed
together. To use the keywords tool then you have to use the more advanced
version that you can access for free with a Google AdWords account.
23 September 2013 -
Google inadvertently changes Google analytics
This change actually
occurred because they made searches more secure. As a result, some of the keywords
functions in Google analytic were removed.
27 September 2013 - The
Hummingbird update was announced
Google announced it at
the Google garage where they first created the Google search engine. They said
that the update was going to make it so that the search engine targets longer
phrases or questions rather than keywords.
How are websites going to optimize their sites without keywords?
Google are not strictly
saying that keywords are going to go away forever (at least not yet); they are
just saying that they are not as important as they used to be. They are saying
that long queries and questions are more what they are about now. And, it is
hardly surprising given the popularity of the Google suggestions tool. The
suggestions tool drops down and gives full sentences and questions that relate
to the few words that have been typed in so far.
Lots of people click the
suggested sentences because it is quicker and easier than typing in a similar
question. Therefore, it is not a big jump to say that Google are going to
optimize for answers to their Google suggestions. This does not mean that
keywords are going away, as they will still be applicable in queries that the
Google suggestions or plain longer queries don’t answer.
As one expert put it
They are forcing web
masters to ask themselves “How can my web page answer this question?” This is a
very clever observation, but how this is going to start playing out in the long
run is a different story. Black-hat SEO people are surely just going to try and
answer as many questions on one page as possible. Surely this means that
black-hat SEO people will put together several Wikipedia pages full of
information, rewrite it, post it and rank up?
Is PageRank a thing of the past?
There have been
conspicuously less updates to the PageRank toolbar over this year, which may
indicate that they are going to start phasing it out. Quite how people are
going to judge how search engine friendly their website is may soon become one
of the Internet’s biggest secrets.
What to do from now onwards
The Hummingbird update
suggests that you should never hide text and always keep your website updated
(but we know that). They want you to create written text of substance, which
means keeping the high quality but favoring in-depth and less keyword friendly
text as oppose to lighter keyword friendly reads. There is also a suggestion
that they want everyone on the Google+ authorship program so that they can see
how consistently you produce good works.
Author’s bio:
The guest post is written by Sonia Jackson from Cool Essay .She
writes essays on different topics and can give you useful advice.