Google Hummingbird: What Is New in SEO?


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.


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