You should not be spending your time searching, you should be spending your time living - Amit Singhal, senior VP at Google.

Google has a new algorithm – which is the system used to filter through billions of sites (when you enter a search) to deliver the most precise results.

The algorithm is called Hummingbird, because – like the tiny bird – it’s fast and super accurate. It also affects 90% of searches and is meant to accommodate longer, more advanced search phrases.

Users frequently enter questions that are conversational, i.e. “Will I get fitter by jogging or cycling?” Google is now aiming to accommodate these phrases.

Hummingbird focuses more on the meaning of words and phrases than just the words. The new algorithm understands your questions allowing it to provide more accurate answers. So, you aren’t simply provided with a list of pages including your search terms, you are provided with more detailed pages giving you exact answers. Below is a detailed example.

“What’s the closest place to buy the iPhone 5s to my home?” A traditional search engine might focus on finding matches for words — finding a page that says “buy” and “iPhone 5s,” for example.

Hummingbird should better focus on the meaning behind the words. It may better understand the actual location of your home, if you’ve shared that with Google. It might understand that “place” means you want a brick-and-mortar store. It might get that “iPhone 5s” is a particular type of electronic device carried by certain stores. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just finding pages with matching words.

Hummingbird is Google’s most significant change since the “Caffeine” update in 2010. The Panda and Penguin updates involved big changes to the existing algorithm, but did not completely replace it (as Hummingbird does).

“Think of it like an engine. Those things were as if the engine received a new oil filter or had an improved pump put in. Hummingbird is a brand new engine, though it continues to use some of the same parts of the old, like Penguin and Panda” – Danny Sullivan

The point is that pages matching the meaning of your search phrase will come up, and not pages that only match a few words.

Google’s saying there’s nothing new or different SEOs or publishers need to worry about. Guidance remains the same, it says: have original, high-quality content. Signals that have been important in the past remain important; Hummingbird just allows Google to process them in new and hopefully better ways – Danny Sullivan

The Hummingbird algorithm has been in place for about a month, but Google only recently announced it. As this algorithm proves, the days of IT tricks leading to results are over. Now it is all about quality content and the trend towards content marketing through Google’s point of view is thus becoming stronger and stronger.

Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital marketing agency. For more information, contact 012 66 44 227 or email to info@soundidea.co.za

Carina Claassens is a Writer for Sound Idea Digital l carina@soundidea.co.za l @soundidea | Sound Idea Digital l www.soundidea.co.za

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