For the first time in 12 years, Google has changed its “recipe” for rankings. Code named “Hummingbird,” this algorithm swap has changed the rankings game in a couple of important ways.
In this video, I’m joined by Etna’s Director of Marketing, Scott Feldman, who’ll offer some strategic advice for leveraging Google’s algorithm update to help raise or maintain your site’s ranking. If you don’t have time for the video, take a look at the details below.
Two Main Changes
1. Semantic Search
Google’s “semantic search” capabilities, and the ability to handle complex queries common to voice search, have improved dramatically. The new algorithm has refined and improved Google’s methods for providing voice search results. For example, when someone says to their smartphone “find the best pizza parlor within 30 miles of my house,” Hummingbird can better provide search results through an improved understanding that “pizza” relates to “parlor,” and “find” means to search, and so on.
2. Knowledge Graph
Google expanded its “knowledge graph” to know more about your content, its origin, credibility, and popularity. Hummingbird has allowed Google to know more about the details of a site. In a nutshell: it’s less about keywords, and more about search intent (i.e. it’s less about links and more about real measures).
Hummingbird and Your Office
- Individual keyword rankings are less important.
- Developing and delivering great content is supreme.
- Encouraging conversations and sharing has increasing impact.
Does This Mean Search Engine Optimization Is Dead?
For those doing SEO right, there will not be a substantial impact on rankings. SEO is not dead, but creating useful and engaging content has taken the front seat. Ultimately, this means that you’ll now want to diversify your search engine marketing campaign by looking for more varied traffic sources, and developing content on other sites.
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