Why Google’s New Hummingbird Algorithm is Good News for Serious Content Creators?

Who isn’t aware of the release of the Hummingbird algorithm? Especially since this release has given rise to lot of questions like: Is content-driven business in danger? Will the keyword research efforts go down the drain? Is there is a need to re-engineer the content strategy?

Undoubtedly the Hummingbird algorithm has only marked the series of changes in search optimization. But it would not be wrong to say that serious content creators will be thriving on this the most. This update allows Google to handle  better the conversational style search queries.

Google likes to process “Real” speech patterns and this is the real purpose of Hummingbird. Consider the following query: “give me pictures of London Bridge” and after seeing the results you decide to ask “how long is it”. Google recognizes the word “it” as identified in the prior query.

The example involves Google’s Knowledge Graph where the natural language is benefited from the ability to pull the real-time answer to queries that truly understand the queries context. Hummingbird has just only enhanced the capability of Google search.

Perhaps it’s a hyperbole, but seemingly Hummingbird is quite possibly the “mind reading” algorithm and Google wants to understand what exactly is in the mind of the searchers even before it is in their mind. Here are speculations about Hummingbird algorithm that need to be considered:

  1. Keywords will go away: This is not true in entirety. The language used is the critical part of semantic analysis of the content. Now content makers need to abandon the idea of using same phrases repeatedly in the content. As a best practice have an explicit page title which defines exactly what is to follow on the page.
  2. Long tail keywords will not stay for long: Generally the aspects that actually trigger the long tail search results are inferred by Google and not exactly there in the query. Or at times the long tail search query is simplified down. With Hummingbird, the long tail queries will be defined by human needs and desires and not keyword strings.
  3. Understand the interest of the prospect: Google has been trying to achieve this for a while. They intend to understand human desires and needs and provide searchers what they exactly need. With time, searchers will be trained to avoid simple and short keywords queries and just say what they exactly want. But, this change will not happen in a day or two, Google has a long way to go. As a content publisher the focus should be on building pages for different intentions and needs of the target audience. As a best practice, map the need of the audience and accordingly design and layout your website.
  4. Semantic relevance is gaining importance: There is no doubt that content is the king and it will surely gain more importance in times to come. It is very important to write content that addresses the target audience needs and communicates the relevant needs or want. Also it is not possible to overlook the need to communicate the authority in a specific niche. Authority refers to creating in-depth content.

It is possible to imagine Google’s eventual destination, Hummingbird has only made its first mark and it is hard to predict the next step that might will be driven by specific developments in technology. As an author blogger must focus on establishing as the recognized authority in the space.

Post By 

This entry was posted in Content Writing and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *