Google has, from time to time, changed their algorithms in an attempt to bring us what they claim to be better results in the end. Well, the Panda update in the past did not sit too well with some website owners, and this time around, there is the new “Hummingbird” update which was announced by Google at a Menlo Park garage which Google was first incubated in its early years. Google has decided to remain mum on the kind of technology that ran the algorithm, but it did mention that Hummingbird “makes results more useful and relevant, especially when you ask Google long, complex questions.”
Google claims that humans have begun to use ever more sophisticated, conversational queries, while making the move away from short directed terms. After all, folks these days tend to be more likely to write complex and perhaps some might even say long winded stories, and these are very difficult to parse for the search engine. Hence, the shift to a more conversational tone is required to be part of the search engine’s repertoire. According to a Google spokesperson, “Hummingbird pays more attention to each word in the query, ensuring the whole query is taken into account – so if a resulting page is a bit less strong in general, but it’s the most relevant to your search terms, that’s the result you’ll get. And if there are plenty of relevant matches to your search terms, Hummingbird does a better job picking the strongest page for you.”
I am awaiting the backlash from some websites that have been configured SEO-wise to make the most out of Panda. Will we see sudden drops in PageRank for some?
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