Insights:What’s All the Buzz About Hummingbird?

If you pay attention to search engine optimization for your website, you may have heard about Google’s most recent change to its search algorithm called “Hummingbird.” This release came out in September and affected almost 90% of search queries.

So the big question is, what does the Hummingbird update mean for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

I have been following many experts in SEO and have found there is disagreement on how Hummingbird will really impact SEO. Some believe this is a huge change and will require companies to overhaul their website content and focus largely on social media. Others say the change should not affect your webpage search results if you have been doing SEO correctly for the past few years.

Because there is so much confusion about the Hummingbird change, let’s take a look at what we really know.

 • Google has provided very little information explaining what changes Hummingbird brings with it.

• Google released the Hummingbird change at least one month (some say three months) before they announced it to the public. If 90% of search results were affected, the general public didn’t notice.

• Google is constantly working on making improvements to their search algorithm. In one year alone, they made over 500 changes to their search algorithm. More changes are coming as technology continues to evolve.

• Hummingbird is a complete overhaul of their current search algorithm. This isn’t just an update as the past several changes have been.

• Natural language search queries will be more important than ever before. Google is looking for content that answers the user’s question.

• Google will continue to work on tying social media signals into their results. Social media interaction is and will be important for businesses.

The reality is Google is looking for quality, optimized content. Every company should work with their marketing partner to create a content strategy that includes how to communicate your brand message effectively on your website as well as the various social media channels. 

Insight Marketing Design helps clients answer these questions:

1. Where should my company be in the social space?

2. How can I get customers interacting with me on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites?

3. What content are my potential clients are looking for?

4. Is my content useful and optimized?

5. How do I update my content to keep it fresh?

6. How should content be repurposed for social media? 

7. How can we integrate social media into our current marketing efforts? 

The key to weathering the constantly changing search engine parameters is to provide your audience up-to-date, relevant content that works across all platforms.

  

Next week’s topic – Does anyone read ad copy?