Kenneth Wisnefski, October 10, 2013
The industry is abuzz once again related to an update by Google. Unlike it’s more nasty and mean spirited predecessors, the Hummingbird update is less of a concern and more of an enhancement. Driven by the evolving nature in which web users actually engage the Google search engine, the new algorithm will provide more insight in to what has long been called "Conversational Search". Focused on the undeniable migration of search being done more and more by mobile devices, Hummingbird will provide mobile users with a more useful return of results.
So, what does this all mean for your business and your rankings? In my eyes, the update enables companies that don’t have great visibility around branded terms to actually begin to see more benefit from conversational based search queries. I feel the update begins to level the playing field and that the fight for prime natural search real estate has expanded once again.
Make no mistake, any update has winners and losers but in this scenario, the losers are those that haven’t begun to evolve with the changing of web users in general. Web users are more experienced now...more savvy. They don’t enter generic terms to the degree they once did, they want more specifics…they want more focused results. As usual, Google continues to move in the right direction and for the most part, we can all consider this Hummingbird, relatively friendly!
