What is Google Hummingbird?
Google’s latest algorithm change was launched a month ago and has changed the way the search engine finds information for the Google user. Before the update Google’s searches weren’t great when it came to giving answers to questions as the search algorithm is Keyword based not question.
Over recent years this has started to become more of an issue with the advances in mobile technology and peoples search patterns. People are asking more questions than before, which has been primarily lead by voice activated searches (We seem to ask questions when we speak and type relevant words when we type).
For example if we typed “Why are Apples Red?” into Google you would be more likely to get information about buying red apples than answering your question; this simplifies it somewhat but helps you get the gist.
Hummingbird changes this and now you should hopefully get more relevant answers to your search query.
This is what Matt Cutts had to say on the subject a few months ago.
Does Google Hummingbird changed what I need to do with my website?
The quick answer is yes not only has Goolge changed its algorithm to accommodate the spoken word and more question like searches, people are actually searching in this way.
So even if you forget about what Goolge is doing for a minute more and more search queries are question based this means even if Google stood still questions and answers to questions would be more important than before. As you can see Google hasn’t stood still and we need to more with the time.
I would expect more changes to be rolled out over the coming months and years as Google fine tunes its Hummingbird algorithm and more of us start to search in this way. It really is starting to get very Sci-Fi, the days of Captain Kirk speaking to the ships computer and getting all the information he requires spoken back to him are starting to look like a reality.