Google’s Hummingbird Update Explained and SEO Strategies

It’s universally understood that Google’s Hummingbird update changed the way the search engine produced query results. In the past, you could enter a query but then still had to sift through the results to piece together enough relevant information to get the answers you were looking for, especially if your query was nuanced. At worst, you’d have to re-enter your query with different wording until Google understood your specific request.

With the release of Hummingbird, user frustration promptly declined. The algorithm transformed how Google parsed queries, interpreting them in a more sophisticated and human-like manner.

Launch Date: August 22, 2013

Hummingbird is extremely beneficial to Google’s users. Back before Hummingbird, Google’s search results would answer your query exactly. While this might sound appealing, it wasn’t a good way to get in-depth information or answers to your questions. Many times, the search results would be short answers with no additional information or resources to help you learn more. Hummingbird changed that.

What Google Hummingbird Impacted

While your site won’t be penalized like with other algorithm updates, you aren’t doing yourself any favors by keyword stuffing or incorporating low-quality, spammy, or irrelevant content.

The Hummingbird update enables Google to better serve users by addressing not only keyword searches but also user intent. In order to do this, Hummingbird scans sites for two things:

Keyword stuffing

The Hummingbird update was created to better perceive what a user is looking for based on intent, not just on keywords. For this reason, you need to ensure that you choose your keywords carefully, and your site’s SEO should be optimized so that Google’s web crawlers know exactly what your site is about. If you don’t do a thorough job with your site map, descriptions, keywords, and any other labels Google assesses, you’ll see that your rankings will be lower than those of sites with an optimized SEO plan.

Low-quality content

Like previous Google updates—Panda and Penguin—Hummingbird aims to filter out low-quality sites, allowing users to find answers efficiently and improving overall search experience.

How The Hummingbird Algorithm Works

Unlike the Panda and Penguin updates, Hummingbird didn’t have a widespread negative effect on websites. For the most part, Hummingbird was received as a very positive update to Google’s algorithm. The goal of Hummingbird wasn’t to punish sites. The whole purpose of the update was to offer more nuanced results based less on exact keyword match and more on the semantic understanding of a query.

Hummingbird made Google search more relevant by prioritizing the intent and meaning behind queries. It also increased the use of knowledge graphs, allowing Google to understand subject matter with more nuance.

As a result of Hummingbird’s razor-sharp understanding of how we as users understand queries and keywords, there has been an overall decrease in the diversity of Google’s search results. Google is getting better and better at understanding what we want, and Hummingbird was the first step to delivering better-matched search results.

How to Update Your Website To Take Advantage of Google Hummingbird

Hummingbird is not a penalty-based update, which is great for site owners. But just because you won’t be penalized, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the update into consideration when building or editing your site.

Take advantage of keyword research tools.

Knowing what keywords to include on your site can be tricky. Using a keyword research tool can help you know what words and phrases will give your site the traffic you’re looking for: traffic that results in conversions.

Adapt to voice search.

With more and more users taking advantage of AI voice search systems like Alexa, Siri, and the Google Home, you need to consider how to adapt your keywords to those tools. When a user conducts a voice search, they tend to use a more conversational approach and are less concise in their queries. Determine what kind of phrases your target audience will use, then adjust your content accordingly.

Take advantage of synonyms.

Hummingbird searches for content that matches both the keyword and the synonyms of the keyword entered into the query. Expand your keyword research to focus on synonyms and co-occurring terms to diversify your pages.

Optimize anchor text

Your anchor text is up to you, so choose text that Google will rank highly. Use keywords in your anchor text, and make sure to surround your links with them as well.

Conclusion: Make Your Site Work for You

Hummingbird is a fantastic update to Google’s algorithm. If you use SEO effectively and build your site smartly, you’ll benefit from it. Focus on keyword research, include relevant subjects and keywords, and keep strong content on your site—your rankings will climb. Hummingbird rewards sites that are clear about content and deliver an exceptional experience to users, aligning with Google’s ultimate goal.