How will Hummingbird change SEO, if at all?
Over the past few weeks, following the announcement of the launch of Google´s new algorithm, many people have claimed that SEO is dead. However, according to an article I came across on Entrepreneur, this claim should be completely dismissed.
All factors that SEO marketers have considered paramount for ranking still matter, the article states. These include creating compelling content and legitimate back links, as well as carefully selected and placed keywords. In fact, the only thing that is altered is the way Google interprets search queries.
The Hummingbird algorithm, as we all know by now, is better at placing words within context and deciphering user´s intent for searching. This means that Google not only wants to return results that contain words featured in the query, but will also guess why the user needs this information and what they plan to do with it. This was just a step forward from the Conversational Search that Google launched two years ago.
Overall, it seems that Hummingbird has been designed to make users happy, and rightly so. After all, Google may be vastly dominant in the world of search but it has to maintain its position as leader.
So what can websites do to take advantage of Hummingbird? Be creative and original. The more pages with original content there are, the higher the chance that content published there will answer search engine queries. The new algorithm also gives SEO specialists the opportunity to introduce more long-tail keywords. It is also important to cover a wide range of topics and include different types of content, including videos and infographics.
In essence, Hummingbird opens more doors than it closes. Webmasters just need to be inventive to make it work for them, the website concludes. Coming up with original content regularly, however, can be a challenge. If you need a helping hand, M2 Bespoke are content generation experts; we produce tailored, quality-written online content for a variety of sectors. Contact us today and see how we can help.
By Ben Hollom