Last time out I promised an explanation of Google’s new Hummingbird Search Algorithm. As with most changes Google makes to how we find things and make sure people can find us, Hummingbird is a big deal in the Influency world, especially in Optimization. But in a rare break from the way Google Search and Artificial Intelligence usually work, explaining Hummingbird is surprisingly simple.
Ready? Hummingbird is all about the intersection between Local Search and Literal Phrasing.
Let’s not complicate this one bit more than we need to. Google admitted years ago that they don’t understand SEO any better than the rest of us, and in most ways when a tweak gets made to the way Google sees search queries there’s very little definitive to describe what the change will and won’t do, or who will benefit and who gets hurt. But this is different. Hummingbird works on and with Google’s ‘Knowledge Graph’, which is less interested in the technical aspects of search than in what we mean when we ask Google a question.
So here’s how you boost your Influency in the face of Hummingbird: start thinking literally and conversationally. In other words, do your Content Marketing with an eye and ear toward how people ask questions, such as “where is the best pizza in New York?“. The old “seed your content with ‘pizza’ and ‘new york'” trick won’t work nearly as well as actually posing the kinds of questions people ask, within your content. And while this doesn’t explain why we rank highly for the phrase “naked women like showing it off”, it shows why we won’t—and shouldn’t—for very much longer.
The most effective object of Influency, as I told you here, is you. And while the overall picture just keeps getting more complicated, Hummingbird is enough of a break from Google’s traditional search practices that you can actually take advantage of it in a straightforward and simple way … as long as you know what questions people are asking.
Not sure what those questions are and how they relate to your prospective customers finding you? It’s why we’re here.
