Google released a new search algorithm called Hummingbird in September 2013. Hummingbird aims to return more precise and relevant results by understanding the overall context and meaning behind search queries, rather than just matching individual keywords. It marks Google's most significant update to how it sorts through and analyzes the billions of web pages in its index to surface the most helpful results for users. The new algorithm focuses on conversational search and leverages Google's Knowledge Graph to return the specific pages intended by search queries.