Google SEO Update

1.
POV
Contact
Herndon
Hasty
Herndon.Hasty@iprospect.com
Jeremy
Hull
Jeremy.Hull@iprospect.com
Ryan
Mayberry
Ryan.Mayberry@iprospect.com
www.iProspect.com
Copyright
2013
©
iProspect,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved
Google’s
Hummingbird Update
September
2013

2.
»
2
Copyright
2013
©
iProspect,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
The Hummingbird Rollout
On
September
26,
Google
revealed
the
existence
and
prior
rollout
of
a
new
algorithm
approach,
which
it
code-­‐named
“Hummingbird.”
The
Hummingbird
update
was
specifically
targeted
at
better
understanding
and
breaking
down
very
long
search
phrases
and
questions
in
order
to
arrive
at
results
that
better
match
the
intent
of
questions.
In
the
same
vein
of
Google’s
Knowledge
Graph
updates
and
move
toward
semantic
signals,
the
key
concept
of
the
Hummingbird
update
is
user
intent.
While
the
Penguin
and
Panda
updates
adjusted
a
pre-­‐existing
formula
to
knock
out
low-­‐quality
content
and
links,
Hummingbird
appears
to
be
an
update
to
the
underlying
engine—along
the
lines
of
Google's
increased
ability
to
map
synonyms
over
time.
In
this
way,
Hummingbird
is
similar
to
Google’s
Caffeine
update,
which
made
indexing
faster
and
put
a
higher
premium
on
pages
that
are
more
recent.
The
Hummingbird
algorithm
will
still
include
many
old
factors
(such
as
PageRank)
but
will
be
more
effective
at
including
newer
items
like
schema.org
semantic
markup.
Though
Hummingbird
applies
to
a
much
wider
body
of
keywords
than
Penguin
and
Panda,
this
shift
that
affected
90%
of
search
queries
(by
Google’s
estimation)
happened
in
a
relatively
unnoticed
fashion
versus
the
tumult
surrounding
Penguin
and
Panda.
This
is
likely
because
the
traffic
affected
by
Hummingbird’s
improvements,
while
making
up
a
huge
percentage
of
the
unique
search
phrases
used
by
Google
search
visitors
on
a
daily
basis,
constitutes
very
low
volume
compared
to
the
shorter
phrases
targeted,
monitored,
and
seen
by
most
brands
and
site
owners.
Hummingbird
affects
the
long-­‐tail
of
the
long-­‐tail.
Where Google is Heading
Not
only
do
these
very
long
search
phrases
collectively
(if
not
individually)
drive
a
significant
portion
of
searches,
but
given
Android's
continued
expansion
in
mobile
generally
and
voice
commands
specifically,
these
kinds
of
phrases
are
a
strong
match
to
those
you’d
expect
to
arrive
at
when
asking
your
phone
to
help
find
something—potentially
enhancing
the
value
and
quality
of
its
mobile
search

3.
»
3
Copyright
2013
©
iProspect,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
results.
By
increasing
drive
toward
semantic
search
and
actively
encouraging
sites
to
include
semantic
markup
such
as
schema.org
to
their
content,
Hummingbird
represents
another
step
by
Google
toward
attempting
to
correctly
arrive
at
user
intent
even
more
frequently.
This
makes
the
richness
and
depth
of
the
content
on
your
site
all
the
more
important,
as
does
filling
in
as
many
contextual
clues
via
keyword
inclusion
and
semantic
markup
as
possible.
The
ability
to
better
parse
long
queries
also
aligns
with
improving
the
experience
for
mobile
users,
who
are
increasingly
turning
to
voice
search
and
voice
commands
on
Google’s
growing
Android
platform
and
utilizing
voice
searches
on
Google
across
all
devices.
Smaller
screens
in
the
mobile
world
also
make
delivering
information
faster
and
more
direct—such
as
those
in
Google’s
Knowledge
Graph
(also
fueled
in
part
by
semantic
markup).
By
improving
the
ability
to
arrive
at
a
quick
answer
to
a
long
question
via
Hummingbird,
Google
is
equipping
itself
to
better
serve
both
mobile
users
in
general
and
voice
search
users
in
particular.
This
also
aligns
well
with
some
of
the
innovations
and
approaches
taken
within
Google
Glass’s
platform,
by
which
a
user
may
start
with
a
single
small
phrase
(a
person’s
name,
for
example)
and
carry
the
context
of
that
search
with
them
into
their
next
question
(‘when
was
he
born?’)
without
having
to
explicitly
say
the
person’s
name
again.
Search
as
a
conversation,
being
a
natural
extension
of
a
more
semantic
approach,
would
be
well
served
by
improved
abilities
to
make
sense
of
longer
phrases.
Impact & Considerations
Based
on
the
areas
and
phrases
affected
by
Hummingbird,
iProspect
recommends
reviewing
the
following
areas
of
your
SEO
and
content
strategies:
Increase
the
detail
of
your
article
and
product-­‐level
content.
As
Google
works
harder
to
determine
intent
and
meaning
behind
search
phrases,
a
high
level
of
detail
in
your
content—especially
for
pages
targeted
toward
longer-­‐tail
terms—opens
increased
opportunities
to
rank
for
a
wider
range
of
terms

4.
»
4
Copyright
2013
©
iProspect,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
and
to
provide
Google
with
content
that
can
be
matched
to
a
wider
range
of
search
phrases.
Expand
your
content.
Developing
deeper
catalogs
of
meaningful
content
can
also
position
your
brand
to
be
the
answer
to
a
wider
range
of
queries.
Integrating
user-­‐generated
content
(UGC)
modules
(whether
adding
reviews
to
existing
pages
or
allowing
wider
posting
by
your
visitors
on
forums
and
image/video
collections)
can
not
only
help
enhance
the
reach
of
your
current
pages
but
more
quickly
expand
your
content
catalog—while
keeping
your
content
fresh.
Include
schema.org
markup
on
your
pages
and
templates.
The
drive
toward
semantic
search
is
definitely
not
going
away.
Hummingbird
comes
on
the
heels
of
Google’s
efforts
to
encourage
sites
to
include
semantic
markup—specifically
Schema.org
markup—in
their
content
to
more
thoroughly
identify
data
points
and
create
connections
to
wider
concepts.
If
you
aren't
adding
semantic
markup
to
our
sites,
or
making
use
of
Google
Webmaster
Tools'
data
highlighter
as
a
temporary
alternative,
you're
a
step
behind
those
who
are,
and
the
gap
is
growing
fast.
Pose
content
as
answers
to
questions.
Long-­‐tail
queries
and
question-­‐based
informational
searches
make
up
a
tremendous
amount
of
search
volume
collectively.
While
many
brands
focus
their
efforts
on
searches
that
are
more
closely
tied
to
direct
responses,
answering
questions
that
shoppers
and
your
audience
are
asking—even
those
that
may
be
only
tangentially
related
to
what
you
ultimately
want
them
to
consider
buying—can
act
as
a
huge
draw
for
visitors
and
brand
exposure.
This
in
turn
builds
a
larger
audience
for
your
brand
and
offerings
over
time,
creating
a
long-­‐term
business
case
for
investing
in
developing
content
related
to
query-­‐based
searches,
long-­‐tail
concepts,
and
a
wider
content
base
that
looks
beyond
immediate
direct
response.
Optimize
for
the
mobile
user.
In
addition
to
supporting
semantic
search,
the
ability
to
better
parse
voice
commands
and
questions
should
add
further
attention
to
optimizing
your
site
for
mobile
search
(via
Google's
recommended
base
platform
of
a
responsive
design
website)
and
to
developing
content
that
can
attract
and
enable
mobile-­‐specific
searchers
(who
tend
to
use
phrases
that
are
more
localized
in
nature).