Are you unsure what changes you need to make to your website since Google released its latest update - Google Hummingbird? Are you unsure what Google Hummingbird even is? In this article I will be discussing what Google Hummingbird is and what impact it has on your website. I will also be outlining some changes you can make to your website in order to be able to battle against the latest Google algorithm!
What is Google Hummingbird?
Google’s new algorithm update is called Google Hummingbird and this name comes from being fast and precise. This new update has been designed to pay more attention to every word within a search query through Google, rather than just concentrating on one particular word within the query. You may have noticed this yourself from just doing day to day searches through Google. You may have noticed that now when you search a question or query you can discover the answer straightaway instead of having to go though pages and pages of Google results.
It is believed that this algorithm update has changed and affected up to 90% of all questions and queries searched on Google compared to the Panda and Penguin algorithm update which affected around 2 to 5 % of all questions and queries searched on Google. If you want to learn more about the Panda and Penguin algorithm update read this article 5 WaysTo Update Your Website For Google Rankings Since Penguin And Panda.
What is the impact Google Hummingbird has on your website?
Google Hummingbird has a massive impact on your website and is now looking for great content throughout your website. In the past Google would look for certain words used in a search and then show what they think would be best for you. The majority of the time Google did show related websites to your search but after this update you will now see much more related websites come up. If you did a search on someting this time last year and then the same search today, you would be able to see for yourself how Google has transformed it ‘s search function to match your whole query. Coming back to your website, this means that you need to make sure the content on your site not only includes relevant information, but also answers questions that your potential customers may be asking. The more questions you answer within your content the more Google will love your website.
What changes to make to your website
There are a number of changes you can make to your website in order for Google hummingbird to really score your website high. Here are four changes you can make to your website in order to do this:
- Produce Informative Content
It is crucial that you produce informative content which you can add to your website. You want to make sure within every page of your website you have relevant informative content. You may feel that with the industry you are in, or service you offer there is not much you can write about but you would be wrong. No matter what your business is or does there is always a ton of information you can write about it. If you offer a range of services then spit each service up on your website and create a new page for each one. This will give you the chance to write everything you do within that specific service. When doing this, make sure you include what the service is and then go in and talk about how this can benefit the customer. If Google can see that you have informative content on your website with real detail, there will be no reason why Google would not like your website. Producing great content will mean that keywords will naturally flow throughout your website.
- Produce Regular Content to Add to Your Website
Add regular content to your website. You probably hear this all the time, that’s because it is imperative that you do it. Not only will this mean that your website will soon become very informative with lots of information, but also Google loves to see updates being made to your website. Google is all about showing the most relevant and the most up-to-date results, so if Google can see that you are making regular content updates to your website then it will certainly help your website get found. However, you do not just want to add content for the sake of adding content. You need to make sure that every bit of content you write and add is 100% relevant to your business. So again, similar to the point about producing informative content, you want to make sure the content you are writing is specific to your business and the services you offer. You would not just write a random bit of content which has nothing to do with your website as Google will be able to pick up on what your website is about, so they will know if your content is relevant or not. If you truly know about your business services and the industry you are in, producing content will be very easy for you.
- Answer Questions When Writing New Content
Answering questions in your content is also very important. With the new Google Hummingbird update Google is now all about showing results for exactly what the user wants to find. So if you are answering questions within your Content on your website you stand a much greater chance of Google picking up on this and ranking your website higher in the SERP’s. When writing content previously it was all about fitting keywords within it, but now you have to be much more refined and address questions within your new content whilst at the same time including keywords and phrases.
- Fully Optimise Every Page on your Website
Making sure every page on your website if fully optimised will help your website. Not only does Google look at your content but it also looks at how optimised each page is within your website. You may not even know where to start with this but there are some great easy steps you can follow.
The first thing you can do is to make sure every Title Tag on your website is 100% relevant to that page and that it also includes some of your keywords, but in a way that Google can class it as answering a question. The next point is to make sure you have Meta Keywords and Meta Descriptions on every page. For the keywords section you would want to make sure all the keywords are relevant to that page. For the description you again want to include a keyword but also make it informative. You can also make sure that all images on your website have relevant alt tags. Once you have done these things your website will now be much more optimised and in a great position to face Google.
Conclusion
A great example of a website that does all the above points very well is Wikipedia. Everyone knows that Wikipedia is filled with informative content which not only allows us to learn new facts but it answers every single question you could ever have. As well as answering questions with very informative content, it is also updated regularly and has links to other pages which relate to that information. If you take the same stance as Wikipedia have, then making the above changes to your website will become so easy. When making changes to your website always have in mind what Google Hummingbird stands for, being Fast and Precise. If people come to your website and are able to find what they are looking for straight away then your website is working and pleasing Google. Always be thinking what you can be doing to your website in order to update it.
Article by: Adam Jones
