The Surprisingly Google Hummingbird

Google has become one of the influential online companies in the world, and it is evolving quite rapidly. Google invests significant sums in research and development, and are quickly adapting to market needs.

A few months ago, Google started to implement some major changes in their search engine, an update called Enhanced Campaigns. Enhanced Campaigns provides a new look for search results to mobile technology users, and modifies the Penguin 2.1 scripts, as well as some other technical updates. To the typical user, Google search has same look and the same feel.

Algorithm Codename “Hummingbird”

Is the most recent update announced during the Google’s 15th birthday celebration and represents, many would say, the most radical change since 2001. It is a totally new search algorithm, not just a tweak in functionality, and affects almost 90% of all searches. Surprisingly, Google implemented and launched Hummingbird before any announcement was made.

Hummingbird is an update, if it can called update, focused on understanding what the user wants. It tries to better understand the inputted search language and provide more accurate answers. The previous updates implemented in the algorithm, were aimed at gathering information, like more frequent website indexing and spam content identification. Looking into the past, Hummingbird was the next logical step.

What Hummingbird Changes in Search?

Until now, Google search, like most other search engines, was examining each word in the search and used a “brute force” approach to identify matching results individually and also as a whole. But now, the biggest improvement they made is in long search queries. Now Google is reviewing the entire query and processes its meaning.

It is trying to understand the user’s search needs so it will deliver a more pertinent response, and a better result. Talking about an algorithm is strange but Google is trying to make the internet more human; it is trying to make its search engine understand the language humans use to communicate.

Most people will not notice this, as they are used to making searches in short words. Many will take for granted the search results and not care about what is behind the search interface. But with long and complex queries, Google Hummingbird actually provides better answers.

Image Licensed Under Attribution

Now, if you search “car service near my house”, you won’t get a wiki article about cars, some map results based on your location or some websites with page titles “my house”, anymore. (We hope!) The Hummingbird algorithm will understand what you want to search and provide actual locations of different car services near your house, based on the address you provided Google as home address in Google Maps.

Try a search on your computer and you will probably see the difference!

How About the Mobile Searches?

Another significant change is in mobile searches. On smartphones users tend to type less on the phone keyboard, unlike the computer or laptop keyboard. It is simply harder. So the input queries made from mobile devices also tend to be shorter. But with voice search, this trend reverses. Voice searches get more longer and more complex, and more conversational.

With Hummingbird, Google is ready and able to meet these different demands, making sure they offer the best voice queries possible. Combine this powerful algorithm with Google Glass and Google’s Knowledge Graph, with its more than 570 million unique concepts and relations, and the results are amazing.

The sequential queries are now understood by Google. A frequently used example is a Google Glass user searching “When was the internet invented?” The result was followed by the question “And by whom?”

Also, signed-in users will benefit even more than before. And the Android users know what I’m talking about. Google tries to provide an even better web experience in addition to searches. It offers extra information based on the user location or saved locations, social connections, previous searches and even based on the time of day.

With Hummingbird, Google is preparing for the frequent quick and verbal interactions that are commonplace today. They are making their search engine better for everyday living.

Michael Rolph

About the Author:

Michael Rolph, is a freelance writer and the owner of Wheel Media web design company based in San Francisco. He is endlessly fascinated by online marketing and its role in business.