Google's Hummingbird Update

Google has launched one of its newest changes to its search engine algorithms - The Hummingbird Update. Google Hummingbird will affect about 90 percent of the search requests submitted to Google.

The focal point of the change is more relevance to "conversational search," meaning a better understanding of concepts, meaning and intent, instead of just focusing on individual keywords.

Let's say you ask "where is the nearest gas station" in a Google search. Instead of a term like "gas station" being important, Google is trying to give you a better result by understanding what you mean by "nearest gas station."

So how can you leverage this important change in your marketing?

1. Understand the importance of asking and answering questions.

You already know that paying attention to the questions your customers and prospects ask makes for great content for your blog and newsletter. Google Hummingbird makes these questions even more powerful. So here are some great techniques that can help:

·         Start, or add to, your FAQ page on your website. Think of questions that people might plug into a Google search. Instead of answering involved questions on your FAQ page, link your response to a powerful answer on a blog post on your website.

·         Look at industry online for forums and see what questions people might be asking.

2. Put more focus on ongoing quality content.

The whole idea behind Hummingbird is to provide the user with a better quality search result. It is going to be pulling the user away from "sales" talk to useful information, which means you need to be providing relevant educational information on your website and blog. You might need to hire a marketing firm, such as Blue Dog Marketing, to create a larger amount of content and then to help you get it out to the right places.