Google’s New “Hummingbird" Algorithm & What Small Businesses Need to Know

By Vin Ferrer / Social Media Strategist, NJ Marketing Agency, Graphic D-Signs, Inc.

It’s safe to say that business takes place in both the physical and Internet world, not just in separate ways but also as one.

Getting in front of your desired audience takes diligence, a working blend of organic SEO and well-placed content, and an individual or team with superior knowledge of the SEO game.

This little guy is meant to make your life better

This team needs to maneuver through your competition, financial resources, and a well-intentioned strategy to make SEO work for you. However, they must also work with Google – the constantly changing, unforgiving, always updating key to the searchability of your business online.  

Enter the "hummingbird" algorithm: Google's latest system overhaul meant to make their search engine even more accurate and efficient. The update boasts a deeper focus on user context and the multiple meanings words may have.  

An example of this might be if you searched “best place for dinner in town.” Instead of searching out entries to those listings that best contain your particular selection of keywords, it may search based on the underlying meaning – using your geographic location to locate brick-and-mortar establishments that have achieved a high consumer ranking. A number of other factors will also be used to forecast and put forward results based on the tremendous wealth of data Google sifts through, from a variety of online locations.

Going forward, a better emphasis will be placed on every word of a search query instead of simply the main keywords involved. The mission of Google is to better serve the consumer searching out a query, and this new algorithm is intended to do just that.

This system overhaul for the mega search engine is sure to not be without its fair share of kinks, and even though it was launched a month ago, Google only saw fit to announce it this week. For a more tech-savvy listing of the algorithm additions check out this story.

Small businesses may have already experienced a fluctuation in their search rankings; however, with this new-found knowledge, they can make strides to alter their SEO strategy accordingly.

A steady stream of high quality content is bound to still yield positive effects in SEO as this is one of Google’s hallmarks. The small business owner would do well to enlist the services of content creators or at the very least create such themselves to grow or maintain a positive online community and appearance.