Google Introduces Hummingbird Search Algorithm

In the first major change since 2001 Google has revised its search algorithm.  Hummingbird is optimized to focus on understanding the actual meaning behind the words in a search. Hummingbird is supposed to pay more attention to each word in a query.  Including the entire sentence of a query will find more nuanced results. Users, according to Google, are asking increasingly long, conversational, complex questions and they are using mobile phones to search as well as voice search.

Google’s basic search until now has primarily been matching keywords to the same words on Web pages. The outcomes are found in the results that Google shows a searcher.  An example of the improvements expected can be found in the following example: A search for “acid reflux prescription” used to list a lot of drugs, which might not be necessarily be the best way to treat the disease. Now, Google says results have information about treatment in general, including whether you even need drugs, such as this as one of the listings.

The choice of the name Hummingbird came from the notion of being “precise and fast.”

A more detailed look at Hummingbird can be found at Search Engine Land’s http://goo.gl/nF4Hvz

Google’s comments can be found at the Inside Search: official Google Search blog: http://goo.gl/Rd69d3