Hummingbird is the codename given to a significant

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

change in

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the List of most visited websites, most-visi ...

in 2013. Its name was derived from the speed and accuracy of the

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are ...

. The change was announced on September 26, 2013, having already been in use for a month. "Hummingbird" places greater emphasis on

natural language In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages ...

queries, considering context and meaning over individual keywords. It also looks deeper at content on individual pages of a website, with improved ability to lead users directly to the most appropriate page rather than just a website's homepage. The upgrade marked the most significant change to Google search in years, with more "human" search interactions and a much heavier focus on conversation and meaning. Thus, web developers and writers were encouraged to optimize their sites with natural writing rather than forced keywords, and make effective use of technical web development for on-site navigation.

History

Google announced "Hummingbird", a new search

, at a September 2013 press event, having already used the algorithm for approximately one month prior to announcement.

Features

The "Hummingbird" update was the first major update to Google's search algorithm since the 2010 "Caffeine" search architecture upgrade, but even that was limited primarily to improving the indexing of information rather than sorting through information.

Amit Singhal Amitabh Kumar "Amit" Singhal (born September 1968) is a former senior vice president at Google Inc. having been a Google Fellow and the head of Google's Search team for 15 years.Search Engine Land Danny Sullivan is an American technologist, journalist, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Search Engine Watch in 1997, one of the earliest online publications about search engine marketing. He also launched ''Search Engine Strategies'', one ...

'' that "Hummingbird" was the most dramatic change of the algorithm since 2001, when he first joined Google. Unlike previous search algorithms, which would focus on each individual word in the search query, "Hummingbird" considers the context of the different words together, with the goal that pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages matching just a few words. The name is derived from the speed and accuracy of the

. "Hummingbird" is aimed at making interactions more human, in the sense that the search engine is capable of understanding the concepts and relationships between keywords. It places greater emphasis on page content, making search results more relevant, and looks at the authority of a page, and in some cases the page author, to determine the importance of a website. It uses this information to better lead users to a specific page on a website rather than the standard website homepage.

Search engine optimization changes

Search engine optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic (known as "natural" or "organic" results) rather than dire ...

changed with the addition of "Hummingbird", with web developers and writers encouraged to use

when writing on their websites rather than using forced keywords. They were also advised to make effective use of technical website features, such as page linking, on-page elements including title tags, URL addresses and HTML tags, as well as writing high-quality, relevant content without duplication. While keywords within the query still continue to be important, "Hummingbird" adds more strength to long-tailed keywords, effectively catering to the optimization of content rather than just keywords. The use of synonyms have also been optimized; instead of listing results with exact phrases or keywords, Google shows more theme-related results.

References

{{Google Inc. Search engine optimization

Hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are ...

Computer-related introductions in 2013

History

Features

Search engine optimization changes

See also

References