What is Google Hummingbird?
Google Hummingbird is a major update that Google made to its search algorithm back in 2013. The reason for this update was to provide better, more helpful search results, especially for longer or more conversational searches that people make.
How was Hummingbird different from past updates?
Older search algorithms mostly looked at the individual keywords and terms people searched for. But Hummingbird takes the entire search – all the words someone enters – and tries to really understand the context and what the person wants to know.
For example, if someone searched "what's the best running shoe for bad knees," older algorithms focused on the words "running shoe" and "bad knees." Hummingbird sees the whole question and understands the person wants shoe recommendations for knee issues.
What was the main goal of Hummingbird?
Hummingbird's major goal was to give people better, more relevant search results. By seeing search queries more like a human would, and understanding the intent behind the questions, Google can match the searches with websites, articles, and information that actually answers the user's question or need.