09/27/2013
Happy 15th Birthday, Google!
Google has decided to give US a present this time, and what better present, than updated Search Engine algorithms! .... NOT.
The new algorithm is nicknamed "Hummingbird", and is meant to reflect on how Google users are utilizing the search engine in more 'advanced' ways, such as typing in full sentences instead of just keywords for search queries.
This is all part of their new "Caffeine" update which also includes other Google service updates, but what does it really mean?
It now means that doing a search for "gas", if you want to find a gas station by you, will now only search for definitions. Single-word searches will produce dictionary entries, THEN what you might be looking for. So, to combat this users are now encouraged to use regular phrases to aide their search, like: "gas stations near me" or "Gas stations with cheapest gas" to narrow down your choices.
Google's already started rolling out Geo-targeted websites--Websites that are targeting specific regions for content/business--so getting that "Page 1" ranking on Google Search is now tougher-than-ever. But it may mean that people won't get fluff or garbage in their search results.
Website design typically includes "Search Engine Optimization", which, previously, was how many 'keywords' you could put on a page. Originally this was done by blasting the foot of the page with any and every keyword you could think of to get attention. Then came the "Keyword" Meta tag where you could blast them there. Google caught on and started terminating those sites from search results to promote REAL content.
At this point it was generally accepted that liberally sprinkling keywords into your page's content would help your page get rankings, so that you could direct traffic that way. But with this new update, it seems that won't make a difference anymore.
Hopefully now we won't find webpages with lots of superfluous content just to bloat pages and garner more hits...
