Get a real understanding of Google Hummingbird and the impact it eventually had on search with Googlers and SEO experts.

Google Hummingbird is a rewrite of Google’s search algorithm that has been specifically designed for mobile devices, most notably by enabling conversational search.

Hummingbird paved the way for dramatic advancements in search. There was never any explanation of Hummingbird published by Google. Instead, Googlers have explained its meaning in the past.

Here are a few things you need to know about Google’s Hummingbird update, how it affects natural language search, and what Googlers and SEO experts have to say about it.

What is Google Hummingbird?

Google announced in September 2014 the name for its next-generation search algorithm, which is called “Hummingbird.” The change came about for two primary reasons: It was time for a major update to how Google indexes the web. The name was chosen because the new algorithm can “fly” or crawl and index the web as quickly as possible.

And the company wanted to change the perception of its products and services, which a series of privacy scandals have damaged. When it launched Hummingbird, the first thing Google did was to give its users a glimpse into how the change would work. The company posted a video online showing an actual hummingbird flying through a forest in South America. In the video, the Hummingbird is equipped with a special sensor that measures the ambient light and then uses that information to navigate. In essence, Hummingbird can see what is around it and make sense of the world in real-time. This is a huge deal for Google. With this change, the company has the opportunity to finally get to the bottom of the web, to really understand it.

Rewriting The Core Algorithm from Scratch

Former Google Software Engineer Matt Cutts described Hummingbird as a complete overhaul of the core algorithm.

In other words, it’s not a brand-new algorithm, but rather the core algorithm has been rewritten to make it more efficient.

In a video interview on December 4, 2013, Matt Cutts said that Google’s core search algorithm was rewritten to create the Hummingbird algorithm.

Hummingbird is sometimes viewed as a component of Google’s core algorithm, much like Panda and Penguin are.Matt Cutts makes it clear that Hummingbird is not a core algorithm. The algorithm has been rewritten.

It was one of the goals of the rewrite to improve the core algorithm’s ability to match queries to web pages and handle longer conversational search queries.

The Hummingbird Affected 90% Of Searches

According to Matt Cutts, the precision and quickness of hummingbirds were present in 90% of searches.

Matt said:

“So, Hummingbird impacts 90% of searches.”.

There are exceptions, but they’re usually very small because we’re telling the user that this particular document isn’t really about what they searched for, because maybe they said, “Okay, Google, now how do I put a rutabaga into space, what really counts is rutabaga and space and not how do I.”

Hummingbird Didn’t Initially Impact Seo

SEOs have recommended updating webpages for longer conversational search terms, as previously mentioned.

It does not mean that webpages should become more conversational just because Google is becoming better at understanding conversational search queries.

A video recording of Matt Goss’ 2013 Pubcon keynote speech shows him stating that Hummingbird does not negatively affect SEO.

Matt observed:

There have been a lot of articles written about Hummingbird, and even when just the code name was known, people were asking, how will this affect SEO?

It doesn’t matter that people don’t know what Hummingbird is because they’re still going to write 500 words about how it affects SEO.

It actually doesn’t have that much of an effect on SEO.”