Keyword Research - The Hummingbird Effect
Google loves using animals to announce changes to their algorithm.
Previous updates were called 'Penguin' and 'Panda', which sounds pretty cute; unless you're a website owner or SEO specialist...
For those of us living in the digital space, it means that our world is about to be turned upside down.
And that can suck, BIG TIME...
I don't know how many of you are fans of the 'The Matrix', or 'How to Train your Dragon', but a few days ago, I had a moment where I actually said;
"Whoa...this changes EVERYTHING...".
What is Hummingbird? - Why should you care?
This might be old news for a lot of you, but I think it could be a huge game changer for a lot of WA members.
Hummingbird was a major shift in how the Google algorithm calculates the signifigance of keywords in content.
The main focus was to give Google the ability to understand the intent of the person making the search.
When Hummingbird was officially announced on October 24th, 2013, it was one of the deepest revamps of the core algorithm ever made.
Some would say that even now, it's probably one of the most significant.
But why?
What's the Big Deal? - How does it Work?
Let's take an example.
Before Hummingbird, Google might pick keywords out of content, and interpret their meaning almost literally.
(That's one of the reasons keyword stuffing used to work in the old days)
Google would see more relevant keywords, and give bloggers extra points for having them in their content.
Not any more...
Let's say I did a search for "Best Indian in Town".
Before Hummingbird, this search might have brought up some wonky results like winners for a Halloween costume contest, or pictures of Native North Americans in the old West.
With hummingbird in place, the AI in the algorithm can actually interpret and understand that my intent was to look for a good Indian restaurant close to where I live.
The results will include a listing of several Indian restaurants in my area, some 5 star ratings, and a map to show me how to get there.
That's the difference...
How does this Affect us as Affiliate Marketers?
I know. I know. Get to the point Steve!
OK. This is just my understanding of what this means to us as blog writers, and what to take away from it.
The first impression I have is that while it's still important for us to choose and place our keywords strategically, we need to take a step back.
Hummingbird makes it even more essential for us to write for our audience.
I'm a bit of a technical geek, so I've been very meticulous about putting my keywords in my titles, first paragraph, and last paragraph of every post.
But do I really need to? How fussy do I have to be?
I think the answer is that I still need to put my original keyword in the URL, and the title of my article.
However, I might be able to get away with using a related keyword(or LSI) in place of the actual keyword in the first or last paragraphs of my article if it sounds more natural to do so.
The AI in the algorithm is going to understand what the central message of my content is, and the relevance of the LSI to the article.
I can let go of the reins a little bit, and focus more on my writing. Nice!
But what's the catch?
The Bittersweet Truth - There's more Work on the Front End...
That being said, I think we really need to do a lot of research on the topics we write about so that the content is important to our audience.
This could make all the difference between us writing a really structurally solid article that nobody wants to read, and a post that goes viral.
I don't know about you guys, but going forward, I'm going to spend more time looking at how I can put an intersting spin on my subject matter.
I'm going to care less about the actual target keywords, and try to make my writing sound as natural as possible.
In a way, Hummingbird gives us more freedom to find our voice as writers; to really speak to our readers, and put their needs first.
Wrapping Up - Why did I Write this Blog?
There are a lot of reasons why I wanted to share this finding with all of you.
One of them was to warn you...
Recently, I watched the training video that Jay did on keywords, and decided to change a few of my keywords to make them sound more natural.
True, I had some articles with nonsensical phrases for keywords, and they sounded a bit weird.
HOWEVER, once you switch a keyword, you have to update the alt tags in your pictures, especially your featured images.
It can become a mountain of work in no time.
Please, please, please, DON'T do what I did!
Trust me, you're much better off leaving your crappy old articles as they are, and just writing new stuff using better practices. SUCK IT UP, AND MOVE ON!
It will save you time, frustration, sleep, and keep your hair on your head.
The other reason I wanted to put this post out is to see what you all thought of this topic.
I know a lot of you are very smart people, and I really want to hear your thoughts on how Hummingbird affects us.
So how about it?
What's your take on this?
P.S. - If you want to do some reading about Hummingbird on your own, just do a search for "Hummingbird" and "Moz" together. There's some good articles there for you to go through.
Recent Comments
16
Little Yoda saves the day, I actually want to pick up that tiny green Yoda and put him in my pocket for keeps... moving on thank you to Hummingbird!
A great feature to finding better results while searching and for your content too, it makes sense and glad thats in place throughout the net. It helps finding content better,
Thanks for the heads up about keywords and it is best to make it sound natural and as if you are writing to a friend, being helpful... thanks very much;)
Nice information on the Hummingbird effect on Keywords.
Fortunately those of us who follow the way we are taught here do it right the first time.
Like you said doing it wrong takes so much fine to fix.
So following the WA way is so beneficial for us all.
Thanks for extra references.
Hey jghwebbrand,
I agree that the training at WA is decent, but I see it as more of a good starting point.
I'm not convinced that simply following the WA training is going to prevent any costly mistakes.
At least not for everyone.
I completed the Online Entrepreneur Certification some time in June of this year, and watched the training with Jay maybe 2 months ago to fine tune my methods.
In order to dig even deeper, I completed the SEMRush Academy Fundamentals of SEO as well, where I found out about the importance of Hummingbird.
Currently, I'm digging into the Google Garage Digital Marketing Course to further round out my knowledge.
I think it's a bit dangerous to encourage people to limit the scope of their learning, especially if that's where their enthusiasms lead them.
True, I'm a bone head, and I did some really dumb stuff, and I'll probably continue to do some really dumb stuff, but that's a part of being human.
Who ever learned to ride a bike without skinning their knees?
I sincerely doubt that nobody else on the WA platform has never made a mistake by following the "WA Method".
In fact, I would argue that we all need to give ourselves permission to do so, and consider it a foregone conclusion that it's going to happen despite our best efforts.
If I didn't think there were other people on the WA platform that would get some value out of knowing about Hummingbird, I never would have written this blog.
Why would I bother?
The training at WA is good, but it's not perfect. Nothing ever is. And that's OK.
But I think there's a lot of value in looking at something from a few different angles. To hear more than one point of view.
The opinions of the folks at MOZ, SEMRush, and yes, even Google, especially Google, are very valuable to me.
Which brings me to my closing statement, thank you for sharing YOUR point of view.
Even if I don't agree with you, I appreciate you taking the time to express your thoughts, and support WA.
WA is totally awesome, but do you really think they have a monopoly on affiliate training?
Let's keep an open mind here, guys...
I would agree that there is nothing to loose by using other sources and everything to gain.
What I am saying is that we need to follow the basics and be sure to stick with those first and then we can expand.
Thank you for your full expression of why it is beneficial to look at other resources..
Thanks Steve. It's important to keep up with Google's algorithm changes if we are to succeed in this business. Hummingbird sure does sound interesting and I'll definitely check it out. Jim
Thanks for reading!
I'm still pretty new to affiliate marketing, but I've learned to anticipate Googles' algorithm changes with a certain amount of dread.
Who's going to lose traffic? How? Why? Is it going to be me? Bloody hell...
These questions start ripping through my head almost right away...
There's no doubt that each change us anticipated with dread. I have seen massive changes with the rankings of my own posts over the years. But there's no way around it and we need to learn to adjust to each of those changes..
I'm just waiting for the one that's called Cougar, it might just move to fast for me to keep up.
Thank you, Steve for writing this very clear and concise for us non technical people! It was a GREAT read and makes perfect sense!
Jeff
Thanks Jeff!
I really just wanted to help people fine tune their methods, and avoid costly mistakes.
Cheers man!
Much appreciated, Steve! I think this post will help a lot of people here! Take care!
Jeff
See more comments
Updating the old posts can learn from the mistakes we made to avoid making same mistakes in our new posts. Your intent is kind to remind us the coming improvements need. Thank you.