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.