In September 2013, the 15th anniversary of the existence of the supreme oracle of the internet, Google, was celebrated.

In addition to all this celebration and "festivities," some changes to the tool were also announced, which I like to call an evolution rather than a modification, because they have evolved, and VERY WELL, the way they present the results of a Google search.

On September 26th, a press conference was held where these great developments were announced, as well as the launch of a new algorithm called Humminbird. Which literally means "Hummingbird" in Portuguese. How cute! ♥

This release shocked the vast majority of people. “"marketers"” e “"seozeiros"” On duty. Digital marketing professionals were even more surprised to discover that this algorithm had already been in operation for at least 30 days! WOW!

Imagine the faces of these people (including mine) when they discover something that greatly influences their work has been running for at least a month and nobody told them? What's going on here, Uncle Google?

But in reality, for real, let's be honest: How does this new algorithm, Beija-flor, influence my work or my company on the web? A lot!

Let's start from the beginning, of course, with the words of the Google staff themselves:

[divider style=”dotted”]

“ You can pull up your phone and say to Google: “Tell me about Impressionist artists.” You'll see who the artists are, and you can dive in to learn more about each of them and explore their most famous works.”

[divider style=”dotted”]

What does this mean? It means that Beija-flor will present results related to searches made with compound phrases, contexts, meanings, and not just keywords scattered to the wind.

The results, which will be answers as a result of this evolution, will become simpler, faster, and most importantly... intelligent.According to Google, this algorithm is much smarter because it will give you the answers and also comparisons of the information.

You'll no longer have to search through the displayed results because, right on the Google screen, you'll find your answer. Right there. Ready to go. Faster. Easier. (Google, I ♥ you)

Furthermore, they evolved the way searches are done via smartphones.

[divider style=”dotted”]

“It's cleaner and simpler, optimized for touch, with results clustered on cards so you can focus on the answers you're looking for.“

[divider style=”dotted”]

The results will be divided into "blocks," designed with touch technology in mind, featuring a clean and simple design so that your focus is directed to what you are really looking for.

Google's intention is to give you good answers with a simple tap of your finger, anticipating the information you need, facilitating your search and delivering what you want.

With these changes, Google is basically keeping the user on their results screen for longer.

And what's good about that? Ad exposure! Think about it: with this increase in user browsing time on Google, your ad will be seen by the user for longer, and if it's a really good and eye-catching ad, there will be clicks! I can even see a little smile on their face and that sound: "Hmmmmm…"“

This is the primary goal of this evolution of Uncle Google.

The second objective in this evolution is to massively increase searches performed via smartphones. Why? Because the Hummingbird isn't just a pretty name; it's very intelligent and learns a lot from what you do.

Every search performed on your phone is analyzed by the algorithm, every click made through that search is analyzed by it, and every result is also analyzed by it. That's why it's extremely intelligent and learns from EVERYTHING you do. The more you search, the more it learns, and the more complex questions it answers, the better.

[divider style=”dotted”]

“Google will keep reinventing itself to give you all you need for a simple and intuitive experience. At some point, pulling out a smartphone to do a search will feel as archaic as a dial-up modem.”

Amit Singhal, SVP of Search

[divider style=”dotted”]

The Hummingbird algorithm will give Google the ability to evolve smartphone searches, and the information search experience will be infinitely more complex.

And what else do we know about this? Humminbird (Hummingbird)?

We also know that it will affect nothing more, nothing less than 90% of all existing searches on the planet.

And how is it possible that all this happened, at least 30 days before the presentation of the new algorithm, and no webmaster noticed? When Google launched Penguin, which only affected 3% of all web searches, it was almost like a 12.5 magnitude earthquake? Imagine 90%!!!

This simply shows that this new algorithm won't directly impact search quality; instead, it will take into account artificial intelligence, data retrieval, and HOW and WHY this data is accessed and presented to the user. Does that make sense?

When asked about the impact of the Hummingbird, Amit Singhal simply replied: "With more complex searches, the algorithm can better understand the relationship between concepts and words, as well as the relationships they have with each other."“

To put it more simply: Humminbird will focus on the natural language processing of web content and will be even more visible in "long tail" conversations, that is, more specific topics.

If you do a generic Google search, for example "diving," you'll get more in-depth information on the topic, not just diving equipment. It will identify more detailed information on the subject, with greater breadth and detail.

TIP: The key to achieving this new goal is to work on this depth, thoroughly explore the topic you intend to write about, have well-established sources, reputable publications, and long, detailed, and descriptive articles.

So Thiagão, explain to me how the Hummingbird will actually impact Google search results?

Well, what this new tool offers is the ability to answer complex questions, predict search intent related to a phrase, and keep the user on Google longer to increase ad exposure, improving the search experience and, of course, revenue ($$).

All the applications and techniques already used to create good quality content with SEO (Optimization) in mind will still be used and accepted, however, what we will see in Google's SERP are more social results, a good conversational experience.

To summarize the story, the Panda algorithm will continue to penalize bad content, the Penguin algorithm will continue to target low-quality content, and the Hummingbird algorithm has arrived to index social, intelligent, and extremely high-quality content.

Before finishing this post, I want to leave you with some very important tips:

Focus on Google+I'm not saying it will make a difference today or tomorrow, but I've always said and argued that even if this social network isn't "booming," Google won't stop analyzing the content published on it, especially now with Beija-Flor indexing commented social content.

The Google+ +1 button is not a ranking factor… yet.Create a strong community around the topic you're most passionate about, share intelligent and high-quality content, and focus on the content, not the reach.

Yes, you can use Google+ hashtags, but in moderation, okay? They are being monitored and will be a good indicator for future developments in the hummingbird population.

Make more Hangouts with Google+: Have you noticed that most Google searches start with a video on the first screen? #ficadica

Well, that's it folks. If anyone has any further thoughts on what I've written above, feel free to comment below and help us improve the content and learning.

See you soon, and let's focus on the content!