Google unleashes Hummingbird algorithm today - watch your traffic

[Digital Doctor]

Google unleashes Hummingbird algorithm

http://insidesearch.blogspot.ca/2013/09/fifteen-years-onand-were-just-getting.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/26/google_algo_update/

Though Google declined to discuss the technology underlying the algorithm – a depressing break with the past – it did tell us that Hummingbird "makes results more useful and relevant, especially when you ask Google long, complex questions."

"Hummingbird pays more attention to each word in the query, ensuring the whole query is taken into account – so if a resulting page is a bit less strong in general, but it's the most relevant to your search terms, that's the result you'll get," a Google spokesperson told El Reg. "And if there are plenty of relevant matches to your search terms, Hummingbird does a better job picking the strongest page for you."

The algorithm was deployed several weeks ago and is involved in 90 per cent of Google's search queries, we understand.

Wonder if it will increase or decrease traffic to the average site ?

 

[Adam Howard]

So far Google's new algorithm seems work good for me. Brings up what I'm looking for on the first try & also points me to alternative sources. I don't seem to mind it.

 

[OSS 117]

Nice to see Google moving away from the zoo animal spirit.

 

[craigiri]

Looks like my drone site is maybe 10% down from goog search - and the hearth site is way up...although both could be seasonally caused.

I think google is like AI in that it continually learns from results, so that the results will change as their db is updated. Example - if a lot of people search a term and then go to a site and leave there quickly, that link may be moved down the list.

 

[RickM]

It's killing us right now. At the beginning of the year we were at about 20k a month. After the latest penguin update, that dropped to just under 10k. Now with this update its looking like we'll be at around 2k!

All this despite working to mitigate the effects of penguin, and having great scores on all Google Webmaster tools.

 

[craigiri]

It's killing us right now. At the beginning of the year we were at about 20k a month. After the latest penguin update, that dropped to just under 10k. Now with this update its looking like we'll be at around 2k!

All this despite working to mitigate the effects of penguin, and having great scores on all Google Webmaster tools.

That's too bad. All of us find ourselves somewhat reliant on the big G cheese....

I suspect, though, that your site somehow trips the triggers that they are wanting it too. That doesn't mean you do anything wrong, just that some engineers made some decisions.

For better or for worse, 75% of the value of my site is probably in the hands of one company.

 

[RickM]

That's too bad. All of us find ourselves somewhat reliant on the big G cheese....

I suspect, though, that your site somehow trips the triggers that they are wanting it too. That doesn't mean you do anything wrong, just that some engineers made some decisions.

For better or for worse, 75% of the value of my site is probably in the hands of one company.

Yeah I think a big thing that causes it to trip is our countdown tickers. We let people generate BBCode to add to other forums that shows a live countdown to their next vacation, and it links back to our site.

Might try removing the linkback for a while to see if it helps.