Enter a string of search terms into Google these days and you may be surprised by just how relevant, engaging and personal the return result is. Hummingbird, the latest version of Google’s search algorithm that launched last fall, moves Google even closer to becoming a powerful answer engine by capitalizing on semantic search. Hummingbird is the final nail in the proverbial coffin for traditional SEO that relied on keyword stuffing and backlinks for achieving high page rank. In fact, unlike the Panda and Penguin updates, Hummingbird is not just an update to the search algorithm, it’s a complete replacement based on semantic search.

Google Hummingbird powers semantic search

Starting with user intent and interpretation of the query itself, semantic technology – powered by Google Hummingbird – is redefining search answers with personalized results, predictive queries and more for more conversational and dialogue-based results.

Smartphones and tablets are driving the semantic search revolution, which relies heavily on the contextualization of information rather than a few keywords. Let’s say you ask your phone, “Where is the nearest place to home to buy ABC product?” Rather than focusing solely on keywords like “buy” and “ABC product”, Hummingbird provides contextualized search results based on other words, including home and place. For example, if you have shared your “home” location with Google, Hummingbird will use this location when compiling search results – even if you are currently located in a different city. “Place” matters too; this signals to Hummingbird that you want to purchase ABC product in a bricks and mortar store, rather than buying it online.

The above example shows how Google weaves implicit intent into its search results, delivering highly localized and personalized results. In this example, your search results will highlight physical stores located near your home where you can purchase your product. No, keywords are not dead – but thanks to Hummingbird, Google is rapidly diminishing their importance and placing greater emphasis on user intent.

How semantic search is changing SEO: what your business needs to know

Not sure about the best ways to adjust your SEO strategy for semantic search? Here are two important ways to get started:

• Use structured data markup. Structured data markup is an absolute must for Hummingbird SEO. These rich data snippets are added directly to a page’s HTML markup, allowing search engines to not only crawl your site, but to truly understand it. For example, structured data makes it easy for web crawlers to quickly identify NAP (name, address place) data on your website, along with more complex data such as articles and products. Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper is one of the most useful free tools to help your business get started with structured data. To get started, simply submit a web page to the helper and use your mouse to “tag” different page elements. The Data Markup Helper will then generate sample HTML code to incorporate into your website.

• Integrate web content with Google authorship. Are you currently publishing your website content under your Google authorship identity? If not, you should. Google Authorship improves SEO by building relationships with readers, which reflects Hummingbird’s shift towards rewarding interactive, quality content. When publishing content, add the “?rel=author” at the end. Adding this extra line to the URL prompts Google to recognize you as the blog’s author. While Google does not “officially” use Author Rank to determine search results, as Google continues to emphasize the importance of claiming Google Authorship in conjunction with producing quality, relevant content, it’s a matter of when – not if – Google Author Rank becomes a factor in search results. Be sure your business is prepared!

Summary

Semantic search, powered by Hummingbird, reflects Google’s push towards delivering search results that are fully contextualized and personalized – and far away from the influence of content farming, backlink purchases and keyword stuffing. This is great news for professional services firms using content marketing to grow their businesses and develop trusted advisors status within their industries. Adopting structured data markup and Google authorship are two easy changes to give your professional services marketing a boost.