With the recent release of Google’s Hummingbird update, it’s important to know how you’ll have to tailor your SEO strategy to remain in good standing with the new changes. Now that we’ve had a few months to experience Hummingbird, it has become a bit easier to keep your rankings in place. However, there are still a few things popping up here and there that you may not know about, so we’ve decided to do a recap of sorts to help make sure everyone is up to speed on what exactly the update does.

 

 

 

 

What Do You Need To Worry About?

One of the biggest concerns whenever a major Google update comes out is whether or not it will revolutionize SEO. Fortunately, Hummingbird keeps all the fundamentals in place, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting everything you know about optimization or anything ridiculous like that. Effective content is still the best thing you can do for a website, keywords still work the same, and everything’s sunshine and rainbows. Well, for the most part anyway. There are still some major aspects of the update you should be aware of, even though nothing should worry you.

 

First and foremost, searches are now much more intelligent. There is a significantly larger emphasis on actual sentences showing correct results as opposed to splices of keywords. This means less need for long-tail keywords that sound like a robot wrote them and a bigger focus on competing for niche keywords instead. Along with smarter searches comes longer times spent on results pages. While it’s a bit too early to be able to definitively say this leads to more effective sponsored ads, it is certainly looking that way. Even though we all know we should be utilizing sponsored ads, it could be a smarter tactic now than in the past, and any websites not currently running them may quickly decide to start.

 

Luckily, there isn’t too much that actually effects what SEO specialists need to do. All in all, it’s a pretty light update in terms of what you’ll have to start doing different. Just remember that long-tailed keywords are going to change pretty drastically, so be prepared for that. Pay extra attention to how they rank in the next few months and adjust accordingly, as well as seeing how your sponsored ads to. Feel free to explore with them, too, but don’t get adventurous before we have a definitive answer on how much the ads and keywords will be impacted. Anything beyond those two aspects is business as usual. Hummingbird should be easy to adjust to, so there isn’t much you’ll have to sweat about.

Ah, the new year. Full of goals, dreams, and resolutions. This isn’t just restricted to individuals, either. If you happen to be one of those unlucky businesses who hasn’t got around to getting a site redesign, what better time to change that than the new year? After all, everyone seems to know the power of a great website, so why not go out and upgrade your online presence? We’ll do our best to give you a few pointers right now so you can make your website the best it can possibly be later on.

 

Style, Layout, and Responsiveness

Let’s jump right into what you re going to need to know before you or someone you hire starts making your site. First things first, your site has to have a strong foundation before you can fluff it up and make it look nice. This means keeping things simple and easy to navigate. No one wants to spend half an hour sifting through pages before they find what they want; organizing your pages into groups will go a long way. If you’re using an e-commerce system, put all the best-selling items in one place, then break up all the other items into their own separate categories. Having some sort of organization in place will greatly help a customer’s ability to find what they want as fast as possible.

 

 

Once you have a good basic layout for your website, it’s time to make it look appealing. This is where you really get to be creative; you want the design to convey what your business is about using nothing more than a few colors and some patterns. This can also be one of the hardest aspects to get right, and hiring a professional designer can always help. That being said, it never hurts to have an idea of what you want, even if you do end up paying someone to do it for you. Do your best to come up with what style will appeal to your audience. Having a strong design can buy you those few precious seconds when a person is deciding whether or not to stay on the site.

 

Last but certainly not least, you have to have a responsive website. This is another extremely tough part to get right, as there is so much possibility for variation. It will vary between designs, but you are essentially trying to make the website as good as you possibly can across all platforms. You will almost certainly need to hire an outside specialist for this (unless you have an employee with extensive experience in the field), but it is definitely worth it. With massively increased numbers in traffic outside of desktops, it is important to maintain a solid presence on any mobile devices out there.