Some of you may not be familiar with this face, but those that are in the SEO world, this man is as recognizable as Michael Jackson as the king of pop music. His name is Amit Singhal and he has for the past 15 years been the head of Google Search.  Which is a big weight to have on your shoulders for so long, and he has made huge waves in changing the way that search works, and how results are factored into search queries we do on Google every day.  He actually even took the algorithm Larry Page, one of the founders of Google, created that made Google what it is, and improved it. It made Google better and was a key member in making it the powerhouse it is now.

He has been involved with a very hands on approach in all of these improvements and has actually for the last year only done searches through mobile searches on his phone. He has wanted to see just for himself how the algorithm is affecting the now most popular way that we search.  Over 50% of the searches that are now done on Google are done through mobile devices and will continue to move in that direction.  And with these changes, he also was the head of the SEO update known as Hummingbird, which changed the game for a lot of SEO “experts” that had been using poor links and improper tactics to game the Google algorithm. Their methods actually hurt their clients websites, and have been struggling to get back to where they once were since. If you feel you’ve been affected by algorithm updates we can help you fix it.

Who is taking over?

John Giannandrea who has been over the artificial intelligence and machine learning department at Google will be taking over.  It has been something forecasted by SEO’s for about a year now that AI would start to be a part of search, and help computers to learn how to think more like humans rather than a machine.  Which is kind of scary, but also very cool that science fiction is starting to become science fact.  A lot of the information that Google has been using for AI research and development is from mobile searches, and especially those that are voice searches to learn. A great example of what it does was explained by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land: “Humans don’t write code to identify all the things that make up what looks like a cat. They write code designed to help machines themselves learn what a cat is.” And that is from the algorithm that John helped build called “RankBrain” which has been a part of Google’s ranking factors for over a year now.

This is an exciting time for search, and a very confusing one at that for businesses who are wanting to show up for the services and products that they provide.  We at Infogenix can help your company improve your SEO and give you real results to increase visibility and rankings.  With this new change in Google’s hierarchy it will be intriguing to see how search will continue to evolve and how it affects businesses online.  If you want to learn more or have any questions for us, please reach out to us and we’ll be happy to talk to you about how Infogenix can help your business.