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Search Engine Optimisation can seem like an overly-complex, ever-changing field. Google’s latest algorithm update, Hummingbird, was officially announced in September 2013 – although Google had quietly rolled it out a month before that.

Hummingbird is a major change to Google’s search algorithm. But for those already making the effort to practice good SEO, and those already creating great content, there’s nothing to fear. If anything, the best sites will be rewarded by Hummingbird, while the link farms and keyword-stuffed articles of a decade ago should be well and truly killed off (or at least pushed so far down Google’s search results that nobody will ever click on them again).

Here’s a brief guide to help you wrap your head around Hummingbird, and what it means for your site.

What is Hummingbird?

The new algorithm will return better results and help users locate even more relevant content. It’s called Hummingbird because, like its namesake, it’s fast and precise.

Hummingbird doesn’t necessarily replace old updates like, Panda, Penguin, Caffeine or PageRank. Parts of those have been incorporated into the new algorithm, while other elements have been discarded. Hummingbird aims to reflect how people search today, rather than how they searched a decade ago, which is the last time Google made such a significant overhaul.

Hummingbird and conversational search

Perhaps the most significant element of Hummingbird is that it takes into account conversational search.

For example: once upon a time you might have tried to locate a nearby restaurant by typing in the word ‘restaurant’,  and your suburb. If you wanted to narrow down the results, you might have added a specific cuisine, like Thai. Now people are more likely to simply type, ‘find a Thai restaurant near my house’. So if Google knows your location (…and it probably does) it locates all the restaurants near you.

Hummingbird helps Google to take the meaning and context of the entire search term into account and returns results based on that, rather than simply focusing on static keywords.

Hummingbird and mobile optimisation

We’ve known for awhile that mobile optimisation is increasingly important for SEO, and Hummingbird only confirms that. Conversational search is vital to mobile search, because people are increasingly likely to use voice search on their phones. Nobody speaks a string of keywords into their mobile; they ask a question or use a full sentence. Conversational search accounts for this.

What else does Hummingbird do?

For starters, it can understand a search term in the context of a previous search. Say you search ‘show me photos of Flinders Street Station’. Google shows you photos. Then you search for ‘how old is it?’ Google knows that by ‘it’ you means Flinders Street Station, and returns the relevant results.

This only works for basic searches now, but over time Google should be able to return more precise results for increasingly complex queries.

What does all this mean for my website?

If you’re already practising good SEO and posting relevant content on a regular basis, almost nothing. Hummingbird will reward those who are doing the right thing. But if your SEO strategy leaves something to be desired, the time to fix it is now. Cheating Google’s algorithm is no longer possible – keyword stuffers, link farmers and purveyors of duplicate content will be caught out.

So the basic tenants of SEO still stand – these are the things Hummingbird likes (and you’re already doing them, right?)

• Keywords are less relevant, but not completely dead. They play a role in making it clear to Google what your site is about.

• Giving your audience what they want is all important. When you understand what they’re interested in and searching for, and create content accordingly, they’re more likely to find you.

• You must establish authority and credibility via link building, social shares and in-depth content.

• More people are searching on their phones, so make sure your website works on a mobile screen.

• Links show that your page is credible and helps Google connect concepts.

• Quality content is crucial. Yours should be in-depth, interesting, and frequently updated.

In 2014,  SEO is about focusing on the user. Understanding what your audience is interested in and delivering on that makes all the difference. Make use of any data you can gather, because the clearer the picture you have of your users, the more able you’ll be to deliver the most useful, relevant content possible.

So high quality content is still the best way to attract traffic to your site. Hummingbird should make it easier for consumers to find good content, meaning more great content will rise to the top.

What elements of SEO will you be focusing on this year?