Google announced today that they’ve made a huge change to the way their trusty search engine operates. The change required a rewriting of its algorithm in order to handle more complex search queries (Bits, New York Times). Google has noticed that its users have been searching for more complex answers and entering lengthy questions especially with the voice search feature that’s available in mobile phones.
Bits explains the significance of this change in their article released today, “The change, which represents a new approach to search for Google, required the biggest changes to the company’s search algorithm since 2000. Now, Google, the world’s most popular search engine, will focus more on trying to understand the meanings of and relationships among things, as opposed to its original strategy of matching keywords” (Bits, New York Times).
The new algorithm has been named “Hummingbird,” and its main focus is to connect phrases and concepts together, which will in return provide more accurate search results.
Google rolled out this announcement today to be in conjunction with their 15th birthday (see today’s awesome Google Doodle). As Bits reports, they celebrated Google’s birthday as well as announcing the launch of Hummingbird in the garage Google’s founders rented when they began the company (Bits, New York Times).
We’re excited for this monumental change. Go ahead and try out Hummingbird for yourself!
