PROBING GOOGLE HUMMINGBIRD

Coinciding with Google’s 15th birthday, the search engine giant officially launched its new Hummingbird search algorithm. Unlike previous ‘tweaks’ this infrastructural overhaul is designed to probe search queries with greater speed and precision, based on semantic intent rather than individual search terms.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE PROCESS INDUSTRY?

This means that now, more than ever, content is king. It’s exceptionally rich, informative and engagingly written website content that will get noticed. When writing for online platforms, process industry organisations need to effectively pre-empt the requirements of their end users.

Why? Because Hummingbird aims to mine the wealth of data stored within its ‘knowledge graph’ to tackle more conversational - so-called ‘long-tail’ - search questions. Product-driven process industry websites that are heavy on technical data and specifications may well hinder the search engine’s growing capability to decipher natural human language. That means great products and services could slip down the search engine rankings, condemned to a life of relative anonymity, if the process industry does not align its online language with evolving SEO practices and end user appetites.

SOLUTIONS-BASED CONTENT FROM AUTHORITIVE AUTHORS

To dampen the erstwhile ‘black hat’ practices of some SEO malefactors, Google is placing great value on verified author content. In other words, contributors that have great cache in terms of reputation, impact and onward sharing of content and links via social media, are in demand. These voices of authority have achieved high ‘Klout’ scores thanks to effective social engagement. Their endorsement is tantamount to a quality assured stamp of approval because people value and listen to their opinions.

A key strand of harnessing social engagement for the process industry is to provide solutions-led content to complement sales efforts. Polished editing and varied content (including video, blogging and white papers) will two-fold reduce search engine penalization for sloppy content and lead to greater social dispersion and brand awareness. Therefore giving more scope for Google to push queries the way of authoritative process industry organisations that provide solutions, not just products.

According to business2community.com: “Content is the lifeblood and cornerstone of this knowledge web that is driven by search and social networks.” This is driving the SEO movement back towards a purer journalistic approach to content, the key fundamentals of which are: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Who will your product likely assist? What benefits can it render? When is it most appropriate to use? Why is it the best tool for the job? How can you quantify that? Within this context and framework, process industry websites should really start to reap the benefits of Google’s advancing search technology.

PROCESS INDUSTRY FORUM CAN HELP MAXIMISE SEO SUCCESS

Process Industry Forum doesn't profess to have a crystal ball. It just so happens that the fundamentals of great online content are something that we have embraced, and have been advocating, since our inception. Our core values have always been about ‘improving online effectiveness’, ‘global connectivity’ and fostering ‘open and free dialogue’ for the process industry.

Members of PIF benefit from our experience and expertise. We specialise in well-crafted, rich and engaging solution-led content, held at one authoritative source. We’re adept at optimising for the best search engine results and sharing through robust social media channels. Process industry businesses needn’t be overly concerned about the impact of Google Hummingbird, as long as they continue to foster deep and meaningful online content. In PIF’s capable hands, this is an exciting opportunity to keep process industry websites hovering at the top of the search engine rankings.