SEO companies have always found a way to adapt every time there’s a major announcement from Google, despite the inevitable exclamations that SEO is dead.

So when Google announced the Hummingbird update and started removing keyword data, people were worried. It is not that these two major changes have made SEO impossible; it’s just made SEO that little bit harder.

Google’s goal is eradicate SEO shortcuts and improve the customer experience.

Conversational Search

Google has recognised that the average customer searches in a fashion akin to how they talk. Rather than typing in specific keywords, they will type a sentence or a question. Google’s Hummingbird algorithm will not try to match the keywords of the search query, but instead look for related content similar to the search query.

This has made it possible to rank for keywords that may not even be on your page. As long as the information on the page is relevant, Hummingbird will relate the search to the content.  Naturally keywords will appear as a part of the content, but they should no longer be the focus. SEO is now about building your site around the conversational searches of your customers.

SEO and (Not Provided) Data

Optimising a website for targeted keywords has long been the cornerstone tactic of SEO practices. By studying the keywords that drove traffic and specifically those keywords that translated into sales, content could be strategically optimised. However (Not Provided) data has disabled the accurate use of this tactic.

Basically, practicing this tactic without any keyword data means you’re essentially driving blindly.

There’s no way to measure the success of this tactic and there’s a risk that you will lose your marketing message in the process. It’s an old school practice that reeks of a panic approach to the changes Google have made.

How Can SEO Adapt

Your SEO efforts should now look at your business as a whole, your goals and how your customers use Google.

By breaking your offering into categories, the conversational searches that a potential customer might use will become clearer. The individual pages within these categories can be optimised for these searches.

It is a clear move away from the narrow-minded approach of keywords. It is also a move closer to adhering to Google’s goal of improving the customer experience.

Your site should now have conversational content similar to a transcript of a customer’s phone call to your business. Once again, keywords will naturally be a part of the content, just not a focus.
SEO strategies need to shift away from keywords and concentrate delivering relevant results to conversational searches.

This will improve Google’s customer experience and in return your rankings will improve.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jack McCarthy is the social media manager at roi.com.au, a leading Australian based SEO agency. Jack has run social media accounts for several major brands in both Australia and Europe before stepping into the world of social media optimisation. Follow Jack on Twitter @jackmccw, Google+, Pinterest or Instagram.

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