So, what’s all the buzz about Hummingbird, the new Google algorithm change?

Several of us in our office belong to the local SEO group, actually it is now Jacksonville Online Marketing Meetup (JOMM). The people who attend are all generous to share what they know and don't know about SEO, digital marketing, and social media. I have heard and read lots of speculation about the new Google algorithm called hummingbird. The deal is, Google does not tell us how to change our websites to compete on each algorithm change. There is no cheat sheet. We all watch, test, and come up with our own hypotheses. I have heard that Google now likes shorter page titles. But after our research we found pages ranking high had some of the longest, spammiest page titles we have ever seen. Try typing videographer Jacksonville fl into google. #2 is www.edroymedia.com. Look at his page title. OMG! It is the longest we have ever seen. And right under that listing is www.inmotionvideoproductions.com, it also has a super long page title. Now I DO think that google likes having a strong phrase in the front of the page title better than a bunch of keywords. I also think the page description has become even more powerful. I do not believe meta keywords are being used. I think we have all found that the most important thing is the domain name. Then the page title and description. And really good content on the page. What seems to have really changed is social media. Have you put in a key phrase search into google or Bing and found Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and YouTube all ranking on the first page of Google. And of course Google maps, also called Google Places still plays a large role. Having good reviews on directories along with good information is very important, not just for SEO but for prospects choosing your business.  Good backlinks coming to your page is very important, (from other sites, news articles, social media, press releases). And I understand having too many outbound links from your page is bad. It sucks too much Google Juice from your site. I personally think that having your website updated regularly is very important. Having a website that is mobile friendly is very important. Matt Cutts, Google SEO expert, says that a lot of banter about the change is just not true. The bottom line is that Google does this from time to time to boost its Pay Per Click ads. I would love some friendly conversation with others about your tests and results. I would like to end this by saying, SEO and algorithms change often and these are my observations as of November 23, 2013.