When we were dealing with “terms” (keywords) we encountered certain problems such as polysemy or synonymy.
These ambiguities are what semantic search tries to eliminate by interpreting the meaning of the query performed.
The Hummingbird Era: Google's Search Algorithm
In 2013, Google launched a new algorithm called Hummingbird ... and with it we entered what we might describe as the era of semantic search.
Make no mistake, despite the popularity of other updates like Panda or Penguin, the impact of the Hummingbird is much greater.
After all, it's not an update, but a new algorithm.
Let's be clear: Google's algorithm is Hummingbird.
Google Panda, Penguin, Pigeon,... are parts that update this Google algorithm.
Hummingbird's mission was clear from the beginning: to understand the meaning (the semantics) of searches, which were becoming increasingly complex.
Since the launch of Google Hummingbird, the search engine has moved from identifying italy mobile number example search strings to identifying search entities.
What it was really about was having an algorithm that could cope with the new forms of voice search , which is increasingly colloquial.
But in addition, Google Hummingbird promised to be able to identify the correct term in searches that users made using polysemic words.
Over time, we saw that all these promises were not fully fulfilled.
Hummingbird was often able to interpret the query, but it was far from doing so 100% of the time, which is why they launched Rank Brain.
Semantic Search Technology
Rankbrain: the artificial intelligence that helps Hummingbird
Since 2015, Rankbrain has helped Google identify the intent of searches by applying artificial intelligence.
Thanks to this update, Google is able to learn and provide an optimal response to new queries that have not been asked before.
Rankbrain improves the Hummingbird algorithm by allowing it to better recognize the intent of each search.
All of this has certain implications both for search engine users, for the way Google treats these queries and, most importantly for us, for the way we should do semantic SEO.
At first we looked in the encyclopedia.
Then came the Internet with its directories (...which I wouldn't even call the Internet until Altavista).