Note: Steven Roth is Founder of LittleMonkeys, LLC. Steven's latest project is with SchoolDude, a DNN client. Visit SchoolDude's online community, which is powered by Evoq Engage.

Introduction

September 27, 2013 marked Google’s 15th birthday. To celebrate, Google launched its new Hummingbird search algorithm. Hummingbird is not just an update, but a complete overhaul of the search engine and affects 90 percent of all search inquiries. Although relatively unnoticed by many, there are actually very significant changes that everyone needs to understand and embrace.

Shift in Focus: from Keywords to Semantics

We could spend hours on the technical details associated with Hummingbird, but what you really need to know is that Hummingbird now in a large part focuses on “conversational search” or semantic search, rather than keywords.

Semantic search improves search accuracy by better understanding the searcher's intent and the contextual meaning of the search words as they appear in the search. More and more, Google users search using questions rather than keyword phrases, and Hummingbird is designed to figure this out rather than just match keywords.

Content Should Answer Specific Questions

Creating content that’s useful has always been important for marketers, but it’s even more important now to make sure content answers questions and is specific. Just as important, content needs to be current and relevant. Take an example of someone that is using their phone and speaks into Google search to, “Find me an Italian restaurant in Atlanta that is highly recommended and has a reservation available tomorrow night at 7:00 PM.”

No longer will just the keywords, “Best,” “Atlanta” and “Restaurant” suffice. Content providers will be responsible for providing the detail that will satisfy this search. Those willing to make the investment will be rewarded in terms of high Google rankings and visits to their website.

Online Community Content Creates SEO Value

Evoq Engage from DNN is a great first step in creating a platform that is designed to manage dynamic content for both small and large organizations alike. Evoq Engage is a perfect complement and is one of the best tools available for creating the exact type of content that Google is looking for. What better way to generate content than with a community?

Evoq Engage provides you with all the tools you need to build and manage a world class community. Every day your community members will be generating conversations on a variety of topics. The Answers module of Evoq Engage allows members to generate questions, and other members to provide answers to those questions, the very content favored by Google Hummingbird.

There's also a Discussions module that can be used to allow members to create discussions threads, much like the forums of the past. Evoq Engage has a Blogs feature, which can allow members of the community to write their own blog, much like I’m doing right now. There is an Ideas feature, where members can provide input that the community can vote on. There is an events feature, a wiki and more.

View DNN's Case Study

Read DNN's case study to learn how SchoolDude is using Evoq Engage to drive more traffic and engagement.

Evoq Social Case Study: SchoolDude from DNN

Note: Evoq Engage was previously known as Evoq Social.

Conclusion

What better way to generate the content that Google and Google’s users are looking for, than with an online community? The communities that I’ve managed are creating hundreds of content items a week. The content is relevant, it's current and it's in the words of the community members!

These are indexed by Google almost instantly and rank very high, where a static page of marketing-speak may take months to be indexed and rank low in comparison. Ranking with search engines is important, but communities also engage members in conversations and helps you better understand your market and the needs of your customers.

You can pound your chest all day along about the wonders of your products and services, but there is no better way to communicate your message than directly from the mouths of your clients.