I, for one, welcome our new Google overlord!

The most recent update was announced just recently during Google’s 15th birthday celebration. Nicknamed “Hummingbird,” it represents the biggest change to Google search since 2001. It’s not just a tweak to the search functionality — Hummingbird is a completely new search algorithm that affects 90 percent of all searches. The most interesting part is that Hummingbird actually launched a month before the announcement… and no one noticed. Once again, that’s exactly what Google wants.

Google has updated its search algorithm many times over the past few years, but previous updates were focused on making Google better at gathering information — for example, indexing websites more often and identifying spammy content. Hummingbird is focused on the user. It’s about Google getting better at understanding what searchers really want and providing them with better answers.

The biggest improvements involve longer search queries. Rather than just examining each individual word in a search, Google is now examining the searcher’s query as a whole and processing the meaning behind it.