• majorAlexa

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
        4. Difference hummingbird and rankbrain

        Moz Q&A is closed.

        After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

        Difference hummingbird and rankbrain

        Intermediate & Advanced SEO
        4
        9
        3303
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • seoanalytics last edited by

          From my understanding hummingbird is the fact that google is able to parse sentences and link entites to understand the meaning of content in a better way than with just keywords and rankbrain is about user intent, google understands that they are various ways to mean the same thing.

          Is my understanding correct ?

          Thank you,

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • seoanalytics last edited by

            I totally agree, thank you for your detailed explanation.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Dr-Pete
              Dr-Pete Staff @Dr-Pete last edited by

              You can't really "optimize" for Hummingbird, but understanding RankBrain can certainly help you do keyword research and write relevant content better.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • Dr-Pete
                Dr-Pete Staff @seoanalytics last edited by

                I know it's not very clear, but I think the important thing to remember about Hummingbird is that it was a complete rebuild of the core algorithm. I think natural language queries drove part of that rebuild, but Hummingbird covers a lot of ground and will be powering algo updates for months or years. As Danny said, it's like they put a whole new engine in the car. RankBrain is much more specific.

                Dr-Pete 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • seoanalytics last edited by

                  Thank you for the information Dr Pete. It is a little more clear. If I understand correctly rank brain is really about user intent in rewriting the query and Hummbird seems to be about voice searches and parsing but it is a little blurry in my mind as you would say other that people at google nobody really understands it fully.

                  Thank you,

                  Dr-Pete 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Dr-Pete
                    Dr-Pete Staff last edited by

                    I'm afraid it's probably more complicated than that, and I'm not sure anyone outside of Google (and most of the people inside of Google) has a handle on all of the details.

                    Hummingbird was very broad. It wasn't just an update, but an entire rebuild of Google's core "engine." When Google launched it, they gave examples that make us think a lot of the updates were necessitated by natural-language queries (voice certainly created some of that pressure). So, it definitely changed how Google processed very-long-tail queries, but I think it also created a framework for much more (and may have even been a foundation for RankBrain). Danny's very early FAQ is still a good resource:

                    https://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816

                    RankBrain causes confusion because it gets conflated with ML in search in general, but I think RankBrain has a very specific meaning to Google. I've written about it quite a bit and have had a handful of private conversations with Google employees, and still don't feel like I have all the facts. Here's what I'm comfortable saying... It is an ML-based approach to understanding query relevance, very likely related to models like Word2Vec. Best I know, it acts as a sort of re-ranking layer. So, Google returns results and then RB re-sorts them based on its understanding of relevance. So, truth be told, it's probably not as impactful as some folks think (ML in search could be much broader). It's most active for long-tail, natural-language queries, so there's some connection to Hummingbird, conceptually.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • seoanalytics last edited by

                      Thank yo. I read it and rank brain is clear hummingbird a little less but I think it is about the knowledge graph and parsing from what I understand.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • MiriamEllis
                        MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

                        Hi There!

                        We have two nice resources here on Moz that should help you feel totally clear on Hummingbird vs. Rankbrain:

                        https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/learn/seo/google-hummingbird

                        https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/learn/seo/google-rankbrain

                        Hope these help, but please let me know if you have any questions remaining after reading through those! I'm pretty sure I wrote both of them, so if anything isn't clear, just ask 🙂

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Seenlyst
                          Seenlyst last edited by

                          Hello,

                          "RankBrain is an algorithm learning artificial intelligence system" - Wiki

                          Hummingbird is an update of Google's ranking algorithm.

                          They aren't something comparable because one is a system and one is a codename of an update to a system.

                          Hope this answered your question.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • 1 / 1
                          • First post
                            Last post

                          Browse Questions

                          Explore more categories

                          • Moz Tools

                            Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                          • SEO Tactics

                            Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                          • Community

                            Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                          • Digital Marketing

                            Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                          • Research & Trends

                            Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                          • Support

                            Connect on product support and feature requests.

                          • See all categories

                          Related Questions

                          • Webpresence

                            How To Optimize For Same Word, Different Spelling

                            Hi all. Just wondering what peoples stance is on using multiple variations of keywords on a webpage - those keywords that have the same meaning and search intent, but are just spelt differently. i.e. 'woodscrews' and 'wood screws' (the latter has a significantly higher search volume) You could approach the webpage in 4 different ways; 1. Use ONLY 'wood screws' on-page, and in the page <title><br />2. Use ONLY 'woodscrews' on-page, and in the page <title><br />3. Use BOTH 'wood screws' and 'woodscrews' on-page, and BOTH in the page <title><br />4. Use BOTH 'wood screws' and 'woodscrews' on-page, but ONLY one variation in the page <title></p> <p>We've run some tests in the past but there were never any clear takeaways, a mixed bag of results really.</p> <p>Also, If they are considered the same keyword by Google why are the ranking positions always different for each variation?</p> <p>I'm not sure there' a specific answer to this, just interested to hear peoples thoughts really.</p> <p>Many thanks in advance!</p> <p>Lee.</p></title>

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Webpresence
                            0
                          • lynetteboss

                            Do I need to add the actual language for meta tags and description for different languages? cited for duplicate content for different language

                            Hi, I am fairly new to SEO and this community so pardon my questions. We recently launched on our drupal site mandarin language  version for the entire site. And when i do the crawl site, i get duplicate content for the pages that are in mandarin. Is this a problem or can i ignore this? Should i make different page titles for the different languages? Also, for the metatag and descriptions, would it better in the native language for google to search for? thanks in advance.

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lynetteboss
                            0
                          • MJTrevens

                            Can I use duplicate content in different US cities without hurting SEO?

                            So, I have major concerns with this plan. My company has hundreds of facilities located all over the country. Each facility has it's own website. We have a third party company working to build a content strategy for us. What they came up with is to create a bank of content specific to each service line. If/when any facility offers that service, they then upload the content for that service line to that facility website. So in theory, you might have 10-12 websites all in different cities, with the same content for a service. They claim "Google is smart, it knows its content all from the same company, and because it's in different local markets, it will still rank." My contention is that duplicate content is duplicate content, and unless it is "localize" it, Google is going to prioritize one page of it and the rest will get very little exposure in the rankings no matter where you are. I could be wrong, but I want to be sure we aren't shooting ourselves in the foot with this strategy, because it is a major major undertaking and too important to go off in the wrong direction. SEO Experts, your help is genuinely appreciated!

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MJTrevens
                            1
                          • cinzia09

                            Same product in different categories and duplicate content issues

                            Hi,I have some questions related to duplicate content on e-commerce websites. 1)If a single product goes to multiple categories (eg. A black elegant dress could be listed in two categories like "black dresses" and "elegant dresses") is it considered duplicate content even if the product url is unique? e.g www.website.com/black-dresses/black-elegant-dress duplicated> same content from two different paths www.website.com/elegant-dresses/black-elegant-dress duplicated> same content from two different paths www.website.com/black-elegant-dress unique url > this is the way my products urls look like Does google perceive this as duplicated content? The path to the content is only one, so it shouldn't be seen as duplicated content, though the product is repeated in different categories.This is the most important concern I actually have. It is a small thing but if I set this wrong all website would be affected and thus penalised, so I need to know how I can handle it. 2- I am using wordpress + woocommerce. The website is built with categories and subcategories. When I create a product in the product page backend is it advisable to select  just the lowest subcategory or is it better to select both main category and subcategory in which the product belongs? I usually select the subcategory alone.  Looking forward to your reply and suggestions. thanks

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | cinzia09
                            1
                          • thekiller99

                            Sitemap: unique sitemap or different sitemaps by Country

                            Hi guys, i have a question about sitemaps. We are doing an international site, e.x. www.offers.com for landing page and www.offers.com/br for brazil, www.offers.com/it for italy, etc... i don't if we should do an unique sitemap for all countries or separate sitemaps by country, e.x.: unique sitemap: www.offers.com/sitemap.xml - including all sitemaps www.offers.com/br/sitemap.xml - sitemap for brazil market only. Thank you

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | thekiller99
                            0
                          • RosemaryB

                            Need a layman's definition/analogy of the difference between schema and structured data

                            I'm currently writing a blog post about schema.  However I want to set the record straight that schema is not exactly the same as structured data, although both are often used interchangeably.  I understand this schema.org is a vocabulary of global identifiers for properties and things.   Structured data is what Google officially stated as "a standard way to annotate your content so machines can understand it..." Does anybody know of a good analogy to compare the two? Thanks!

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RosemaryB
                            0
                          • techdesign

                            Two Different Domains exact same content

                            Hello, I suspect I know the answer to this but would like to have it confirmed. I have been speaking to a company the last couple of weeks who have 2 domains with the exact same content. Possible a third but they haven't supplied a link. This from all I've read would be a huge problem for ranking and SEO. What would be the best way to deal with this ? I did do a search and found articles/questions on same content on the same site and in articles etc but nothing about exactly the same websites on 2 domains. Cheers David.

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | techdesign
                            0
                          • msquare

                            Submitting URLs multiple times in different sitemaps

                            We have a very dynamic site, with a large number of pages. We use a sitemap index file, that points to several smaller sitemap files. The question is: Would there be any issue if we include the same URL in multiple sitemap files? Scenario: URL1 appears on sitemap1. 2 weeks later, the page at URL1 changes and we'd like to update it on a sitemap. Would it be acceptable to add URL1 as an entry in sitemap2?  Would there be any issues with the same URL appearing multiple times? Thanks.

                            Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | msquare
                            0

                          Get started with Moz Pro!

                          Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                          Start my free trial
                          Products
                          • Moz Pro
                          • Moz Local
                          • Moz API
                          • Moz Data
                          • STAT
                          • Product Updates
                          Moz Solutions
                          • SMB Solutions
                          • Agency Solutions
                          • Enterprise Solutions
                          • Digital Marketers
                          Free SEO Tools
                          • Domain Authority Checker
                          • Link Explorer
                          • Keyword Explorer
                          • Competitive Research
                          • Brand Authority Checker
                          • Local Citation Checker
                          • MozBar Extension
                          • MozCast
                          Resources
                          • Blog
                          • SEO Learning Center
                          • Help Hub
                          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                          • How-to Guides
                          • Moz Academy
                          • API Docs
                          About Moz
                          • About
                          • Team
                          • Careers
                          • Contact
                          Why Moz
                          • Case Studies
                          • Testimonials
                          Get Involved
                          • Become an Affiliate
                          • MozCon
                          • Webinars
                          • Practical Marketer Series
                          • MozPod
                          Connect with us

                          Contact the Help team

                          Join our newsletter
                          Moz logo
                          © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                          • Accessibility
                          • Terms of Use
                          • Privacy

                          Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.