Google Goes Scraper with Hummingbird Update
A sweeping change that Google says touches 90 % of search queries. Originally published September 26, 2013, still mostly relevant in 2025!
Google announced its latest algorithm overhaul—Hummingbird. Google’s PR team calls the update “significant,” estimating it will influence nine out of every ten searches. After reviewing results from the past month, it appears Hummingbird’s real aim is to scrape more data from third-party sites so users never have to leave Google.com.
Google frames the update as a way to “give better answers to increasingly complex questions,” but when Google can crawl and cache nearly every page on the web, it can also display snippets that satisfy informational queries right on the SERP. That keeps searchers on a Google property—and leaves publishers fighting for dwindling clicks.
This post highlights several live queries that reveal how Hummingbird surfaces scraped content and, in many cases, pushes organic results (and even authoritative sites) far below the fold.
Live Query Examples
Tylenol PM
Observation: The right-hand knowledge panel is packed with text scraped from authoritative medical sites, plus ads and links to additional Google searches. Hummingbird often reserves this real estate for scraped content and revenue-generating placements.
How to Lose Weight
Observation: Instead of a side panel, Google inserts a mega-snippet in prime SERP territory, pulling tips from government and edu health domains. Non-government health publishers once ranking three through ten are pushed well down the page.
Flight to San Francisco
Observation: Transactional queries reveal Google’s monetization play—an enormous Google Flights module atop the results, surrounded by ads.
Requiem for a Dream
Observation: Media titles trigger a robust knowledge panel showing cast, reviews, summaries, related works, and a “Watch Now” button for Google Play—again, scraped data feeding Google’s own ecosystem.
Baseball
Observation: Live MLB standings dominate the viewport on many devices. Fans no longer need MLB.com or sports outlets for scores—Google provides them instantly.
Google on “Thin, Scraped Content”
“Some webmasters use content taken (‘scraped’) from other, more reputable sites on the assumption that increasing the volume of pages on their site is a good long-term strategy… Purely scraped content, even from high-quality sources, may not provide any added value to your users.” — Google Webmaster Guidelines
LOL.