Google has revamped its search algorithm, the way google handles queries from the users to show the most relevant results.
What’s the objective of this update?
Google it’s moving to a semantic algorithm. It wants to understand the meaning of your query in a more natural way, analyzing your query as a whole and not just as isolated words.
Example (Search Engine Land):
“What’s the closest place to buy the iPhone 5s to my home”
Instead of choosing “buy, iphone, home” as the most relevant queries, Google would understand your phrase and will detect where you are and it will show you online or offline stores around you.
Why are they changing the algorithm?
It’s part of the process of improvement of the algorithm, doing it more intelligent. But the necessity of this change is now more urgent due to voice searches, where people search in a more natural way.
This change is also pushing the answers coming from Knowledge Graph. Google wants to give you directly the info and not just links. This will become a new business for them as soon as they start monetizing the answers for travel, showtimes, etc…
Does it affect my SEO?
It should not affect the positioning if you’re working your SEO through relevant content and good practices. Google just becomes more intelligent understanding your queries and redirecting the traffic.
Does it affect my paid search?
This change has very limited impact on paid search. Conversational searches are not available for bidding, and probably will not be for a long time, if at all. The bidding mechanisms in search will still work in a similar way.