This isn’t your father’s Google. Heck, it isn’t your Google, circa 2012.

In an effort to inflict a little spam killer on the web, and to create an Internet environment more conducive to strategy than keyword stuffing, Google went all organic on us. The Google change, designed to redefine search-engine optimization, marks another shift in its algorithms.

Google’s ever-changing approach to maintaining the web might feel intrusive and dictatorial to some. However, as web access becomes increasingly mobile and faster with the emergence of fiber optic Internet, the stage is being set for a more intuitive, quality driven standard for websites.

But what does this mean for those of us here on the web?

1. Organic searches are secure

Organic search, a search-engine results list based on relevance to search terms, had always been available for those who wanted keyword data pertinent to our websites. Publishers had relied on this data to determine why visitors went to their sites. This data is now much tougher to mine.

What you should know: Google Adwords clients will still get this data. So the information is there – you just have to pay for it. Google’s webmaster tools work for free, but aren’t as comprehensive.

2. Behold the hummingbird

In nature, the hummingbird is diminutive and conspicuous. On the web, Google Hummingbird is more like parliament of owls, moving silently and stealthily. Hummingbird, a tech update built to conduct complex inquiries, affects nearly 90 percent of worldwide searches, says searchenginewatch.com.

Hummingbird, shrouded in its own mystery, follows Caffeine, whose 2010 rollout gave Google users better indexing speed and guidance to the latest results. Hummingbird is Google’s liaison to users, and provides web searchers more precisely what they’re online to find.

What you should know: If you’re signed in to Google and search for Mexican restaurants near me, the search will focus on eateries in the area. Old queries would have focused on the terms Mexican food and sites with near and me on the site.

3. Don’t forget the Penguin

This time, it’s Penguin 2.1 (#5), in full effect after a 4 1/2-month lull in updates. The change hammered a few websites, but the difference wasn’t widespread. This update targeted unnatural links – those that Penguin determined to be artificial, to influence a page’s rank.

Google allows sites to recover when they make amends after an update.

What you should know: Shifts in Penguin and other Google tools are crafted to improve the web experience. Sites that received a direct hit from Penguin 2.1 could see organic search lift again after they eliminate unnatural links and build their sites with quality content, social media presence and natural links.

Penguin has a threshold for sites to meet, and once they do, they can move forward on an algorithm-friendly path.