The Plain English Guide To Google's RankBrain

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Have you ever done some obscure search on Google, and been amazed when the search engine still returned such accurate results?

You can thank RankBrain for that.

RankBrain went live in 2015 and is now an essential part of the Google algorithm.

This article will help break down what you should know about it, and how you can optimize for it.

What Is Google RankBrain?

RankBrain is a part of Google’s algorithm that uses machine-learning and artificial intelligence to better understand the intent of a search query. This understanding can help return the most relevant search results to users.

It was implemented into the core algorithm back in 2015 and was initially only applied to the 15% of never before seen queries it received. Once Google became more confident in it, they made it a part of every search query.

Let’s explore how machine learning and AI contribute to RankBrain.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence helps computers understand and act like a human when they are given tasks like decision-making, language translation, and visual perception.

Google has also stated they use what is called neural matching, which is an AI-based system that helps understand how words relate to concepts.

Although RankBrain and neural matching may differ, they do work together to bring the best results for a search query.

Machine Learning

Machine learning is essentially the ability for a machine to learn on its own from data it receives.

If you currently use a junk mail filter in your mailbox or have movie recommendations appear in your Netflix account, these are examples of machine learning.

The combination of AI and machine learning are what drives RankBrain to be an effective part of the algorithm.

As an example, if I were to look for “the scary hotel movie with the maze”, I would get results for The Shining.

Even without the results using that exact term on the page, RankBrain can assess the topical relevance and deliver the results I want.

Pretty cool, right?

How important is RankBrain?

Given that RankBrain is used in every search that takes place on Google, it’s pretty important.

RankBrain is the first attempt at machine learning and will be paving the path for the future of search. By implementing some best practices now, you can ensure that your website is ready for the continued improvements machine learning will bring to search results over time.

At one time Google claimed it was the third-most important ranking factor. While we are not sure that still applies, what we do know is that RankBrain is still a big part of how Google delivers search results.

So what does that mean for you?

It means you need to up your content and SEO game. Let’s dive into how to do that, next.