How Google Used Machine Learning and Loved It
January 16, 2017
If you use any search engine other than Google, except for DuckDuckGo, people cringe and doubt your Internet savvy. Google has a reputation for being the most popular, reliable, and accurate search engine in the US. It has earned this reputation, because, in many ways, it is the truth. Google apparently has one upped itself, however, says Eco Consultancy in the article, “How Machine Learning Has Made Google Search Results More Relevant.”
In 2016, Google launched RankBrain to improve search relevancy in its results. Searchmatics conducted a study and discovered that it worked. RankBrain is an AI that uses machine learning to understand the context behind people’s search. RankBrain learns the more it is used, similar to how a person learns to read. A person learning to read might know a word, but can understand what it is based off context.
This increases Google’s semantic understanding, but so have the amount of words in a search query. People are reverting to their natural wordiness and are not using as many keywords. At the same time, back linking is not as important anymore, but the content quality is becoming more valuable for higher page rankings. Bounce rates are increasing in the top twenty results, meaning that users are led to a more relevant result than pages with higher optimization.
RankBrain also shows Google’s growing reliance on AI:
With the introduction of RankBrain, there’s no doubt that Google is taking AI and machine learning more seriously. According to CEO, Sundar Pichai, it is just the start. He recently commented that ‘be it search, ads, YouTube, or Play, you will see us — in a systematic way — apply machine learning in all these areas.’ Undoubtedly, it could shape more than just search in 2017.
While the search results are improving their relevancy, it spells bad news for marketers and SEO experts as their attempts to gain rankings are less effective.
Whitney Grace, January 16, 2016
Comments
One Response to “How Google Used Machine Learning and Loved It”
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
This is just a test