RankBrain is an artificial intelligence (AI) component of Google’s search algorithm.  Its impact is increasing in 2018, so it’s worth having a basic understanding of how it impacts your search results.  Here’s a breakdown.

Imagine yourself in a noisy bar.  Voices are chattering with a vibrant hum, laughter bursts out spontaneously, and music echoes from every corner.

You’re talking with a couple of friends.  You lean into each other and shout over the racket, but it’s just too noisy to hear everything.

But you hear enough.  You know the topic of conversation and follow the point your friend is making.  You can’t hear every word, but you fill in the gaps so you can keep the conversation moving.

This human ability to take context and partial comprehension then infer meaning is what the AI of Google Rankbrain does with search queries.  The goal of Rankbrain is to better understand the intent of a search query despite inconsistencies or ambiguity with the word choice.

In other words, RankBrain understands what you’re trying to say.

But that’s not all that RankBrain does.  As it assembles high ranking content based on what it estimates the searcher wants, it rates the user experience.  If people click through to the page, don’t pogo stick, but rather dwell on the page then take a desirable action, RankBrain tracks this.  When a page ranks on page one and demonstrates that it has useful content people enjoy, the page ranks better in search results.

Overall, RankBrain is trying to mimic what an informed human being would choose to serve-up to a searcher if it were possible for our brains to correlate the vast amounts of data and content.

But of course, we can’t.  Which is why we’re developing AI.

Here’s a breakdown of the two main ways RankBrain works, with tips on how you can improve your keyword research and content to get RankBrain working in your favor.

 

How RankBrain Understands the Intent Behind Keyword Queries

A few years back, Google discovered a problem.

About 15% of keyword queries that searchers did were totally new.  This meant the algorithm had trouble matching content for the query because nothing was optimized for the query.

For example, in the past if I did a search for “how to ski better in powder”, many of the results would be pages trying to sell me skis.  The pages were optimized for terms like “powder skis” and “best powder skis” that used the phrase “ski better in powder” in the product description.  The prevalence of the keywords in the content and in backlinks coming to the site determined the ranking.

Today, RankBrain knows what I mean by this search.  The results are now all instructional content (including videos) on how to improve my powder skiing technique.

Understanding the intent behind the search is more important than trying to match specific keywords.

This changes how we approach phrase variations as well.

For example, in the past, if we wanted to rank for the phrases “how to ski better in powder” and “best powder skiing instruction”, we would have created two different landing pages for each term, even though the intent behind the search is the same.

Today, RankBrain understands this, so there’s no reason to create content targeting the different keywords.  The results for those searches are virtually the same.

To improve your rankings, do this:

1. Start by understanding the searcher’s intent, and develop keyword lists based on words and phrases people would naturally use.
2. Don’t worry about slight variations in phrasing or word choice.  Focus more on topics and concepts.
3. Develop content that does the best job possible of satisfying the needs of the searcher.  The better your content matches the intent, the better chance it has to rank on page one.
4. Consider what people will speak when they do voice searches on their phone or home assistant device.  More searchers now use voice activation.

Even though you’re working with searcher intent and concepts, don’t ignore the target keyword phrase entirely.  Use what you think is the most common, high-volume term, and optimize for that term in meta data and body content.  RankBrain is part of the search algorithm, but it hasn’t completely taken over the way results are delivered (yet).  Keyword use and backlinks still play a role in determining rankings.

Of course, RankBrain puts the final nail in the coffin for practices like keyword stuffing.  Anything that favors keyword use over creating comprehensive, useful content will drag your rankings down.

 

How RankBrain Measures User Satisfaction

So RankBrain is amazing at understanding the intent behind the search.  It understands how we ask questions and seek information.

But how does it understand that the content that it’s ranking is the best available to match the intent of the search?

RankBrain does this by paying attention to how people interact with search results.  Specifically, it looks at:

• Organic click-through rate
• Pogo sticking
• Bounce rate
• Dwell time

For example, say you type in the search “types of leather jackets” because you want to know what types of leather and styles are available.

A website creates a webpage that’s optimized for this keyword phrase and has a lot of content related to leather jackets.  It gets ranked on page one.

However, it turns out that content is largely fluff with aggressive sales material.  It does nothing to help people understand their choices in leather jackets.

Visitors figure this out quickly so they leave the page without dwelling on the content and pogo stick, which means they go back to the same search and choose a different result.

RankBrain takes this as a signal that people are not satisfied with the content.  When the engagement is really poor, the page will drop off page one quickly.

Of course, this also works in the opposite.  When a result gets strong click-through rates and visitors stay on the page without returning to search, RankBrain takes this as a signal that the content satisfied the search query.  It ranks the page higher.

To improve your rankings, do this:

1. Take intent into consideration, then develop content that is clear and complete.  Predict visitors’ questions and answer them.
2. Use a mix of text, images, and video to improve the user experience.
3. Front load your content so the most important information is communicated as soon as someone hits the page.  Your goal is to capture attention and turn it into interest.
4. Make sure the tone of the content matches the search intent.  If they’re looking for information, provide in-depth details.  If their need is transactional, make it easy for them to complete their task.
5. Make the title (and title tag) an intriguing statement that motivates click-throughs, but also include the main target keyword phrase.
6. Conduct the search yourself and see what pages are ranking.  Make your content superior to everything else.

One thing to note is that you can do a great job of optimizing a page (keyword targeting, backlinks, social signals) and get your page to rank on page one.  However, if RankBrain monitors user experience and finds people are bouncing and pogo sticking, you’ll likely lose that ranking.  In the end, you can’t get it done unless you provide people with what they’re looking for.

It’s never been more important to have high-quality, engaging content that matches the searcher’s intent.  RankBrain’s AI is the future of search rankings.  Make it your new best friend.