Tapping into RankBrain

As digital marketers we look to a variety of tactics and best practices to improve our website visibility and ranking in search results. Google’s algorithm is constantly evolving to deliver the most relevant results to users. One of its most significant components for me has long been RankBrain, an artificial intelligence system that has revolutionised how Google understands and ranks web pages.

In this article I look back at the origins of RanKBrain, the current understanding and how I have approached optimisation with RankBrain in mind.

RankBrain Origin Story

RankBrain emerged in 2015 as Google's response to the increasing complexity and diversity of search queries. Before RankBrain, Google's algorithm was thought to be primarily use hand-coded rules to interpret queries and match them with relevant content. However, with the increase of long-tail keywords, conversational searches, and ambiguous queries, a more sophisticated approach was needed.

RankBrain, powered by machine learning, was designed to bridge this gap. Instead of relying on predefined rules, RankBrain learns from user behaviour and adapts its understanding of queries over time. This allows it to determine the intent behind complex or ambiguous searches and deliver more accurate results.

How RankBrain Influences Page Rank

RankBrain plays a crucial role in selecting which pages appear at the top of Google's search results in several ways.

1. Query Interpretation

   RankBrain analyses the words in a search query, their context, and the user's search history to understand the true intent behind the query. This allows it to go beyond the literal meaning of the words and identify relevant pages even if they don't contain the exact keywords.
   In the past, I used micro data to imply relevance when I thought Google might need a hand with ambiguous content, but not so much now as Google seems to have pretty much cracked it. Check out this page https://schema.org/docs/gs.html if you are struggling to rank potentially ambiguous content, or the quality of your web traffic is low.
   
   

2. User Satisfaction / Interaction / Engagement Signals

   Call it what you will, but essentially RankBrain closely monitors how users interact with search results. If users click through to a page, click within a page, spend time on page or site, and don't immediately bounce back to the search results, RankBrain interprets this as a sign that the page is relevant and satisfying. This positive feedback can boost a page's ranking.
   For me, this is where you can influence the jump from position 10 to top 3 in (SERPs) Search Engine Result positions. By making your titles and descriptions pop you can improve the click through rate. I even use emojis here to draw the eye. If your position 27+ you’re not in the game yet and probably still need to be working on the content, backlinks and usability.
   
   

3. Machine Learning / AI

   RankBrain continuously learns from user behaviour data and refines its algorithms. This means that its understanding of queries and its ability to rank pages accurately improve over time.
   When I think of the sheer number of pages any search query delivers in results, and yet, we are presented with highly relevant pages in the results. Google is doing a great job, our job is to continue to create great content that engages our audience.

RankBrain's Impact on SEO

RankBrain's introduction has had a profound impact on search engine optimisation (SEO), modern tactics reflect that. We put the user and user intent at the heart of our content seeking to provide a the best possible experience, not with just what we write but how it is presented and easily consumed.

Focus on User Intent

RankBrain prioritises pages that satisfy user intent, not just those that are stuffed with keywords. For marketing teams to create high-quality content that addresses the needs and interests of their target audience they must do the research, understand the person they are speaking to with specific, well-crafted messaging.

User Experience is vital, a bad experience will see users leave your site immediately and trigger a negative signal that RankBrain will learn from. These satisfaction signals has emphasised the importance of user experience (UX) in SEO. Factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and intuitive navigation can now significantly impact a page's ranking.

Key Takeaways

Understand Your Audience

Get to know your target audience inside out by creating user profiles. What are their pain points? What information are they looking for? Tailor your content to meet their needs and interests.

In my experience interviewing a cross section of your existing clients, talking to your sales team and good old-fashioned surveys will yield some great and unexpected insights.

Create High-Quality Content

Like a constantly banging drum the call is to produce informative, engaging, and well-structured content that provides value to your audience.

Sometimes, I am tempted to keep the really useful content gated, hidden in a PDF that requires the user to complete a form to read it. If it’s that valuable then why the hell would you hide it, gift it and reap the rewards from greater visibility of what you have to offer. Provide the better experience and think of all the opportunities lost because you wanted contact details too soon to help your conversion rates.

Click Through Rate Optimisation

Keep working on your html page titles and meta descriptions. Make them pop with emojis and powerful sentiment. Think of it as your shop window and showcase what your page has to offer.

Without the click RankBrain can’t do the rest of it’s magic!

Optimise for User Experience

Ensure your website is fast, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly. A positive user experience can significantly improve your chances of ranking well.

Doing the hard yards with Usability Testing, finding friction points and fixing them is well worth the effort. How many times and how fast do you leave a web page when you can’t easily find what you were looking for?

But what about keywords Steve?

You may think that if you are pushed for time and only want to produce content with keywords that have large search volumes to make it worth the effort, that’s fine but you are going to have to compete hard.

If you have understood your audience and genuinely have something valuable to offer, forget the keywords, forget the volumes, focus on serving your audience with great content and they’ll love you for it, so will the search engines.

Author Notes

Tapping into RankBrain can be a game-changer in the world of SEO. By understanding how it works and adapting your strategies accordingly, you can enhance your ability gain and maintain high ranking positions in Google's search results.

I would love to have a conversation with you about RankBrain or SEO in general, drop me a line or let's connect on LinkedIn.

Stephen Caple: Let's connect.