Google announced RankBrain back in October 2015, it’s part of the Hummingbird algorithm and uses artificial intelligence to help decipher search queries, such as those that are vague, never been searched for before or a little ambiguous.
Google have stated that RankBrain is the third-highest ranking signal and so it’s something that shouldn’t be ignored.
This improvement in search results has been getting SEO’s very excited since the announcement last year as it should in theory help reduce the amount of spam results and instead provide the user with valuable web pages related to their query.
So for all of us white hat SEO”s working hard alongside our clients to provide high quality content, we should be seeing a positive impact on results.
So how can we make the most of it?
If RankBrain is there to help Google analyze and decipher long, complicated or new search queries then the idea of writing naturally for our audience, rather than writing for a search engine should become the norm. It should also allow us to produce high quality relevant content without needing to worry about using jargon or more technical language (where relevant) and have confidence that Google will be able to work it out.
A good way of leveraging RankBrain is to narrow your audience, write each piece of content for a specific market. Adopt laser focus with your content without feeling the need to try and write for everyone every time. For example, if you supply a range of catering equipment, you might write specifically for Chinese takeaway restaurants or off-site catering. Keep it specific!
I’ve already mentioned it, but write naturally without worrying about keywords or what Google may or may not understand. If you focus on your audience and providing value to them then you shouldn’t need to worry about anything else. Don’t be afraid of long form content either. The days of writing hundreds of pages of low quality is long gone, if you write a piece that’s 2000 words long, but it’s 2000 words for a reason, then go ahead and publish it. These types of pages often stand the test of time!