What is Google RankBrain? How does it work? Can you optimize for it? Here’s everything you need to know about the Google RankBrain algorithm.
It is no exaggeration to say that Google RankBrain is revolutionizing search results.
In 1996, search changed with the idea of using links as a ranking factor, which later became Google PageRank.
What Is RankBrain?
RankBrain is a system that allows Google to better understand user preferences for search queries. It was launched in spring 2015 but was announced on October 26 of that year.
In the beginning, RankBrain was asked questions that Google had never encountered before, and it still encountered, affecting 15% of all searches.
At the heart of RankBrain is a Hummingbird-based machine learning system that Google transformed from a “strings” environment to a “things” environment.
That is, it comes from “reading” the actual form, but “seeing” the entity it represents.
A Quick Aside About Entities & Things Over Strings
To explain this important advancement and its role at RankBrain, let’s just look at the letters that make up the names of my colleagues and friends.
“Jason Barnard”
Before Hummingbird, Google saw these characters in combinations of 2 words and 13 characters, in that order and most frequently used on the page, that affected the search string “Jason Barnard.”
Jason is a normal person, but that doesn’t matter.
Why Did Google Introduce RankBrain?
RankBrain was originally introduced to solve a simple but big problem.
Google had not seen 15% of queries used, and as such had no context for them, nor past analytics to determine if their results were good or not at satisfying the user’s intent.
Enter RankBrain.
This system focuses on things that are not strings.
RankBrain also considers the environmental context (such as the searcher’s location) and determines the meaning of what has been done.
This is a simple process, and understanding the word order is a function of discovery rather than desire.
How Does RankBrain Work?
It’s no surprise that Google hasn’t explained exactly how RankBrain works.
However, we can still imagine what happened behind the scenes.
New Search Function
As mentioned above, we need to stop thinking in terms we understand and start thinking like a machine.
Why Is RankBrain Important?
RankBrain is important not only for what it is, but also for what it stands for.
This is the first time Google has applied machine learning to search results. This is not the last time.