RankBrain = Google's Third-Most Important Signal

Avid Learner · Nov 25, 2015

Seen a few other threads on RankBrain, but up to now it seemed merely just one of their signals. Don't know if "3rd most important" is meant as propaganda, or if it is real (anyone seeing real measurable impacts?).

Also says "Search Engine Land believes links 'remain the most important signal,' followed by words on Web pages" ... probably no surprise to anyone here.

Would like to know the relative weightings though. Say, links 40%, words 20%, RankBrain 10%?

Code:

http://www.cio.com/article/3007773/search/inside-rankbrain-what-googles-new-search-algorithm-means-to-you.html

As explained in the article about RankBrain, it appears to focus on the longer search phrases...

"Its focus is to locate relevant Web content that might not contain the exact words used in a search query, especially in a 'long-tail' keyword search, or a phrase that contains three or more words and is highly specific"

LOL...Seems Rank Brain already has a profile here. Coincidence?

Code:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/members/697165-rank-brain.html

wesleyjf91 · Nov 26, 2015

Rankbrain is machine learning. It's part of the algorithm but you can't optimize for it. It's more like an update to Hummingbird.... their attempt to understand what semantic relationships are.

Look at Moz's 2015 ranking factors if you want the best guess of ranking factors.

I wouldn't say rankbrain is even involved in that. It is, but not directly.

Deleted member 708208 · Nov 26, 2015

It's just a new buzzword. Most of what it describes have been going on for a good while now. Rand Fish sticks will
enjoy explaining this to the layman of the world and complicate the simple.

Atomic76 · Nov 27, 2015

Based on some of the examples shown in the article, it sounds like they are adjusting to more and more people typing out longer "question" phrases. I wouldn't be surprised if more mobile users are speaking their search queries into their Android phones, ala Siri, and are asking stuff like "what are the best pizza shops near san antonio texas" and Google seems to be just stripping out or ignoring the generic words/phrases such as "what are the best" and "near" and what they're left with is the crux of the search query - "pizza shops san antonio texas". In some ways this could be good for SEO purposes, if you're trying to write content around keyword phrases you pulled from Google's keyword planner. The Keyword Planner tends to suggest shorter phrases which don't always work well in a sentence in terms of proper grammar. But if you could split those words out into a more legible sentence, it sounds as if Google will still understand your content is still relevant to that keyword phrase.

Let's say Google's Keyword Planner is showing the keyword phrase "how to fly drone" as getting a lot of search volume (it's not, but let's just pretend it is) and you want to write some content around it. You wouldn't want to put that exact phrase in your article since it's not how people normally speak, you could instead write something like "Are you interested in learning how to fly your new drone?", which is a much longer phrase/sentence, but perhaps they can now better understand it still relates to the phrase "how to fly drone" even if the words are split up a bit with other words in between padding the phrase/sentence.

Avid Learner · Nov 27, 2015

wesleyjf91 said:
Rankbrain is machine learning. It's part of the algorithm but you can't optimize for it. It's more like an update to Hummingbird.... their attempt to understand what semantic relationships are.

Look at Moz's 2015 ranking factors if you want the best guess of ranking factors.

I wouldn't say rankbrain is even involved in that. It is, but not directly.

Maybe the optimization is more focused on intent vs keywords/phrases, but our tools may not easily allow for this type of analysis.

Also, thanks for mentioning the Moz list. Quite long, but still wondering the relative weights of these factors. Probably like the SERPs, the top three dominate with 70%+ of the effect? Just trying to pin down what they individually might be, even in a range.

rabbitking said:
It's just a new buzzword. Most of what it describes have been going on for a good while now. Rand Fish sticks will enjoy explaining this to the layman of the world and complicate the simple.

True. As it gets smarter, does it grow in influence, eventually becoming #1?

Atomic76 said:
Based on some of the examples shown in the article, it sounds like they are adjusting to more and more people typing out longer "question" phrases. I wouldn't be surprised if more mobile users are speaking their search queries into their Android phones, ala Siri, and are asking stuff like "what are the best pizza shops near san antonio texas" and Google seems to be just stripping out or ignoring the generic words/phrases such as "what are the best" and "near" and what they're left with is the crux of the search query - "pizza shops san antonio texas". In some ways this could be good for SEO purposes, if you're trying to write content around keyword phrases you pulled from Google's keyword planner. The Keyword Planner tends to suggest shorter phrases which don't always work well in a sentence in terms of proper grammar. But if you could split those words out into a more legible sentence, it sounds as if Google will still understand your content is still relevant to that keyword phrase.

Let's say Google's Keyword Planner is showing the keyword phrase "how to fly drone" as getting a lot of search volume (it's not, but let's just pretend it is) and you want to write some content around it. You wouldn't want to put that exact phrase in your article since it's not how people normally speak, you could instead write something like "Are you interested in learning how to fly your new drone?", which is a much longer phrase/sentence, but perhaps they can now better understand it still relates to the phrase "how to fly drone" even if the words are split up a bit with other words in between padding the phrase/sentence.

Great explanation.

RankBrain = Google's Third-Most Important Signal

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