Google is now using its RankBrain machine learning system to process every query that the search engine handles, and the system is changing the rankings of lots of queries.
What’s more, it’s hugely effective. Of the hundreds of “signals” Google search uses when it calculates its rankings (a signal might be the user’s geographical location, or whether the headline on a page matches the text in the query), RankBrain is now rated as the third most useful.We’ve already heard before that RankBrain is considered the most useful search ranking signal, behind content and links. But prior to this, Google had only said publicly last October that RankBrain was used to process a “large fraction” of 15 percent of the searches it had never seen before.
In short: Google’s clearly become so confident in RankBrain’s mysterious capabilities that it’s now used to help with every query that the search engine handles, more than two trillion per year.
RankBrain to understand the intent of search
RankBrain seems largely used as a query refinement tool. Google seems to be using it now for every search to better understand what that search is about. After that, another aspect of RankBrain might influence what results actually appear and in what order, but not always.
Imagine that RankBrain sees a search for “best flower shop in Los Angeles.” It might understand that this is similar to another search that’s perhaps more popular, such as “best LA flower shops.” If so, it might then simply translate the first search behind the scenes into the second one. It would do that because for a more popular search, Google has much more user data that helps it feel more confident about the quality of the results.
RankBrain changes ranking results
In the end, RankBrain did change the ranking of those results. But it did that simply because it triggered a different search, not because it used some special ranking factor to influence which exact listing appeared in what order.
Focus on great content
For the SEO and paid search digital marketers out there, do be assured that the use of RankBrain would not affect the quality or strategic position of your work — the emphasis here is to still focus on great content. Even the folks at Google had said it before, that RankBrain is ultimately designed to reward great content. So focus on that, which has always been the case with SEO, and you’re on the right track.
