RankBrain – the AI that makes readers more important

Google’s AI tool RankBrain is one of the major AI systems powering their searches. RankBrain is remarkable in that it assesses searches in a more human-like way. By ranking based on how words relate to concepts It can figure out what you actually mean by your search, rather than just matching up keywords. For example, instead of connecting up the search term “Barack Obama wife” to articles where the ex-president had been seen out with his wife, it’ll get that the user wants to read about Michelle herself.

And there’s more good news for you. RankBrain as part of a suite of AI systems working together, looks at user behaviour, not just what keywords you’ve got in there. If you offer excellent, useful and comprehensive information, people will stick around on your site – and even share or link to it. RankBrain will notice, boosting how authoritative your website is considered. That means great content doesn’t just boost conversions, it’s a crucial part of driving traffic, too.

And as a cherry on top, it means you can worry less about the algorithms and instead start zeroing in on your readers – write about what they’re interested in, what they want to know, the problems they’re looking to solve – in language that makes the most sense.

Here’s how to do that:

Place your keywords wisely

SEO keywords may be technical, but they also stem from natural human thought patterns. Think about what words you would use to find your content and chances are other people will think the same. Studies of the Google algorithms suggest the best places to put these keywords are headlines, sub-headings and meta titles and descriptions.

Create one great piece, not many lookalikes

Old search theory was to hit upon a keyword and then create as many different content pieces as possible, optimised for slight variations – one article optimised for ‘vets Waikato’ and another for ‘top Waikato vets’, for example. RankBrain, its sister-systems, and the algorithms driving your searches, are smarter than that. So, once you have a topic, just write one really good piece with original material and keywords people will actually use.

Evoke emotion in your readers

This is just, you know, good writing 101, but since SEO rankings are about getting people to take action, the best way to do that is to get them to feel things. Be descriptive and channel emotion so strongly they’ll have to click through to your website, stay a long time and then share.

Here’s what I mean:

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This does a good job of describing the content, but it’s kind of blah. Boost the emotion by thinking about what really matters to your audience. Here is a way you could do that (remember you still need keywords in there, so your audience knows that they’re in the right place).

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Offer content that has it all going on

A clear, concise headline will help drag readers to your site, but to keep them there you need to have what they’re looking for. Put the juiciest morsels at the top of the story then fill up the rest with content people are hungry for. Make sure to split it up into readable sections — subheadings and bullet points are your best friends.

Write for humans and you’ll see results

This should all come as a relief – you can start writing for humans and not for Google (or, we can do that for you.) While the AI and their friends are what will rank your work, the humans are the ones sending the data to RankBrain. Think about the keywords that humans would naturally use, write fulsome content that gives the readers what they want and make it a pleasure to read.

By keeping your audiences engaged and happy, you’ll boost your Google ranking with far less stress than the SEO of ye olden days.

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