SEOClerks

Clear
Sign In Join

How Google RankBrain Works - Part 2

  • Cristian Level X3
    • 6

    Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

    How Google RankBrain Works - Part 2

    So, by reading part one I hope you've understood the general idea behind Google RankBrain.

    How Google RankBrain Works - Part 2
    Now we are going to talk about what RankBrain really wants, what kind of content and what type of signals does RankBrain look for when ranking websites.

    Important Signals:

    1. New content - Very important, probably the most important signal on this list, in the previous post we've talked about "best HBO shows" - think about it, most people don't really want to hear about shows HBO did 10 years ago because chances are, they already know about that shows, they are searching for fresh stuff and Google understands that.
    2. Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR) - Very important signal, a high organic CTR tells Google that your page gives users what they want and your title tag and meta description are convincing enough for that click to be given. A low bounce rate also matters here.
    3. Similar subjects - Having content on your page that relates to our main subject, in this case, "hot HBO shows", chances are RankBrain already knows about those shows and if you are not talking about them you will lose ground behind other websites that do!
    4. Big content - For some years now Google has shown time and time again that it love big in-depth articles that are helpful for the user and gives them everything they need without doing additional searches on the matter. So having a 100 words article with just a list of shows is a big mistake and you won't rank on the first page!


    Irrelevant Signals:
    1. Exactly matched keywords - on this subject Google has become far too smart to be tricked by exacted matched keywords, these simply don't matter.
    2. Backlinks - Since RankBrain puts a lot of value on how "fresh" the content is, well backlink juice simply won't help you here. That's good news for lots of SEOs that are simply tired of creating backlinks


    So those were the main RankBrain signals, do you guys have any other signals you may add?

    #Rank #Brain #Google #Signals #Ranks Google
    Share post:

    Comments

    Please login or sign up to leave a comment

    Join
    CryptoGuru

    CryptoGuru

    Incredible most certainly, how did you learn all of this? New content is a must updating your site is a must i knew these things already but wow this part. "Exactly matched keywords - on this subject Google has become far too smart to be tricked by exacted matched keywords, these simply don't matter. " This is a method still used by some people keyword searches. They really believe that they make a difference and i don't know how it helps. Every time people come to me about this issue i always tell them i do not do keyword SEO and i personally don't believe that it works.
    8 years ago

    Are you sure you want to delete this post?

    Cristian

    Cristian

    I've taken hard looks at the SERPs, testing tons and tons of search queries for patterns. The way I know Exactly matched keywords don't really work in this case is that most of the top 5 pages that I ran with the keywords from the first part of my article don't focus on such keywords and are also very very new, thus why Google focuses on freshness.
    8 years ago

    Are you sure you want to delete this post?

    Lynne

    Lynne

    Oh wow Cristian so Rankbrain is saying that backlinks don't have as much clout as before... what does this really mean for SEO since that has been a major rank factor?

    I mean from my side this is great news because I just can't focus on everything myself. One thing that I place a lot of importance on is adding new content regularly and this has been my main focus. My new focus is on email marketing and social media marketing. The one area that I don't manage to get to myself is building backlinks so I usually hire a seller here to do that work when I can.

    So does this mean that keyword research won't be that important anymore either?
    8 years ago

    Are you sure you want to delete this post?

    Cristian

    Cristian

    Sort of, you really have to understand which niches and which searches RankBrain activates on, check again my examples in my first part and you'll get the idea.

    I'm not saying backlinks are irrelevant, but for certain searches, where Google clearly values very fresh content, yes, backlinks don't matter. You have to take a close look at the pages listed on the first page, look at how old they are and you'll figure out if you need backlinks or not.

    Another thing to keep in mind: Domain Authority is still a ranking factor, even for RankBrain.
    8 years ago

    Are you sure you want to delete this post?

    Lynne

    Lynne

    Yes I read Part 1 of your RankBrain post so I get the idea but where previously I had to target a specific keyword in a post I now get the impression it will be more like topic research as opposed to specific keyword research.
    8 years ago

    Are you sure you want to delete this post?

    Corzhens

    Corzhens

    If that RankBrain really works that way then we can perhaps see how to make the website appear better to Google. Now my question – what is this RankBrain, really, is it a part of Google or another plug in? To be honest, I have read the first part of this discussion but I still do not get the drift of what exactly is the RankBrain. If it is part of the algorithm of Google, I hope you make it clear for us. Not all your readers can easily understand. No offense meant, just being honest.
    6 years ago

    Are you sure you want to delete this post?