When it comes to SEO, Google is basically the only search engine that matters. Sure, there’s Bing (lol), Yahoo (yeah…no), and a few others, but they don’t matter. Since those other engines don’t matter, it makes sense to get hyper-specific with the pieces of Google’s ranking algorithm.
That’s what today’s Read is going to do. It focuses on just one piece of Google’s algorithm called RankBrain. Right now, RankBrain is the third most important ranking factor for Google’s algorithm, but it’s def moving it’s way up the ranks.
At this point, you’re probably like, “Okay, wtf is RakeBrain?” First of all, it’s RankBrain. Second of all, it’s a machine learning algorithm that Google uses to sort search results.
This is big because Google’s algorithm used to be manually coded, meaning their engineers actually changed the algorithm. But now RankBrain has the ability to tweak the algorithm on its own, and it’s going to have more influence on that algorithm in the future. That means you need to optimize for RankBrain now so that you’re not burned in the future. Like, right now.
Here are a few ways to do that:
- RankBrain understands user intent. That’s a big deal because that means it’s time to scrap long-tail keywords and focus on Medium Tail Keywords. More on this in Chapter 3 of today’s Read.
- Optimize titles and description tags for CTR. Organic CTR is a ranking signal for RankBrain. You can get more clicks by packing your titles with emotion, adding brackets and parentheses to the ends of your titles, use numbers (not just on list posts!), and spending more time writing your meta-descriptions. More on this in Chapter 4.
- Optimize your content for bounce rate and dwell time. There is no doubt that these two factors are ranking signals for RankBrain. Read Chapter 5 for more on this.
- Chapter 6 – RankBrain Optimization Strategies and Case Studies.
Running out of room to fully sum this one up. Sorry. You should truly check out today’s Read.
