Google RankBrain & AMP: The Future of SEO?
Ask any self-respecting online or digital marketing agency in Toronto that’s been around from the beginning. SEO was solely wrapped up in optimizing page reads, creating relevant backlinks, and building sensible, keyword-driven content. Not anymore.
These days, SEO is chiefly driven by influencing searches queries from within, as opposed to “tricking” search engines with keyword-rich content carrots. That’s not to say the old-school stuff isn’t important – well-composed content filled with top-of-mind data is still the engine that drives websites that are relevant in the long-term – the building blocks that drive this information to the masses consist of different elements. These elements fall into four different categories, which are discussed below.
RankBrain: The New SEO King
The Google algorithm update RankBrain made a big splash when the search engine giant spilled its secret, and marketers have been swimming in its residual waters ever since. It’s attractive because of its adherence to a simple formula: That is, it excels at figuring out how to match queries with relevant content.
It can pull this neat trick off by essentially picking up on patterns that are built up and refined over time. It takes this information and formulates logical progressions in its searches, yielding results it thinks are what the user’s looking for.
As their intuition refines over time, their assumptions become too spot-on to be considered mere guesses. Technically, you can call this artificial intelligence. For those involved in the digital marketing game, this can also be called a godsend.
The Increased Relevance of AMP Sites
Speed has always been the essence of the online world. And as more users shift their focus to the mobile realm, keeping speeds going at a proper clip is only going to be more important over time. Because of this, you can expect AMPs, or Accelerated Mobile Pages, to become even more of a critical element. This is because AMPs exist to allow pages to load quickly on mobile devices. Without AMPs, a slowpoke of a site can turn off mobile customers in a snap, regardless of the site’s search ranking.
Know the Knowledge Graph
This element was launched in 2012. While it hasn’t quite taken off with a great deal of speed, its foundation is solid enough to make it feel like a prominent place in the world of SEO is only a matter of time. In a nutshell, knowledge graphs provide users with a wealth of pertinent information that can be viewed in one fell swoop. It’s a neat trick that makes gathering and sharing data more efficient than ever.
The Set Up of Real-Time Integrated Filters
The incorporation of filters designed to weed out spam and other unpleasant materials has increasingly found its way into the SEO world. This further enhances the search experience, because users can click on returned sites with more confidence, knowing that they aren’t going to expose themselves to unsavory or unwanted materials.
When you add up these elements, it becomes quite clear that the future is geared toward a more enlightened SEO experience. For those that are in digital marketing, this means that their users looking for their content will be able to find them faster than ever before.