How Is Artificial Intelligence Changing SEO?

SEO is a sector in perpetual evolution, mainly due to changes in user behavior on the internet, but also to the various updates from Google to adapt to them. Natural referencing is, therefore, a sector that requires a lot of monitoring but also great adaptability, and this is not about to stop, even less with the arrival of artificial intelligence on Google.

Definition: What Is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence, also called AI, is more and more talked about. Mentioned for the first time by the mathematician Alan Turing in 1950 during a test that aimed to measure the intelligence of a machine. It mainly refers to science fiction films such as “Her”, “Blade Runner” or even “Terminator 2″…

However, its development continues to grow, and its presence in everyone’s daily life is becoming increasingly democratized: algorithms, personal assistants (Siri, Google Home…), autonomous cars… Only what is artificial intelligence?

A fairly vast subject, artificial intelligence is a science that aims to give machines intellectual capacities close to ours to enable them to perform human tasks. Thus, it is a flourishing market that has quickly become important.

Its growing development has allowed voice assistants and facial recognition to emerge. Today, AIs like Watson are used in medicine and finance, while the military is also interested in this new technology. Other sectors covet them, such as natural referencing, which seems quite relevant.

Google And Artificial Intelligence, An Increasingly Important Relationship

This information is no longer surprising; the link between Google and artificial intelligence is increasingly close. Present in many services such as StreetView, YouTube, Gmail or even in the conversational agent’s Google Home or Google Assistant created using deep learning, Google tends to integrate AI programs into each of its services.

RankBrain, The Artificial Intelligence Of SEO!

Google regularly updates its algorithm to offer Internet users ever more relevant and quality answers to its users. Its updates aim to keep Google’s algorithm at the forefront of technology: long-tail and increasingly precise queries, voice search… Nevertheless, even if these updates are not very visible to users, they have a much greater impact on SEO experts, for whom they become a real monitoring challenge.

To push the user’s experience and satisfy them as much as possible in their searches, Google has incorporated into its algorithm: RankBrain, which corresponds to its artificial intelligence program. It helps Google understand user requests to offer them more relevant content close to their request.

RankBrain transforms the written language of users into vectors that they can understand, which is possible thanks to Word Embedding, which transforms words into vectors thanks to a neural network. Word Embedding is, therefore, a practice that is part of and helps machine learning.

Thus, RankBrain can understand the meaning of a question formulated by the Internet user by creating links between expressions and words to understand the meaning. Unlike classic Google search, defined to respond to predefined situations, RankBrain is what is called “machine learning “, i.e. it learns on its own thanks to the searches of Internet users. She functions like a human who learns from others.

Thus, unlike the usual Google search, the millions of searches performed each day allow it to learn. Indeed, artificial intelligence and Big Data are closely linked since without the latter, I would not work; it is what feeds them and allows them to learn. Google’s artificial intelligence program then makes it possible to very clearly refine the results to obtain the one it considers most relevant to the user’s request.

A Smarter Algorithm

With its RankBrain artificial intelligence program, Google’s algorithm is becoming more intelligent and autonomous. Indeed, being able to learn by itself using Internet users’ requests, it can understand what the user wants to say beyond simple words. In contrast, before, the algorithm only matched the keywords the user used to those of a page.

In practice, if a user types “dog” in the search bar, Google RankBrain will offer him links related to dogs, but also kibble or accessories. How is this made possible? The algorithm noticed that the users who carried out these searches wanted to see results around the semantic field “dog”.

Thus, the algorithm can respond in this way thanks to the semantic fields it has created, but also with the help of the searches of previous users. He combines his knowledge with that which Internet users bring to him to improve his results. Artificial intelligence is profoundly changing Google’s algorithm and, consequently, the field of natural referencing.

Artificial Intelligence, Natural Referencing And Big Data

The various updates to Google’s algorithm make referencing a constantly evolving sector natural. Thus, continually monitoring and getting used to the latest trends is more than necessary. Today, with more than 5 billion daily queries, Google captures billions of data, an incredible opportunity for natural referencing.

Big Data And SEO!

The rapid evolution of data has followed that of digital, and today, more than 2.5 trillion bytes of data are generated daily in the world. Weather data, tweets, GPS signals, text messages, and everything we do on our smartphones or computers refers to the world of Big Data.

But really, what is Big Data? Simply, it is the volume of data created daily by all Internet users that no human or database management tool can completely process. Thus, with its omnipresence in the lives of its users, Google captures a large volume of data every day, which today makes SEO a Big Data business.

Semantic Field

With artificial intelligence and Big Data, the field of SEO is in full transformation. The billions of data created daily enable Google’s artificial intelligence program to improve its learning and interpretation of words and phrases. In practice, the AI classifies keywords that evoke the same thing in semantic fields, so the words can be different but mean the same thing.

Thus, this technique allows the program to understand and interpret what the Internet user is looking for beyond the simple words used. Analyzing the semantic field in SEO makes it possible to obtain an overall view of the searches carried out by users on a specific subject.

This analysis brings out keywords or expressions related to the subject that it would not have been possible to know otherwise. Thus, it offers the possibility of positioning yourself on less competitive and relevant keywords, which can bring a significant competitive advantage.

Clustering

Obtaining thousands of keywords related to a specific activity is a real opportunity. However, knowing how to use them is necessary to be effective for your natural referencing. Using an algorithm, it is essential to separate them into different groups. Thus, all the words or expressions in the group relate to the main idea. This is therefore called clustering.

Automatic Content

As we have just seen, artificial intelligence is already making things happen within SEO and content creation is not spared. Today, companies are already using AI to write content: weather reports, sports results, stock market analysis, and many other areas.

The artificial intelligence Watson, created by IBM, participated in the editorial staff of The Drum magazine. The link between AI and content marketing seems to be getting stronger and stronger. Soon the AI will be able to produce content based on Internet users by analyzing their previous searches.

Conclusion

The relationship between SEO and AI looks promising. From keyword research to automatic content creation, new technologies seem to revolutionize the traditional uses of natural referencing. It is, therefore, more than necessary to adapt to these new changes. At Power Trafic, our SEO experts work with semantic analysis tools to guarantee optimal natural referencing and support you in achieving your goals.