On October 26th, 2015, Google confirmed that they use the Rankbrain algorithm in the process of Search Engine Optimization to provide their users with more relevant search results. It is considered to be the one of three most important factors in the ranking game of SEO besides the content and the link building.
We have all been there when we searched for something on Google and it did not quite understand the words but decided to guess anyway and show us some results which it thought we were looking for. Sometimes it annoys us and sometimes it makes us wonder how technology can be this useful.
The success of the Rankbrain depends on the linguistic similarity of the keywords or the phrases that were typed by a user into the search bar.
It is one of the most modern technological algorithms out there in the market because it uses Artificial Intelligence (AI). What it basically does with artificial intelligence is convert the human language into mathematical entities.
These entities are called vectors and they help in finding out the familiar keywords and terms that may be related to the one that Google failed to recognize. If you think about it, there are really many ways to say and define things, this is called linguistic freedom.
And the important thing to remember here is that the human mind is a complex organ both scientifically and psychologically and it is impossible for machines to understand how it actually works, even for Artificial Intelligence. Just like any other mechanic algorithm, Rankbrain also can only guess but it is the most accurate guessing device in that case.
Artificial Intelligence in the form of Rankbrain is important for Google because a few years back, a slightly incorrect keyword or spelling mistake would cause it to completely go out of ideas for your search results.
But the introduction of AI was a revolutionary change in the entire algorithm of Google and made it more intelligent than ever before. That is one of the major reasons it became part of the topmost important ranking factors overnight.
Even though the impact of the Rankbrain in the optimization is not much but since there is the existence of primary and secondary keywords, there is the possibility of it leading traffic to the websites that know how to use relative key terms and phrases effectively. Otherwise, it only helps Google.