Machine Learning and Search -State of Search 2016
Transcript of Machine Learning and Search -State of Search 2016
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Machine Learning, Search & SEO
Eric Enge @stonetemple
ERIC ENGE, CEOSTONE TEMPLE CONSULTING
NOTABLE SPEAKER, BOOK AUTHOR & ENTREPRENEUR 2016 US Search Awards 2016 Search Personality of the Year
2016 Landys Search Marketer of the Year
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Nationalselfrelianceassociation.com
Eric Enge – Fun Fact 1
October 2010
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Eric Enge – Fun Fact 2
ntier.org
February 2011
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Machine Learning and Deep Learning
Our Best Student!
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Simple Learning Problem
Eric Enge @stonetemple
With a Simple Solution
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Much More Complicated Problem
This is an Example of “Supervised” Machine Learning
Eric Enge @stonetemple
And, Now the Complexity
Went WAY up
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Machine Learning is a 2 Step Process
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Supervised Machine
Learning Sample Problem:
Recognizing a Face
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Related Stories Auto-Discovered by Machine Learning
Google News Uses Unsupervised Machine Learning
Eric Enge @stonetemple
DeepMind’s AlphaGo Program Beat the World Champion
10 atoms in the known universe
10 possible positions in the game of Go
100
171
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Enter RankBrain
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Bloomberg Broke the News in October
2015
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Basic Concept: Stop Words
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Query That Doesn’t Work Well With Stop
Words
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Top Organic Results for the Query “Office”
Eric Enge @stonetemple
“The” and “Office” are capitalized
Eric Enge @stonetemple
“Yeah -- being able to represent strings of text in very high-dimensional space and "see" how they relate to one another.”
Google Spokesperson’s Answer to a Question I Asked About RankBrain
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Notice Patterns in Language Usage
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Notice Patterns in Language Usage
The
• Classic stop word• But in some cases
critical to phrase meaning
• e.g. “The Office”
Graphic
• Could relate to violence
• Could relate to language
• Could relate to design
• Meaning determined by context
Without
• Negatives traditionally ignored by Google
• But in some cases critical to meaning of page
Eric Enge @stonetemple
What Does RankBrain Do?
Eric Enge @stonetemple
What Does RankBrain Do?
Can result in selecting
different algos
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Can You Get 100% Score on SuperMario Without Walkthrough?
Negatives
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Our RankBrain Study
Eric Enge @stonetemple
June/July 2015 Google Result January 2016 Google Result
Pulled Results from Google on Two Different Dates
Did This for 500K Queries
Eric Enge @stonetemple 28
Aggregate Results
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Why Are PDFs So Weak?
July 2015 Answer
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Now Relates “Weak” to Security
January 2016
Answer
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Where is Celtics Bench?
July 2015 Answer
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Now Applies Meaning of “Where is” Better
January 2016
Answer
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Tourist Map of Mdina Malta Pre-RankBrain – July 2015
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Example of How RankBrain Impacted Algo Selection
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Machine Learning Summary Thoughts –
What Will Such Algorithms Look For?
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Quality Content
Eric Enge @stonetemple 37
Ways to Measure Authority
(Links)
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Source: Chartbeat
How About Social Media as a Signal?
Eric Enge @stonetemple
No Correlation Between Shares and Links
Source: Moz and BuzzSumo
Zero (or Near Zero) Means NO
Correlation
Eric Enge @stonetemple
BUT, They Will Look for Some Form
of Social Proof
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Need to Have the Right
Training Data
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Very Hard to Test Edge Cases You Can’t Define
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Deriving and Testing Machine Learning Algorithms Takes a Long Time
Eric Enge @stonetemple
When Do We Apply Machine Learning?
When coming up with human
algorithms proves to be impossible
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Eric Enge @stonetemple
How to Prepare for This?
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Machine Learning is Just a Tool in the Toolkit
It’s Not Going to Blow Up SEO as
We Know it
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Personal Assistants More Likely to Drive Disruptive Change
Eric Enge @stonetemple
What to Do? Align With the Search Engines
1. Work on Content Quality
2. Work on Your Authority
3. Increase User Satisfaction With Your Site
4. Create Demand for What You Do
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Some Practical Ideas
1. Are you working on building your
brand?
2. Do you have recognizable
experts working with you?
3. Review engagement data on major pages.
4. Check your site search.
5. Review competitor sites
for ideas.
6. Perform advanced content
comparison analysis.
7. Design your site for Smartphone
users.
8. Make your site as fast as possible.
Eric Enge @stonetemple
Eric [email protected]
@stonetemple+Eric Enge
(508) 962-8474www.stonetemple.com
Thank You!