How will improvements in artificial intelligence change SEO? In a new episode of Real Smart Marketing, we asked four key influencers for their thoughts:
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in SEO
Artificial intelligence is changing the face of SEO, with advancing algorithms which enable machines to make connections and "learn" how to process data based on human requests more effectively.
When you search for something, the results displayed take into account a bucket of considerations like your location, search history, favorite websites, and what other users have previously clicked on for a similar query. AI improvements mean that ranking factors can change from query to query, as the algorithm learns from how people are clicking on the search results and decides on the most relevant factors to take into account for each individual search.
So what does this mean for marketers? How does it change our jobs?
Here's a summary on what developments in AI will bring for marketers, according to our four industry influencers, along with some suggestions on what you should do in face of these changes.
1. Increasing importance of SEO optimization for visual content
According to Sam Mallikarjunan, Head of Growth of HubSpot Labs, visual content will have an increasing influence on SEO
As Mallikarjunan says:
"...search engines are getting good at knowing what each video, audio clip, or image is actually about."
Not only does Google favor YouTube videos in search results, they're also getting better at analyzing what visual content is about. And this changes things for visual content creators. Just like how content writers had to learn to optimize headings and keywords, visual artists will have to start thinking about SEO when creating visual content like images and videos.
SEO for videos, for example, means optimizing keyword targeting, descriptions, tags, video length, and more.
2. More emphasis on content quality, relevance, and focus
Google's RankBrain, is an artificial intelligence system which attempts to understand the context of content on websites and match that to relevant queries.
As Google gets better at analyzing search intent, it's more important than ever to get your keyword research right, and then tie those keywords back into your content.
Basically, content has to do a better job than ever at serving searcher intent. So rather than older factors like keyword density, things like content relevance, context, and value are now more important ranking factors. That means providing real value, answering what people are asking, and not trying to stuff as many keywords as possible in a blog post.
It's no longer about writing a blog post about one keyword phrase you picked from your keyword research. It's about creating a blog, or a series of blog posts, around a concept related to that keyword. In fact, the best option would be to focus your website around a single topic. This way, you not only help RankBrain learn the niche you're in, but also narrow your competitors' pool, because Google will compare your websites only to others from your niche, so you'll have higher chances of ranking and getting traffic.
3. A more selective approach to link building
Larry Kim, founder of Wordstream, predicts that websites with "strong domain authority with lots of links pointing to it but mediocre content" will be most susceptible to Google's AI improvements.
Since the smarter search engines will analyze whether people clicking on your links actually stay and read your content, SEO marketers need to focus even more on relevance and quality in their backlinks.
We've covered content quality, but how do you improve link relevance? Basically, your backlinks should come from the same category and industry as your site - or similar ones. This means you'll have to be more selective with your link building.
Basic example - if you sell cat food, and your website is all about cats and their food, then you shouldn't have lots of backlinks from websites selling lizards. RankBrain won't like it, and may penalize you for it.
In addition to restricting your content to a single niche, you also need to restrict your links to the same niche. Any fast and dirty ways to purchase links are surely out of the question. Going forward, we'll have to build links the "old-school way" - by building real relationships.
Find influencers talking about your niche and connect with them to find link opportunities.
4. Going beyond web optimization only with mobile and voice search
If you're only thinking about SEO for web browsing on computers, think again.
First, there are mobile searches.
According to a Google study, 40% of searches are now mobile, and more than one in four users only use a smartphone on an average day.
As a marketer, if you aren't optimizing the way your brand is reaching customers on mobile, you risk missing out on a quarter of your potential audience.
Source: How People Use Their Devices - think with Google
Whether you're ready or not, Google has put more pressure on us to make our sites more mobile friendly when they announced making it a part of their mobile algorithm.
A positive note of this mobile shift is it opens new doors for brands to market. For example, If you have a mobile app for your site, you can make it show in mobile queries to increase exposure and brand awareness. If you search for Wall Street Journal on your smartphone, you'll find the WSJ app among the first few results, and it stands out against other ranking websites. Currently, it's still a relatively untapped market, so act fast.
Then, there are voice searches.
With the rise of mobile usage comes voice searches; Siri, Google Now and Cortana are now present and ready to cater to all our capricious demands, and this changes things for SEO.
Most of us are more concise when we type - for example, you'd type "best pizza place NYC" into a search bar. But when you do a voice search, you're more likely to say a complete sentence like, "Hey Siri, what's the best place to get pizza in NYC?"
As Rand Fishkin notes:
"...voice searches are getting longer and more conversational."
Founder and CMO of Link-Assistant.com, Aleh Barysevich, suggests that we should "seriously incorporate voice search strategy into our websites because voice search optimization is the future of SEO."
That means doubling down on great content in a conversational tone, and doing keyword research for conversational queries.
Kiss black hat techniques goodbye
In short, a smarter Google means black hat tactics are closer to becoming obsolete.
Short-term strategies that try to trick and outsmart algorithms won't work - investing in long-term best practices will be rewarded more than gaming the system.
It may sound like a lot of work, but with improvements in AI, SEO should also become more intuitive and natural - so focus on delivering relevance and value to searchers, and let RankBrain work out the rest.