AI isn’t just about robots anymore. In the early 2000’s, most of us thought of artificial intelligence as a futuristic substitute for companionship or new machines that could replace humans in a factory.

By Kellen Kautzman

What most of us don’t realize is that machine learning is also incorporated into every stroke of our keyboard when it comes to studying internet traffic and searching for content online.

In 2015, Google introduced its own AI program, which leverages machine learning to decide where websites rank. Google refers to it as RankBrain, and this moniker alone should be a clue as to its purpose and intention – a pseudo-mind that determines which websites get traffic and which could easily become the major economic force behind who ultimately becomes wealthy and who doesn’t.

Because of the complexity required to understanding the nuances and depth of machine learning, many small business owners simply gloss over it. Let’s dive into the real world, dollars-and-cents ramifications of machine learning, its impact on small businesses and how companies can easily take advantage of its superior-level abilities.

Assume Google Measures Everything

From the amount of time a visitor spends on your site, how many pages they visit and whether or not they come back, assume that Google knows all of it and that these factors will play into your ranking. Old school SEO tactics like, “make sure to include an <h1> tag with your keyword in it!” only still apply if they positively impact user engagement on the site. The easiest way to make RankBrain happy, is to make your customer happy. As an example, your Google My Business page most likely contains your phone number, and Google is measuring how many phone calls are generated from searches to your business. If you treat your customers right, and they continue to search online for your business and call you directly from that link, you are effectively leveraging Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) in order to rank better, even though you aren’t link building or blogging.

It Sees Everything

Google’s capacity to see images has greatly improved in recent years. This means that the stock photo you chose for your homepage is not only understood by Google, but Google also knows that same image has been used thousands of times on other sites. That’s not original. When possible, use imagery that is unique to your business so that when Google “sees” your photos, it sees your original content, has to process what the images are, and then rewards you for it.

It Hears Everything

When you create a YouTube video, moments after it’s uploaded to YouTube, if you click on the closed captions, you will see the words you just spoke appear. Because of this, we know that Google’s technology is transcribing our video content with automatic captioning. If you want to increase your rankings in Google, YouTube videos are becoming an essential piece of the puzzle. The more you position yourself as an expert with video, the higher the likelihood that your content will boost your rankings. You can think of RankBrain as a judge who is measuring you up against all of your competitors and the videos are your testimony. They are extremely important for boosting your online awareness.

As you move forward in your ongoing quest to rank #1 across the board and become a ludicrously wealthy multi-billionaire, remember that Google’s machine learning technology is going to play a pivotal role in your online exposure and that it’s job is to measure everything you create online. It’s your job to provide as much evidence as possible as to why you should be given the coveted top ranked spot.

Kellen Kautzman is the founder and operator of Send It Rising Internet Marketing, a Las Vegas-based internet marketing agency. Kautzman is a well-regarded expert on growing small business with digital marketing and SEO, a public speaker, and published author of the book, “Everybody’s Doing It – Advertising Redefined by SEO Expert Kellen Kautzman”, which initially launched as the #1 New Release on Amazon.com in the SEO category.

AI stock image by Tatiana Shepeleva/Shutterstock

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