RankBrain Ate My Homework record sleeve
American SEO / Track 07 of 14

RankBrain Ate My Homework

Another premature obituary. Another song for the collection.

07
Oct 26, 2015 · AI

RankBrain Ate My Homework

Industry reaction to machine learning

Machine learning would replace SEO.

Listen to Track 07 · Garage-pop · 1:30

Read the lyrics
[Verse] I had a sheet of magic words, Repeated till the page looked blurred. The heading said it seven times. I thought that counted as good lines. Then someone asked a different way, And found a page with things to say. I stared at mine till half past four, Then wrote the keyword twelve times more. [Chorus] RankBrain ate my homework! That’s the story I supplied. The client read the opening line: “What’s this supposed to mean?” I said, “It’s written for machines.” He said, “Well, that explains the screen.” [Verse] We cut the fluff and answered straight, Put useful things above the fold. The boss said, “Now I understand.” I said, “That’s what we should have sold.” [Final chorus] RankBrain ate my homework! Or my homework wasn’t good. I finally wrote a page for folks Who lived around the neighborhood.
Coroner’s report

Understanding intent became more important. It did not remove the need for useful, discoverable pages.

The evidence: Google described RankBrain as its third-most important ranking signal.

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