Google's RankBrain and Penguin 4.0 to Shake Up the Internet

Last week Google made a number of major announcements. There’s nothing unusual about that, of course, except this time the announcements have big implications for SEO, which will make thousands of businesses around the world wary about their efforts to scale SERPs.

This time around, Google has publicly discussed two new updates which offer a major shake-up to the standard Penguin or Panda upgrade. One is a new algorithm called RankBrain, which boasts machine learning capabilities, and the other is a slightly disconcerting real-time Penguin update. For the latter, it essentially means it’s time for businesses to be at the peak of their game with their SEO practices.

When not frightening businesses with a continuous SEO ranking update, Google is nearing completion of an extraordinary project which would bring the Internet to over 100 million people around Indonesia. For businesses, however, the big news is Google’s latest updates–here’s what’s known so far.

The RankBrain Algorithm

Bloomberg broke the story, which was soon confirmed by Google, about an artificial intelligence (AI) driven machine that could be considered “smarter than your average engineer.” It’s called RankBrain, and it has been a yearlong project to launch the algorithm, with time needed to ensure RankBrain would deliver high quality results to search enquiries. Google is, let us not forget, primary a search engine, despite the company’s many and varied business ventures.

What RankBrain does have is machine learning skills. Whilst AI may prompt some to think about machines taking over the Earth, all this does here is make sure results better. Machine learning is as simple as it sounds--it’s a computer which has been programmed to learn for itself.

RankBrain isn’t here to replace Google’s algorithms, it’s simply complementing the existing algorithms which are in place. (It's actually part of the Hummingbird algorithm, which is designed for more conversational search queries.) According to the company, it’s handled some 33 percent of search queries over the last few months.

How does it work? Through artificial intelligence (AI) programmed by Google’s experts, RankBrain is able to embed written language into “vectors” (a fancy name for mathematical entities, apparently) which it is able to understand. From there, it sees a word or phrase and is able to filter results. As a result, it’s able to handle unusual search queries more effectively.

AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in technology, although it’s not exactly nearing the futuristic levels often seen in science fiction movies. RankBrain exists simply to sift through billions of web pages to find quality results for queries.

Google’s senior research scientist, Greg Corrado, confirmed the update last week and told Bloomberg, “Search is the cornerstone of Google … Machine learning isn’t just a magic syrup that you pour onto a problem and it makes it better. It took a lot of thought and care in order to build something that we really thought was worth doing.”

RankBrain isn’t exactly the best name Google could have chosen for this intriguing, experimental technology, but it’s at least in keeping with the company's history of quirky titles. Regardless, for a thoroughly detailed account of the algorithm you can visit Search Engine Land for more revealing insights.

The Imminent Release of Penguin 4.0

A quick lesson on Google Penguin--it was an algorithm change to Google’s search results which was introduced in April 2012. It’s aim was (and still is) to lower the rankings of usually spammy websites which violate the search giant’s Webmaster Guidelines. Attempts by a site to manipulate Google’s search results with black hat SEO have, since the update, been hit with a traffic altering penalty.

Penguin (and Google's other quality assessment algorithm Panda) updates have had, in the past, a tendency to cause a bit of a panic across the business community. It’s the moment when Google can send a site crashing down SERPs if a business has been deploying dubious black hat SEO tactics. Happily, these days most businesses are in the know and their white hat efforts will see them rise up the rankings.

Penguin 4.0 will raise eyebrows, regardless, as this is a lot different to previous updates. It’s expected to be a real-time upgrade and will update continuously, which means sites with spammy campaigns will be affected much more rapidly than in the past. When pressed on Twitter about whether it would launch by the end of this year, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, Gary Illyes, responded with a simple “yes.”

Simply put, so long as you're going about SEO the right way (white hat tactics which adhere to Google's expectations--i.e., don't try and manipulate your way up the search giant's SERPs) Penguin 4.0 is great news. Your hard work will pay off with regular updates, and visibly watching search ranking changes should become a more enjoyable experience. (At the moment, there's usually a long delay between seeing progress.)

Anyone with black hat tactics running had better immediately backtrack and approach SEO in an enlightened way. Whilst Google claims the approach doesn't work, there are plenty of examples to show where it does. Despite this, the tactic is to be discouraged entirely, and the days of black hat SEO could well be brought to an abrupt end once Penguin 4.0 is released. If you're concerned about this sudden announcement, there are tools you can use to remove links you may be worried about, such as Google's Disavow from Search Console. If it's causing you considerable distress, it's time to hire a digital agency to perform a thorough SEO audit.

This is also something of an end of an era, as a real-time update would signal the end of Google's announcements for Penguin upgrades. Rather than making room for a major upgrade, small updates will be rolled out constantly to keep the algorithm fresh. All of this should lead to search results crammed full of top quality web pages, one of which will be your thoroughly well-optimised business site!

Project Loon Nears Take Off

As reported on Google’s Asia Pacific Blog, the company’s Project Loon is nearing completion. In a region where only one out of three people are connected to the Internet, the ambitious Project Loon would bring a new era of possibilities to 100 million people. Internet speeds are also slow for those with access, so the possibilities for businesses, educational institutions, and government initiatives are pretty inspiring.

Google announced last week Indonesia's three leading mobile networks (Indosat, Telkomsel, and XL Axiata) will soon begin testing Project Loon over Indonesia--this will commence next year. The project utilises balloons to replicate mobile phone towers, and "fly on the stratospheric winds at altitudes as high as commercial planes, each balloon [beaming] an Internet connection down to the ground, and as one drifts out of range, another moves in to take its place."

The balloons will help overcome the difficulties posed by spreading equipment across 17,000 islands covered in jungles and mountains, an archipelago which severely hinders Internet access. If successful, it will be possible for Google to spread Project Loon across the world and introduce regular Internet connectivity to nearly a billion people.