Eric Enge is a notable speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the fields of machine learning, search, and SEO. He is the CEO of Stone Temple Consulting. This document contains a series of slides by Eric Enge discussing machine learning and how it is impacting search engine algorithms like Google's RankBrain. Some key points discussed include how machine learning allows algorithms to better understand language patterns and contextual meanings, detect related concepts, and select the most relevant algorithms for a given query. Eric argues that while machine learning will continue to evolve search, content quality, authority, and user experience will remain important ranking factors for websites to focus on.

1. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Machine Learning, Search & SEO

2. Eric Enge @stonetemple
ERIC ENGE, CEO
STONE TEMPLE CONSULTING
NOTABLE SPEAKER, BOOK
AUTHOR & ENTREPRENEUR 2016 US Search Awards 2016 Search Personality of the Year
2016 Landys Search Marketer of the Year

3. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Nationalselfrelianceassociation.com
Eric Enge – Fun Fact 1
October
2010

4. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Eric Enge – Fun Fact 2
ntier.org
February
2011

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Machine Learning and Deep Learning
Our Best Student!

6. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Simple
Learning
Problem

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With a Simple
Solution

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Much More Complicated Problem
This is an Example of “Supervised” Machine Learning

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And, Now the
Complexity
Went WAY up

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Machine Learning is a 2 Step Process

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Supervised
Machine
Learning Sample
Problem:
Recognizing a
Face

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Related Stories Auto-
Discovered by Machine
Learning
Google News Uses Unsupervised Machine Learning

13. 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

14. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Enter RankBrain

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Bloomberg
Broke the
News in
October
2015

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Basic Concept: Stop Words

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Query That Doesn’t
Work Well With Stop
Words

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Top Organic
Results for the
Query “Office”

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“The” and “Office”
are capitalized

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“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

21. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Notice Patterns in Language Usage

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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

23. Eric Enge @stonetemple
What Does RankBrain Do?

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What Does RankBrain Do?
Can result in
selecting
different algos

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Can You Get 100% Score on Super
Mario Without Walkthrough?
Negatives

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Our RankBrain
Study

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June/July 2015 Google Result January 2016 Google Result
Pulled Results from Google on Two Different Dates
Did This for 500K Queries

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28
Aggregate Results

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Why Are PDFs So Weak?
July 2015
Answer

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Now Relates “Weak” to Security
January
2016
Answer

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Where is Celtics Bench?
July 2015
Answer

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Now Applies Meaning of “Where is” Better
January
2016
Answer

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Tourist Map of Mdina Malta
Pre-RankBrain – July 2015

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Example of How RankBrain
Impacted Algo Selection

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Machine Learning
Summary Thoughts –
What Will Such
Algorithms Look For?

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Quality
Content

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37
Ways to
Measure
Authority
(Links)

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Source: Chartbeat
How About
Social Media
as a Signal?

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No Correlation Between Shares and Links
Source: Moz and BuzzSumo
Zero (or Near
Zero) Means NO
Correlation

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BUT, They
Will Look for
Some Form
of Social
Proof

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Need to Have
the Right
Training Data

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Very Hard to Test Edge Cases You Can’t Define

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Deriving and Testing Machine Learning
Algorithms Takes a Long Time

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When Do We Apply Machine Learning?
When coming up
with human
algorithms proves
to be impossible

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How to Prepare for
This?

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Machine Learning is Just a Tool in the Toolkit
It’s Not Going to
Blow Up SEO as
We Know it

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Personal Assistants More Likely to Drive
Disruptive Change

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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

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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.

51. Eric Enge @stonetemple
Eric Enge
eenge@stonetemple.com
@stonetemple
+Eric Enge
(508) 962-8474
www.stonetemple.com
Thank You!