Digital Nest Blog

How and When Can Data Science be Used in SEO?

Table of Contents

I know you must be thinking what is the correlation between Data Science and SEO right? Let’s Dig in.

Data Science and artificial intelligence have become more trendy in our industry over the past few years.

Let’s go through the concepts of data science through machine learning and let me answer the following questions for you.

  1. When can data science be used in SEO?
  2. Is data science just a trendy word in the industry?
  3. How and why it should be used?

What is Data Science?

It’s a science of dealing with data when it comes to analyzing and processing the data known as datasets.

Data Science Components:

  1. Domain Expertise
  2. Data Engineering
  3. Advanced Computing
  4. Visualization
  5. Statistics

Popularity of Data Science:

Google Trends has given a pretty good illustration of how data science has been increasing its popularity over the years since 2004. Below are some eye-openers for you to watch out.

Data Science is one of the most popular search terms which has drastically increased over time and in September 2019 it has touched the 100-mark popularity which is understandable how the trends are and the interest over time.

Interest by Region:

Singapore tops the place in terms of popularity in data science over the past 12 months, India ranks 3rd in terms of popularity the number is expected to touch 90 in 2020 according to the stats.

Data Science Trends in India:

Not only Worldwide but in India, Data Science has increased its popularity by a distance since 2004. From 2018-2019, The number of searchers has gradually increased compared to the past years. Data is Dominating the World.

Ok, enough of stats and insights, let’s get into the subject.

What is the correlation between Google & Artificial Intelligence?

Back in 2011, Google created Google Brain which works on the method of artificial intelligence, the main objective of Google Brain is to transform Google’s products from the inside and to use artificial intelligence to make them faster, smarter and more useful.

Where does Google use Artificial Intelligence?

Google’s most powerful tool is the search engine it’s understandable. According to the stats, 95% of the users prefer to use Google as their main search engine. When 99 out of 100 people use Google search then It’s no surprise that artificial intelligence is being used to improve the quality of the search engine to make it faster, smarter and more useful.

What is the correlation between Artificial Intelligence and SEO?

Back in 2015, Google created Rank Brain to improve the quality of search results. According to the stats, 15% of queries have never been searched for before, the aim to roll out Rank Brain was to understand the search query in order to produce relevant search results for the users.

Then in 2019, Google introduced BERT Model to better understand the search queries.

Here you need to understand the difference between the three algorithms:

Google Brain – To Improve Search Engine

Rank Brain – To Improve Search Results

BERT – To Improve Search Queries

As an SEO professional, you need to understand that you cannot optimize your website for these algorithms which Google has introduced Rank Brain and BERT because the job of these algorithms is designed to better understand and answer the search queries.

Understanding how BERT works for your daily SEO operations.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning tends to solve a problem through a frame of reference and the output is checked by a human being, as it always comes with a certain percentage of error.

What is the Importance of Machine Learning to SEO?

The following three variables are the valuable areas for applying machine learning to SEO.

  1. Prediction

As the word says if you can predict which keywords can rank your website on the first page and what would be the revenue generated for those keywords.

Your assumption on some specific keywords which are ranking on the first page can help you determine the value behind it.

Let’s assume if you can predict your keywords position which rank and the potential revenue you could get from those keywords then you are winning the race.

If you are working for a client or agency then you can highlight these keywords which get the potential value behind them to target for your client’s website to get the ROI.

The above is available thanks to an open-source code written by Mark Edmonson.

  1. Generation

If you are working as an SEO professional then you might be interested in this.

Writing content is not that easy if it is not your bread and butter. It is a challenging task for those who work as an SEO because without a minimum brief or knowledge on what you are writing will not be meaningful.

This is where the automatic generation of content is valuable.

But, the automatic generation of content is done through machine learning which comes with an error margin. So, that is why this kind of content automation needs an editorial framework.

I’ve shared some sample source code available here.

  1. Automation

Automation algorithm is helpful to label images using an object detection algorithm (TensorFlow).

Use this algorithm to optimize your images for alt attributes easily.

Also, this automation algorithm can be used for A/B testing to make some basic changes to a page or to test which titles and descriptions of the ad text perform better based on this the changes can be applied to your SEO as well.

More Resources:

What does Google BERT Algorithm Update Mean?

Why is Data Science so Important?

15 Astonishing Facts About Data Science Analytics That Everyone Should Know