How Machine Learning is
Changing Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
BERNARD HUANG

Bernard Huang
Co-founder Mushi Labs—the loving creators
of Clearscope

1. The Evolution of SEO
2. How search engines work now
3. Search engines use of natural language
understanding (NLU)
4. Why Watson NLU
5. [live] Clearscope + Watson NLU
6. Real world results
WHAT WE’RE COVERING

1. The Evolution of SEO
How did SEO begin? And how has it
evolved over time?

2019
● quality
content
● machine
learning
● authority
The Evolution of SEO
2010
● link
authority
● link trust
● keywords
2000
● # of links
● anchor text
● keyword
tags

Quality content
● How closely does your content match
with Google’s knowledge graph
Machine learning
● How long someone spends on your page
Subject matter authority
● How competitive is your other content
The State of SEO in 2019

2. How do search
engines work now?
A simplified view on Google’s algo

Search
query
deserves X
A simplified view on Google’s
algo (2019)
How Google decides
whether you rank up
or down
{
Determines where
Google initially ranks
your content
{
Subject
matter
authority
Relevant
backlinks
User
engagement
signals
Weeks 1-2 Weeks 2-4 Month 1+

Is your content
in-depth?
Do users like
your content?
Google’s algo
understands
the content
Content is
published
Google’s experimentation process

When you look for something online,
how do search engines know what to
give you?
3. Search engines use of
natural language
understanding (NLU)

Google’s knowledge graph

Google’s knowledge graph

Publish content on the internet

Search engine’s figures out what
a piece of content could rank for

4. Why Watson NLU
Why we went with Watson NLU to
power Clearscope

Why Clearscope + Watson?

Watson NLU is an industry leader

How Watson NLU works

Getting started with Watson
https://natural-language-understanding-demo.ng.bluemix.net/

5. [live] Clearscope +
Watson NLU
How Clearscope uses Watson NLU to
recommend how content quality can be
improved

Reverse engineering top ranking
content using Watson NLU

6. Real world results
The proof is in the pudding

Optimizely gets +52% more search
traffic in less than 1 month
before article [website optimization]

Optimizely gets +52% more search
traffic in less than 1 month
after article [website optimization]

Optimizely gets +52% more search
traffic in less than 1 month

Wide Open Media Group grows
search traffic across entire web
portfolio

Wide Open Media Group grows
search traffic across entire web
portfolio

@bernardjhuang
bernard@clearscope.io
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bit.ly/content-that-ranks
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