The odd SEO factor you should be focusing on
SEO people talk about RankBrain, but let’s talk a little about how the actual brain actually works.
More exactly about how our brains work when we search through it for some information we need, such as “where did I leave my keys”? or “how was that movie called”?
No matter what the popular Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, besides other hundreds or thousands of authors and publishers have been trying to imply since 1940, our brains are not computers.
And if we’d like to think of them as such, they are severely faulty ones. We (our brains) have a very slow processing speed, a very low level of information and data compared with any computer connected to the internet, we are especially opposing of rules and don’t exactly enjoy routines.
While computers and search engines function based on algorithms, our brains function based on what changes or, better said, challenges them. And the answers to our questions lie not in cells but in cells configurations, in patterns we need to relive in order to find the information we are searching for.
If Google were to be replaced by another search engine..
it would be one that does not focus on ways in which humans resemble machines, but on how machines can transform humans.
We are not (and maybe shouldn’t even try to become) cold calculated performance machines, we are (sometimes even really great) observers and reactionists.
While Google let’s us search for things we want to know more of, the real problem is we don’t know what we don’t know, not to mention we can’t focus for too long and have trouble making choices.
How would a search engine made for solving all this look like? Would it find your level of knowledge before delivering results? Would it remove all distractions and only show highly accurate results?
And if we remember things by reliving experiences, how could a search engine use this for us? This would be interesting to see, but in the mean time…
What does this all mean for SEO now? What’s the ODD factor you should be focusing on?
It’s not links, it’s not content, it’s… being more remember-able.
Traditional advertisers know this, but SEOs are pretty new at the game. And while there are many things that can help being more memorable, a first good step could be diving more into UX.
Removing distractions, filtering out irrelevant information. And adding visual things that can help. Contrasts, structured data that can make the result pop-up and attract attention.
Audio repetition, unique experiences, strong emotions, there are many tricks to being more memorable, but as the saying goes “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
If you like the subject do check the articles mentioned bellow, new brain connections are just waiting to happen!
Sources:
https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-not-process-information-and-it-is-not-a-computer
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-brain-search/
bu.edu/research/articles/human-brain-store-retrieve-memories/