Google has been using RankBrain AI to identify URLs since 2015. Three years later, Ben Gomes, Google’s vice president of education and former head of search, called AI the next chapter in search. At the time, Gomes explained that AI would allow Google to deliver a better user experience.
AI has created three fundamental chapters in how search works:
From answers to travel: “To help you pick up lithuania mobile database where you left off, learn about your new hobbies and interests, we’re introducing new features in search results to help you with your frequently asked questions.”
From queries to providing a no-questions-asked way to get to information: “We’ll help you see relevant information that’s closely related to your interests, even if you don’t have a specific query in mind.”
From text to a more visual way to find information: "We're bringing more visual content to Search results and dramatically redesigning Google Images to help you find everything you need faster and easier."
It all started with RankBrain.
RankBrain (2015)
The RankBrain system was the very first system that helped the search engine understand how words relate to concepts.
In order for the results to be relevant to your query, the system had to understand the word as a concept. And that was Google's first intelligent activity and its first step towards understanding content as if it were a human.
For example, if you type the search query “What is the color of the sky?”, the AI is able to understand the meaning of the word “sky” and that it has a perceived color. Google can then show the searcher a result that does not contain just words, but directly answers the query.