Before I start discussing the Google Knowledge Graph (i.e. Google’s latest gift to ‘search-kind’) let’s get back into our own hardwiring and discover ourselves a bit. Here’s a question for you:
Have you ever thought what goes on in your mind’s eye, when you’re looking for information buried deep inside your memory? Well, the puzzle about the inner workings of our brain has fascinated many for centuries — and me: what makes a person do one thing over another, why did they use that as a search term… etc etc. But a common observation which occurs in almost every research is that we ‘connect concepts’.
This means that we need to relate stuff we’re looking for, to the things we already know/remember about… things that we discretely quantify with features or traits.
In simple words, our brain starts searching along a connection going out from what we know. This connection leads into the wide expanse of our memory and links to something closely related, which further links to another concept that adds meaning to our recollection process. In the end, we may find the exact answer or memory we wanted from our head.
(FYI, this is also how web mining and data mining work on a very subliminal level)
Then, we establish a fresh direct connection between the new item and what we started out with. This is a concrete relation. It can be used the next time we exploit our neurons to look for new things from our memory dump. The connection is called a ‘myelin connection’. Infact, there’s an excellent book out there that explains the facts
And some additional
research bedtime reading Myelin influences how brain cells send signals
Anyhow… I digress… I went over this biology lesson for a reason.
Google’s Knowledge Graph is a very similar. Call it a co-incidence, but if you understand all the basic functions described above, then you will easily understand the following and apply it so it not only benefits your site content and but also the visitors to your.
If you want more background info relating to this here’s some additional ‘bedtime reading’:
- Living with Google Penguin Part 1
- Google Starting to Hint at Its Semantic Search Future
The end goal is view for everyone
Google has been aiming at an end goal — making their index come ‘alive’. And they’re doing this by relating a user’s queries to real-world entities!
The knowledge graph aims to simplify the searchers’ quest for answers by helping them discover needed information in an easy and fast way. It maps different things or concepts like dates, ages, appearance and just about any tangible attribute onto a graph. This graph would exist in the index, relating all pages and the data within those pages to each other.
That’s why the Google Knowledge Graph is the next evolution of semantic indexing, so to speak. Or otherwise, an advanced application of the same. Because no two things can be placed in relation on a graph without that relation having relevance to a meaningful query. And deciphering such queries to deduce the aim of the searcher is the prime focus of using LSI. (NOTE: Worth having a read of Lifehacker’s article on how smarter search results with semantics)
And here’s Google’s official announcement explaining the new arrangement of results, enhancing your ability to search deeply.
This new innovation from Google is sure to revolutionise search in ways we may never have dreamt about. And those most affected are going to be site owners and online businesses, right next to searchers and the visiting traffic. But this time, it’s going to have a very positive impact if you ride along.
In Part 2 of “Going Beyond Semantics” you’ll find:
- Impact on SEO and What Webmasters Need To Focus On
- Has it just got easier to rank?
- Impact on Content Producers and Writers
- Impact on The Social Graph