Tech giants are investing heavily in machine learning. In 2019, Microsoft invested in 11 artificial intelligence (AI) startups, with $1 billion for OpenAI alone. In that same year, Intel Capital made 19 investments, and Google Ventures made 16 investments. That huge influx of capital means that AI computing power is making rapid advancements in a range of sectors from healthcare to construction to marketing and search engine optimization. However, before we get into the implications of machine learning for SEO professionals, let's define what we mean by AI.

When we first started hearing about machine learning in the early 2010s, it seemed scary at first. Machine learning is essentially using algorithms to calculate trends, value, or other characteristics of specific things based on historical data. Google has even declared itself a machine learning-first company. If you want to learn more about the tactical side of this technology, Eric Enge has a great write-up on Moz explaining how machine learning impacts SEO from a mathematical standpoint. Search engines like to always experiment with how they can use this evolving technology, but here are nine ways we know that they are currently using machine learning and how it relates to SEO or digital marketing.

Search engines use machine learning for pattern detection. While it's impossible to explain in one short article how machine learning influences our lives, understanding the basics of machine learning can give you some insight into search algorithm updates, such as Google's Panda update. To predict the outcome of future tests, scripts can use supervised learning on past outcomes to define a hypothetical prediction line. The three images below show how plotted examples define averages. These averages are more likely to represent some truth as the training set grows.