Have you seen a change in your local search rankings?

This can be due to google’s latest update where it started using ” AI-based Natural Matching”.

In an effort to improve local search results, Google has started using neural matching as part of the process of generating local search results.

Neural matching allows us to understand better how words are related to concepts. It also helps Google better relate words to searches.

Google confirmed this in an update.

In early November, we began making use of neural matching as part of the process of generating local search results. Neural matching allows us to better understand how words are related to concepts, as explained more here: https://t.co/ShQm7g9CvN

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 2, 2019

Neural matching is an AI-based system Google began using in 2018 primarily to understand how words are related to concepts.

It’s like a super-synonym system. Synonyms are words that are closely related to other words.

For example, neural matching helps us understand that a search for “why does my TV look strange” is related to the concept of “the soap opera effect.” We can then return pages about the soap opera effect, even if the exact words aren’t used, Google Quoted in a tweet, earlier this year. 

Google also stated that there’s nothing special searchers or webmasters need to do. These are part of our core systems designed to naturally increase understanding.