With the NBA Playoffs kicking off, the Carimus team began filling out our brackets and preparing to cheer on our favorite teams. Everyone has their own strategy when filling out a bracket and as a lifelong sports fan, I usually spend hours scouring the internet for information to give me the upper hand. This year I decided to leave it up to professionals, and no, I am not copying and pasting some analysts’ perfectly curated brackets; I decided to leave it up to the Google Search Team.
What could some engineers on the other side of the country possibly know about basketball that professional analysts don’t? Well, perhaps not much, but the algorithm driving many of the largest websites on the planet ought to have something we can use. Page Authority ranks how well a page will rank within Google Search and is primarily composed of a page’s “Link Profile,” made up of how often it is linked to by other sites. Using our state-of-the-art Search Engine Optimization tools, I decided to see if we could use the Google Search Algorithm to predict the winners and losers of the NBA Playoffs. This is the bracket the Google Search Algorithm gave us:
I’ll be honest, when I first started on this project I expected a random bracket that made absolutely no sense. However, the Google Algorithm has appeared to pick well. While Boston making a run to the finals might be a bit ambitious for Jayson Tatum and the Celtics, things look a lot more normal in the West with the Lakers projected to take the conference title. In the end, the Google Algorithm has LeBron taking home his 4th ring and leading the Lakers to their 17th NBA Championship.
We have a bracket that in all likelihood will perform better than if picks were made entirely at random. So how did the Google Search Algorithm perform so well? Analysts tend to cover the performance of the top teams much more than the rest, so because Page Authority is largely determined by how much a team is talked about and thus linked to, teams who are talked about more will have their website linked to more and receive a higher ranking in Google.
Do you disagree with our picks? Add me on the GoodBookey app, send me a challenge and join the world’s first charitable sports betting application. When you make a wager on GoodBookey and win, 100% of the proceeds go to a charity of your choice.
Search Engine Optimization tools are used for far more than just tracking consumer trends, we use our knowledge in SEO to draw users to client’s websites and help them adapt to an ever-changing online environment. Interested in learning more about our expert SEO services that can use the power of the Google Search Algorithm to drive more traffic to your website? Send us an email or check out the services the Carimus team offers.
Written by Thomas Walsh
