On October 25, 2019, Google announced the inclusion of the BERT algorithm to make the search results more relevant to the users. The search giant touted it as one of the most important updates in the past five years. The algorithm will impact around 10% of the search queries as well as featured snippet results. The rollout is currently limited to English language queries and will take place for other languages as well, however, no timeline has been specified for it.
What is BERT?
BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers and is a pre-trained deep learning language framework. The bi-directional nature of the framework helps it to look at both sides of the target words and also fin the content of a sentence as a whole, similar to the way any human does. This helps the search engine to have a better understanding of the context of long and conversational queries. Searches that have a large number of prepositions or contain words with different meanings, can show more relevant results after the inclusion of this algorithm.
The framework deals with common context-related issues that arise due to lexical ambiguity, synonymy, coreference and homonymy. Let us take an example to understand it better. Before the algorithm rollout search like “hotel with no parking” would show results of links that talk about parking space in the hotel, omitting the important word “no”. However, after the update, you can see more relevant results with “no parking” in the content. This shows that now the search engine has a better understanding of what the user is looking for. This makes the search more natural and improved.
BERT and SEO
Now comes the question which every individual related to SEO has, how BERT impacts SEO and what can be done to optimize the website to make it more BERT friendly. Well first things first, BERT analyses the queries, not the web pages. And unlike the previous algorithms rolled out by Google that focused on links and other structural areas, the BERT algorithm focuses on the content. So, there are no fixed steps on optimizing your website for it.
The core of the Google BERT algorithm is to make the context right, therefore the only way you can achieve is by making your content strong. Instead of trying to weave your content for the machine, the focus must be on the user now. Your website should have content that is focused, crisp, clear and easy to understand. Create your content in a manner that helps readers to get to the point you want to convey. The reason why you wrote that particular piece of content must be clear to anyone and everyone reading it. This will improve its chances of being listed in the right context.
With the announcement of this algorithm, Google has made its plans clear regarding the importance of search query understanding. And BERT is an important step towards it. The rollout again brings content into the center of the game and the reason why it is important to have good quality content for your website.
References
Anderson, D., Anderson, D., Anderson, D., Anderson, D., SEO & Search Digital Marketing Strategist, & SEO & Search Digital Marketing Strategist. (2019, November 07). A deep dive into BERT: How BERT launched a rocket into natural language understanding. Retrieved from https://searchengineland.com/a-deep-dive-into-bert-how-bert-launched-a-rocket-into-natural-language-understanding-324522
Montti, R. (2019, November 04). Google BERT Update – What it Means. Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-bert-update/332161/#close
Nayak, P. (2019, October 25). Understanding searches better than ever before. Retrieved from https://www.blog.google/products/search/search-language-understanding-bert/
Nguyen, G., Nguyen, G., Nguyen, G., & Nguyen, G. (2019, November 05). FAQ: All about the BERT algorithm in Google search. Retrieved from https://searchengineland.com/faq-all-about-the-bert-algorithm-in-google-search-324193
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