Google BERT: Google News On The SEO World

Google has launched the most significant update of recent years in the SEO world: “Google BERT”. Let’s find out in detail what the Google BERT update consists of and how to prepare quickly.

What Is BERT?

BERT is the acronym for “Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers”: Basically, it is an innovative update presented by the team that deals with NLP (Natural Language Processing). Put… the BERT model is to apply Transformer bidirectional preparation, a moderately notable model of language understanding, to language demonstrating. The paper’s discoveries show that a bidirectionally set up language model can have a more powerful feeling of setting and language stream than single-course language models. 

Researchers of the BERT model have developed some computer processes that manage the words in a sentence by relating them to each other instead of working them individually, as was the case up to now. With BERT technology, the Transformer encoder reads the entire sequence of words simultaneously. This feature allows the model to learn the context of a comment based on everything around it (left and right of the word).

What Did Google Think To Do?

With the advancement of intelligent systems that use Voice Search, Google has been forced to update the search algorithm. When we search using Google’s standard search bar, the typical modus operandi is to write a sequence of keywords instead of formulating a complete sentence like in a natural conversation because we think Google can process the first search better.

With Voice Search instead, the search query is carried out discursively, spoken: we tend to say, “Hey Google, may I know what Google Bert is?”, not “Hey Google, Google Bert”. For this reason, Google has improved the search algorithm by applying BERT in such a way as to effectively understand the nuances and context of the words that make up the search query and, consequently, will make more appropriate search results appear in the SERP.

Google BERT: How The Algorithm Works

BERT can consider each word in the context in which it is inserted, therefore not treating it individually but putting it about those that precede and follow it, understanding in an incredibly advanced way the intent behind a search key. The Google Bert algorithm increasingly aligns itself with natural language and how people interact with each other, giving meaning to nuances and secondary and related keywords, helping Google provide exceptionally accurate and quality search output. 

One of the examples proposed by Google itself to clarify how BERT works concerns the query “You can pick up a medicine for someone else at the pharmacy”: The old algorithms would have proposed generic results. BERT was instead able to interpolate the words between them and focus attention on the terms “someone else”, offering a result consistent with the request, i.e. information on how to withdraw the medicine that can only be sold with a prescription on behalf of another person. 

Definition and precision are once unthinkable for a search algorithm. Today instead a reality in continuous evolution. However, Google BERT does not replace the previous Rank Brain but goes alongside it to enrich the baggage of methods in Google’s possession to understand the queries posed to it. Depending on the need to apply only one of the algorithms at its disposal, the search engine could decide to use a combination of them to process search terms, content and words at best.

How BERT Affects SEO

In light of these changes, many wonder what impact the new algorithm will have on content and what changes after Google BERT in terms of SEO. Will the texts for the web have to be drafted and optimized in a particular and different way from what was done previously? Google answered the question directly, stating that it is unnecessary to intervene in any specific way on SEO following the introduction of the latest update.

The company aims to eliminate the more technical aspects and bring it as close to a natural writing language. For years, Google has been underlining the importance of producing user-oriented content, and BERT is proof that this strategy is the one that will reward more and more in the future. However, the company has yet to release in-depth data on how BERT works, and the complex set of algorithms that interpret human language remains largely secret.

Google had already clarified how SEOs could not optimize websites for the previous RankBrain algorithm, and even more, one needs help to think of optimizing for Google BERT. Writing content explicitly aimed at the end user will be necessary regarding SEO content. Therefore, the best solution for those involved in web content will be to not work in a keyword-centric way but to create quality content aimed at responding best to what users are looking for, adopting a communication that is as simple and natural as possible.

What Does Google Bert Mean For SEO, And What Needs To Be Done?

Let’s begin by saying that if you have already structured your web pages well, you won’t have to overturn your site; on the contrary, with a meticulous improvement of the contents, you can take advantage of the Google Bert update to benefit from it by increasing the ranking of your site. Thanks to the transition towards the search for more flowing keywords and similar to our spoken language, a good text optimized for SEO must always be more quality with a flowing and natural language.

It is also increasingly important that your page provides the correct answers to user queries: Google Bert will better understand which result is more relevant to the user. So it would help if you weren’t “afraid” of this update that Google has brought to its algorithm. Indeed with Google Bert, you can and must take advantage of it by continuing or adapting your SEO strategy for your site.

Also Read: Who Is Data Engineering, & What Does The “Data Engineer” Do?