In terms of updates, Google’s latest update, BERT, i.e. Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, is a huge leap forward. This algorithm update is expected to affect up to ten percent of all search queries and affects already selected snippets around the world. This will dramatically change how your content is perceived by search engines.
With the advent of Google BERT and its restructured search algorithm, content marketers around the world have tried to ride the shockwaves.
BERT is a kind of Natural Language Machine (NLM) processing code developed by Google to read our search queries more efficiently. Since the update in BERT, content marketers have become more accustomed to how BERT can intuitively, and sometimes non-intuitively, analyze the content. This update will require content marketers to improve and continuously refresh their businesses’ marketing material, to stay relevant.
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To avoid drowning like a pebble in the SERPs, let us take a look at how this new algorithm impacts content marketing and SEO and how it can be beneficial for you.
What is Google BERT
BERT is an algorithm update that changes the way Google reads your content. It is Google’s neural network-based natural language processing (NLP) technique for training.
Simply put, it helps computers understand human speech.
More than ever before, conversation text is being written to answer queries in a natural and pleasing, hyper-relevant way. In addition, for the first time, crawlers are using grammatical elements such as prepositions to comprehend the context. Your content no longer depends on the use of strategic keywords, the sum of all parts counts. BERT sifts for natural language sequences, which makes this an exclusive and exhilarating update.
BERT was the result of an open-sourced project. It was on the horizon for a while. RankBrain (which helps Google better match pages with concepts) launched in 2016 and Neural matching (which helps Google better match words for searches) came out in 2018, BERT was a natural jump.
What makes it special
Before BERT, Google search results did not fully look at prepositions such as “to” or “for”. These prepositions can be of great importance for search purposes.
Now the Google search engine can distinguish them and help you find more accurate results. For example, a word like “stand” was analyzed as “stand-alone.” Now the search engine can tell if you want to know about a physical state or anything else. This is a major shift in realizing user context, which is Google’s ultimate goal.
As mentioned previously, BERT is the product of many years of machine learning testing and research. The main goal now is to read our searches in a way that better fits the way people engage with each other. BERT depends on three things: the context of the content, the content, and what the searcher means by using the content versus the different uses.
How does this impact SEO and Content Marketing
First, it is important to know that searches can be divided into three types. These are information transactional, and navigational queries. This is sometimes done in stages as well. So first, someone can request to find out something i.e. informational query. They can then search for the specific details returned by the query. This is called a navigation request. When the same person is looking for how to get what they found in the navigation search. This is your transaction request.
According to recent reports, keywords at the top of the funnel have suffered the most. Usually, these are informative keywords. This means that you must provide “up-to-date” information in order in your ranking. This helps you maintain your position, and overtake competitors. Generally, SEOs will tell you that you need to create extra-long content to benefit from informational keywords. However, with BERT, this assumption has been altered.
This does not mean you do not need long content. However, Google’s algorithm does not focus on the number of words, but on the content quality.
The goal of this update from Google was to encourage people and businesses to create unique, valuable, and engaging content. Over the next year, you can certainly expect BERT to get more complex. So when someone searches for something, your content should provide specific search solutions, rather than focusing on one aspect of the offered solutions.
This update from Google marks the path to a better understanding of the context of human conversation. This means that if you have been focusing too much on keyword density in the past, you need to move on. Now that BERT can comprehend and recognize the spoken language, the focus is not on keywords but more on the information provided. Shortly, Google will be able to understand context, and right now, keyword-based content will fall in rankings due to insufficient information.
Conclusion
In general, marketing adjustments to BERT should not be that hard. If you did everything right, your pages will be balanced and more users will find more relevant results. So even if you notice a drop in traffic, know that the lost traffic was not related to your content. If you see a boost in your bounce rate, evaluate it and make adjustments. An increase in your bounce rate after BERT most likely indicates that your content is misleading. Just focus on the quality of your content and keywords and you are good to go.