There has been so much buzz around Google’s latest update named BERT. It is hailed as a massive and the biggest step for the history of search altogether.
What is BERT Algorithm?
BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) is an open sourced, neural based technique for natural language processing. BERT models are designed to understand the full context of a word by looking at the words that appear before and after it. Thus enabling the algorithm to fully understand the intent behind each search query. Google rolled out this feature in 2018.
The principal idea behind search is understanding language, to figure what the searcher actually meant, and fetch helpful information from the web, no matter how the words are combined or spelt in the search query.
BERT Algorithm Update – 2019
Pandu Nayak, Google Fellow and Vice President, search mentioned about a possible update in a blog post. He mentioned of applying BERT models to both ranking and featured snippets in search. This will bring about 10% change to the search results and this will be extended to more languages over time.
How Should The SEO Community React To BERT?
There is nothing to panic. Danny Sullivan, the SEO guru has made it clear that SEO’s need not do any special optimization for BERT. However, he re-emphasized that the crux of the update is in producing quality content for user.
The BERT update is definitely not created to penalize certain sites or benefit others. It also doesn’t require any special optimization. Rather, it requires focusing more on the end user experience, giving the user what they exactly need.
To provide the user what he wants, you should know what exactly the user is asking for. What are the questions they are asking. Types of questions they are asking? SEO ranking tools like SEM Rush, Google Keyword Planner etc. can come in handy.
Write in a natural way. There is no need to resort to Keyword stuffing. Look beyond the keywords and build a picture of what the customers are actually reading and watching online. Thus deciphering the changing landscape of customer needs. There is no doubt that BERT will improve the quality of the SERP and it is definitely good news to the writers because they need not write to satisfy search engines.
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