Bert is a logical development for Google to follow in the footsteps of Panda, Hummingbird, and RankBrain. Google’s BERT Update aims to enhance the understanding of complex long-tail search queries and provide more relevant search results.
Now, everyone must be aware of the latest update rolled by Google. Google launched the BERT update with the aim of increasing search efficiency. It was said to be one of the most important Google updates of the year. The SEO world has been polarized since the launch of this update.
BERT reportedly affects 10% of search queries. It’s a very big amount because millions of searches are performed regularly. Google initially launched this update for a better understanding of natural language processing. So, what does this imply to your SEO?
Before that, let us understand what exactly is BERT.
For those who haven’t heard the news about Google’s latest search algorithm update yet, here’s a quick overview of what it’s like and how it works!
BERT stands for Bidirectional Transformer Encoder Representation. It sounds a bit cryptic and complicated. So, please, let me break it down for you!
BERT is Google’s new algorithm update that focuses more on better understanding the search queries purpose. Instead of evaluating the query word for word of the user, BERT helps Google better understand the entire paragraph, to give the search engine better results.
This update is a big step forward in Google’s effort to understand how people are thinking.
Will Bert Change How We Do SEO?
There ‘s absolutely no need to change the way you do SEO for BERT. You have to make sure that you follow best practices and principles all along. There’s nothing to worry about if you’re going to have a good process for your keyword research and content creation.
Although you can come across a lot of claims and buzz around the BERT update, nothing changes on the website owners’ side. Those who write web content will focus on high quality and relevant content backed up by adequate keyword analysis.
BERT does adjust the type of content that the query serves to maintain the search quality.
How Does Bert Affect SEO?
BERT can affect a few pages in the search. When testing, if you notice the output of your pages dropped, BERT is the reason for this. Nonetheless, you may have to do some more work on this. Let me take you by way of an example to give you an idea of how it works.
Suppose you find that traffic to one of your lists has declined dramatically over the past few months. Eventually, you type the query in Google and see the content ranking at the top is now in the form of blog posts.
Any successful SEO looking at this will think of repositioning it to retake their spot in the top five for the question. That is very right, as BERT may have modified the form of content to be used for this particular question, but the practice of SEO will remain the same!
The probability of BERT impacting your pages is small, so there is no need for alarms to be sounded, so you need to ensure that your search performance is monitored regularly.
Below are some key points from the BERT update to remember.
1.Informational Queries Are Given Great Importance
Information queries tend to have more uncertainty than navigational or transactional queries. A large part of the update fractures these uncertainties in an attempt to provide a more specific reply.
BERT influences top-of-the-funnel keywords related to information.
Google interprets this informational query through a process called masking. When you enter a word in the search bar that specifies something, in particular, Google examines that word for any missing letter to find out what the user is looking for in the process!
Google will then try to provide you with the right information that you were looking for, even though there were missing/incorrect letters or words.
2.Laser-Focused Answers Will Make a Difference
Shifting your focus to long-tail keywords and questions is what BERT ‘s update wants from you. It’s more than simply optimizing your keyword density content. It’s all about providing users straightforward responses to questions and informational queries.
And what you should do is structure the content around unique questions and have laser-focused answers. You won’t want to go through a large piece of content to find what you’re looking for on the Internet if you’re looking for specific answers.
You will be looking for a super-focused content that gives you direct answers. Although the concept in the SEO world is nothing new, BERT is trying to push it further!
3.Longer Content May Not Work out Every Time
When we are caught up in general statistics, we assume that long content is generally preferred. Yet, with every new update, this notion eventually becomes a mere myth.
Nevertheless, we can not say that the development of shorter, more concise content is a specific trend in SEO. It’s all going to rely on the question. Wide questions like “What are the different types of LinkedIn Ads” or “How to run Facebook ads” would take longer and more in-depth content. But basic queries like “What’s a meta description” or “What’s a no-follow link” won’t require a lot of content!
So, the trick here is to provide content that gives searchers a useful but solid answer to their query!
Final Thoughts
Creating quality content for the user in the head has become one of Google’s old-age advice. You may have seen more extended content rankings, but according to the new BERT update, more than the duration of the content quality is given more importance.
Content creators should also ensure that they keep track of digital marketing updates and bring in the latest page optimization and ranking requirements.
When your emphasis is on delivering value and awareness to your target market, any new Google update shouldn’t be a challenge. We can conclude by saying that if you can produce outstanding content that addresses your target customer’s pressing questions, you don’t have to optimize BERT!
