When you hear of Google BERT, you could be forgiven of thinking it\u2019s the company mascot. Unfortunately, it isn\u2019t and nor is it a more humanoid name for Google Assistant. Instead, BERT is a major algorithm update and the letters in its name stand for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. If that makes no sense, don\u2019t worry. Here, we\u2019ll explain in plain English what BERT is and, importantly, how it affects the way you optimise your web content.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Google BERT is an algorithm update that enables the search engine to better understand search queries of its users. By having a clearer understanding of what a user is looking for, it can provide more relevant results for individual searches.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The science behind the update is called Natural Language Processing (NLP). This uses artificial intelligence to analyse the way people naturally speak and write so that the search engine has a more informed grasp of what searchers are really looking for when they type or speak a query. In particular, it tries to understand the context of the language used in searches.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
One of the important changes that Google has implemented because of BERT is the inclusion of \u2018stop words\u2019 in the algorithms processing. Until BERT, Google ignored lots of terms included in searches, regarding them as irrelevant. These included prepositions (words that indicate the relationship between things in regards to time, place, direction and position, e.g. before, after, near, far, to, from, on, under) and conjunctions (words that join up parts of a sentence, e.g. and, so, but, if, etc.). \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Through NLP analysis, Google has come to understand that these words play an important role in searches and BERT is an update that takes note of them to help it improve the quality of its search results.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Google BERT gives the search engine the ability to look beyond basic keywords to understand the context and the intention of a user when making a query. In response, it will drill down into the body of the text to find whether the topic, context and intention of the web page is a good match for the search.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
This means keyword-heavy pages, which might have got the lion\u2019s share of the top page rankings prior to BERT, may not get as many first page rankings as previously. Pages on other sites that might not have been ranked as relevant before, might begin to take their place.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
As this can affect the amount of organic traffic a website receives and impact online sales, it\u2019s important to reassess the way content is optimised to accommodate the BERT update. Here are the best ways to do this.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The use of AI to understand natural language will be an ongoing process for Google and other search engines as they seek to provide their users with the best results. BERT is a significant leap forward and websites need to adapt their content to ensure it remains relevant for the way Google now works. Hopefully, the advice given here will help you make the necessary changes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
For information about our web hosting services, visit our homepage<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you hear of Google BERT, you could be forgiven of thinking it\u2019s the company mascot. Unfortunately, it isn\u2019t and nor is it a more humanoid name for Google Assistant.…<\/p>\n