Meet BERT, Google's new algorithm that enhances search results by understanding the context of your queries and delivering more relevant results.
Ieva Treiliha
BERT is Google’s latest algorithm update, and it could potentially change the SEO landscape as we know it. BERT represents a major step forward for Google in better understanding users’ search queries.
BERT was first introduced last year, and the name BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers.
This means that BERT can interpret the correct meaning of a word by looking at the words that come before and after it. If everything goes according to Google’s plan, BERT will lead to a better understanding of search queries compared to the current model, where each word is processed in order.
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Right now, BERT is still in a testing phase. So far, Google is using different BERT models to better understand search queries. Over time, however, BERT will impact both the standard search results and featured snippets.
At present, BERT is not used for 100% of searches. Currently, BERT is only applied to 1 in 10 searches in the US for English-language queries. Google has stated that the BERT algorithm is so complex that it pushes the limits of Google’s hardware, which is likely why it is only used for a limited number of searches.
Before you completely overhaul your SEO strategy to get ahead when BERT arrives in Denmark, remember that BERT analyses search queries – not websites.
That said, as things stand, the BERT update may have a significant impact on your on-page SEO. SEO experts will increasingly need to consider user search intent when working on on-page SEO. Half-hearted on-page content will not thrive with Google’s BERT update.
Google has tested BERT and various versions of this algorithm and has provided a few visual examples of how search results might look before and after BERT. You can read the full article here.
In this example, we can see that before the BERT algorithm, the search result displayed an article about US citizens not needing a visa when travelling to Brazil. However, this is a critical error in the result, as the actual query was seeking information about visas from Brazil to the USA.
This is a perfect example of how BERT can improve search results by providing users with a more accurate answer to their query, precisely because of HOW BERT reads search queries.
Previously, Google matched individual words in the query with words in the results. In the example above, Google matches the phrase “stand-alone” at the bottom of the first result with the word “stand” in the query. But in this context, this is not the correct use of the word “stand”. In the second result, we see that BERT understands that “stand” refers to the physical demands of the job and therefore displays a more relevant answer.
In this example, we see that Google struggles to interpret the query due to the word “no”. The system focuses so much on “parking on a hill” and the word “curb” that it returns an irrelevant answer.
BERT, on the other hand, focuses on all the words in the query and can identify the subtle nuances that make a world of difference to the result the user sees.
As mentioned many times before, best practice is to focus more on user search intent rather than the density of keywords in your on-page text. It was once a popular SEO hack to use the primary keyword as many times as possible in the text to secure top positions in the search results.
This technique is now old and outdated. Today, we focus much more on our readers and potential customers. There are three types of keywords that people typically use, depending on their search intent:
From the examples we have seen so far, BERT will primarily affect top-funnel keywords, the so-called “informational keywords”. If you want to retain your strong rankings for these and perhaps even get ahead of your competitors, you should focus on different variations of relevant informational keywords. Read more about types of keywords and search intent here.
The key is to provide the user with a clear answer to their question, rather than writing a 2,000-word blog post stuffed with exact-match keywords.
Google has neither confirmed nor denied it, but there are SEO experts who speculate that BERT will support one of Google’s most recent major updates – E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness.
Google is made up of several layers of algorithms and systems. Google continually updates existing algorithms and adds new ones to improve their product. The aim is to provide users with the best and most precise answers to their search queries.
E-A-T focuses on the quality of content and provides guidelines for qualitative content, while BERT is a language algorithm. Therefore, in principle, we can say that BERT and E-A-T have very different functions, but one common goal.
One should not mistakenly assume that Google’s updates are standalone and separate, when in reality they work together. In fact, there may be thousands of algorithm layers working together to improve the search results users see after making a query. Read more about Google algorithm updates here.
There is a lot of confusion and click-baiting surrounding BERT right now. People in the SEO industry have many speculations about what BERT will mean for our daily SEO work, and BERT has become a very popular topic in various SEO groups online – although people do not always have a full grasp of what BERT actually means. Here are some of the most common myths about BERT I have seen discussed:
BERT does not mean your website MUST be optimised for long-tail keywords. BERT’s primary role is to better understand user search intent and then tailor the search results to match this intent.
So, BERT’s main task is to better understand users, and it is therefore a good idea to think about your readers when creating new content for your website. Google has in fact recommended this as best practice for some time now – to focus on the user before the search engines. There is a good chance that a version of BERT will be introduced in Denmark in 2020, so it is important to consider BERT in your SEO strategy already.
There are some in the SEO industry who believe this algorithm is not particularly important. However, Google itself has stated that BERT will affect one in ten search results in the US – and that is just the beginning. 10% of all search results is quite a lot if BERT has a similar impact on other languages.
Right now, it is difficult to predict how much BERT will affect the Danish SEO landscape. We do not even know when the BERT algorithm will be launched in Denmark.
The assumption that BERT is not such a major update probably comes from speculation that BERT will only affect long-tail keywords and other longer search phrases that are easily misunderstood. Some believe that traffic will be sent to the correct landing pages when it comes to long-tail phrases, but that BERT will not have a significant impact on exact-match keywords. At present, however, nothing can be said with 100% certainty about the algorithm. To be able to conclude anything more concrete about BERT, more time needs to pass.
Right now, you can find endless articles, forum discussions, videos and other materials about BERT. Everyone has an opinion and wants to stay ahead when BERT is fully rolled out, but it is important to remain critical of some of these speculations. Opinions are divided: some believe BERT has the potential to revolutionise SEO, while others deny its significance.
Google itself has said that BERT is the biggest update in the past 5 years, and it is not often that Google makes such statements – in fact, they usually keep their cards very close to their chest.
At WeMarket, we believe that BERT has significant potential to change the SEO landscape, so it is important to stay updated on BERT’s development, while also maintaining a critical approach to sources.
If you have further questions about the BERT algorithm or need help with SEO in general, you can contact us here.
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