Google BERT: What Is It, And How Does It Work?

Google BERT is an algorithm that first appeared in 2019; it is one of the biggest updates to the search engine that left many people worried about the positioning of their websites; why? It brought multiple benefits to users looking for information and writers writing content on the internet: it rewarded them for their good work.

What is Google BERT? and what are the changes in the algorithm? Stay to read the post! We will tell you all the details.

What is Google BERT?

Google BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) is an algorithm based on artificial intelligence (AI) that helps process the natural language used. In other words, it intends to help understand the natural language that users use when performing a search on Google.

How does it work? Its uses are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. Thanks to them, it understands the relationships between words and phrases entered in the search engine; identifies and understands the terms of each word.

With these features, the BERT algorithm understands human language: its jargon, variations, synonyms, expressions, abbreviations, conjunctions, prepositions, and even errors. It also more accurately understands users’ search intent and the content of indexed web pages.

Another characteristic that predominates is called “bi-directionality”; it consists of analyzing the keywords both to the left and right of a keyword better to understand the context and subject of the search intention.

Google BERT changes to the algorithm

The Google BERT update provides more accurate algorithm results using an open-source natural language processing model. The key lies in its feature above bi-directionality. Google collects and analyzes search intent in two directions to understand the concepts and grammar of words and sentences.

On the other hand, the neural network part studies the most complicated words. In addition to the keyword, it studies the connectors, prepositions, direct complements, etc.

With Google BERT, how the search engine offers results to Internet users will be changed, giving users a more specific and accurate response, in addition to meeting their needs:

• It will offer the possibility of writing in a much more natural way
• It will encourage a way to understand the context more easily.
• It will make prepositions and pronouns better understood.
• It will not be necessary to force the introduction of keywords in the text.

How does Google BERT affect search results?

Google BERT has a mission: to offer users quick and concrete answers. What do you need for it? The algorithm can understand the content of the pages, such as user queries.

In this regard, it is estimated that BERT affects approximately 1 out of every ten searches. Still, the difference is that today it mainly considers the global intention of the search and not the individual keywords.

Regarding SEO positioning, BERT focuses on improving the user experience and the quality of the content. It is said that BERT is a further step towards the “humanization” of content and benefits ambiguous and long-tail searches (we will see it below).

Each change that Google implements in its web classification system affects SEO positioning and, therefore, the number of visits a site receives. In this case, BERT represents a great revolution with a great impact, changing the game’s rules: that the search intention is based on human language; keywords are important, but now more relevance is given to the general context of the content.

Keys to improving your SEO by taking into account BERT

Usually, when we do SEO, we prioritize short keywords to reach a wide audience and attract a higher volume. One of the main advantages of BERT is that it offers greater precision to longer sentences.

In this situation, long tail or long tail keywords obtain greater relevance. We go step by step; we give you the keys to improving your SEO, considering BERT.

Work the long tails more

The long tail refers to a strategy where the products in a specific market niche are not in great demand but, as a whole, achieve a good position. These keywords have a higher conversion rate since the more significant number of words composing it more accurately describes the service or product the user wishes to acquire.

In this sense, if you want higher quality results, work more on the long tail to satisfy the needs of the search intentions. Generate specialized content that solves the concerns of users, using long-tail keywords as the primary tool to improve your web positioning.

Humanize your content

Do not give so much importance to the keywords but the context in general. Previously, an SEO strategy focused on selecting and repeating keywords literally, but this is no longer the case.

As we have mentioned, BERT humanizes content: content must be created that correctly responds to user concerns.

Less extension and more quality

Another SEO technique is the extension of the content. If we seek to work on a topic in-depth, BERT rewards quality more than the extension to answer user questions.

The extension is what has to be adapted to the content, and the answer must be clear and concise. And there is no minimum or a maximum number of words; the extension will depend on the information and quality of it.

Many believe that the more extension, the better for positioning, wrong! Well-written and focused content will rank better, even if it is short.

Use of structured data

Searching for “zero-click” is more important. Therefore, we must be prepared to offer structured data and optimized content until it appears in the “featured snippet.”

If you have an online business, you already know the benefits of this algorithm, but remember: the ball is in your court. Make use of the necessary tools to achieve good SEO positioning and visibility.