Description: The BERT Update came up in order to make search intent a key factor in its ranking algorithm. We discuss why the BERT update is more important than you think.
What You Need to Know About the Google BERT Update
The recent BERT update by Google was launched in October, and with it, 10% search queries on the mega search engine were affected. While there has been chatter regarding the update in many digital marketing circles, there is a lack of understanding regarding its impact on organic search discovery.
According to Google, the main purpose of the BERT update is to better understand conversational and context-oriented queries. In other words, Google just got much smarter at gauging what people are looking for.
The coming of the BERT update is the latest amongst many efforts made by Google to improve search satisfaction of users. As native smartphone users grow and use Google for their search needs, search engines would have to adapt and better serve such users. The BERT update is an attempt to remedy such problems by tweaking the search algorithm to better understand the context of longer search queries, typically containing propositions like ‘for’ and ‘to’.
In this article, we will discuss three key areas the BERT update will have a clear impact on.
Improved Local Search
Context is the main offering of the BERT update. Local search that was earlier conducted by taking broader contexts into account often produced inaccurate search results.
Let’s consider an example. The word ‘bass’ has many meanings. When someone searches for bass, the intent of the user can vary. Some users may be looking for bass singing, others for bass guitars. If a search query contains ‘bass’ and ‘fishing’ together, the user may be looking for bass fishing, which is a type of fishing popular in New England.
Based on the structure of the search query, the BERT update will help better identify the exact context of what a searcher seeks. Once this is known, the query of a user can be better resolved.
If BERT does manage to improve and help improve contextual search, its impact on local search could be immense. People looking for locally relevant topics and content will only have to search their query as it is without worrying about the search engine’s ability to understand the context.
For people creating content for their website and blogs, this is great news. Creating content on local and specific contexts is a great way to invite a motivated segment of the audience. Furthermore, since longer queries are easier to rank on Google, the BERT update is set to make traffic to context-specific content much more.
More Emphasis on Content than Keywords
When search engines began ranking webpages on specific keywords, the only way to categorize a webpage under a topic was to look for repeated words and phrases, also known as keywords.
The development of technologies such as big data and AI has significantly reduced the dependence of search algorithms on factors like keyword density. A content writer still does adhere to basic keyword guidelines, but not as much as he/she did before.
The thing most relevant now is the quality of the content. For example, let’s say someone is searching ‘how to unlock a smartphone’.
On first glance, some of the important keywords required in such content will be ‘unlock smartphone’ and ‘open screenlock’. Any content writer that wishes to rank his/her content on the top of the search rankings would include prime keywords related to the topic.
Now, it is entirely possible that the search ranking on Google would rank containing suitable keywords on the top. Even if the content is poorly written and doesn’t solve the problem of the searcher, search engines will continue to rank websites with keyword-rich content.
This virtual blind spot of search engine algorithms has been remedied to some extent in the past few years, and BERT is another step in the same direction.
The launch of BERT signals one clear intention of Google to depend less upon keyword presence and become more proficient at calculating quality of content based upon the context.
In the next few years, the focus of digital marketers could change from keyword research to search analysis.
Greater Focus in Content Topic Selection
If Google would become refined enough to identify local contexts, an increase in identifying topics highly relevant on a smaller scale is bound to increase. There is already a push amongst bloggers and online business owners to target highly niche audiences instead of trying to become a big fish in a big pond.
Finding a valuable niche can be difficult though. The natural instinct of any digital marketer and blogger is to look around and marvel at the sheer competition. Only a trained eye can find a gap in the market others in the domain have never noticed.
Before Ola and Uber came along, it is not as if people didn’t reach where they needed to be. Some used public transport; others bought hybrid cars on EMIs. Others even paid over the odds for expensive taxi companies. Even when suffering, most in the general public never envisioned a taxi-system controlled through a smartphone. Yet, a few enterprising entrepreneurs found a gap in the market and ended up building multi-billion dollar businesses by doing so.
While a typical blogger doesn’t have to find an Uber-level idea (although that wouldn’t hurt!), he/she can be enterprising enough to find a topic or niche largely ignored by the mainstream. If the topic does seem to have a constituency in the market, the blogger is potentially sitting on a goldmine of traffic.
What Should Digital Marketers Do for BERT optimization?
Nothing but creating quality content will help digital marketers be BERT optimized.
The entire point of the BERT update is to promote content that addresses local contexts better. By all indications, Google is not going to stop with BERT and introduce further changes that improve the search experience of users and promote quality content.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, this article covered the recently launched BERT update. Digital marketers and bloggers in the field should consider the points made above carefully and do their own research regarding the BERT update by Google.
About the Author – With more than ten years of experience under his belt, Gaurav Heera is a well-known digital marketing professional and trainer. He currently heads DelhiCourses.in, having founded the company back in 2008. In its ten years, DelhiCourses.in has grown to become the top training institutes in the capital best known for its digital marketing course in Delhi.
