Google BERT is the largest algorithm update Google has released in the past five years and is said to affect 1 in 10 search queries. But what is BERT? It stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations Transformers. Basically, this new programme Google has integrated into its search engine allows the processing of more natural search queries. This means that the search engine can read an entire phrase instead of just one word at a time.
Google has introduced this so hopefully it can answer search queries more accurately and reward websites with high-quality content. The algorithm is always learning which helps a machine understand what the words in a sentence mean and understand the context in which it is searched.
It is said that the new algorithm is not one that penalises websites. It is just meant to provide better search results for users. It is said to benefit websites as traffic will be more focused.
How Can I adapt My Website’s SEO for BERT?
According to Google’s Danny Sullivan, you can’t. In a recent tweet he said: “There’s nothing to optimise from BERT, nor anything for anyone to be rethinking. The fundamentals of use seeking to reward great content remain unchanged.”
So even though there is no direct way to optimise your site for the update, we have some tips to make the most of the update.
- As the algorithm is focusing on “natural search queries”, you should focus on writing content for humans rather than the search engines.
- Research your audience and find out what they are searching.
- Create content which answers search queries.
- Make sure content is purposeful and has a clear focus
