I am sure we all have heard of Bert and Ernie, but have you heard of Google BERT?
If not, you might want to take the time to learn about it before it is too late.
Yes, Google seems to come out with a new algorithm ALL THE TIME, but this one is different.
In fact, the major update by Google has been their biggest leap forward in the past 5 years and has high hopes that BERT will forever change the history of searching.
What does this mean for you? Well, let’s start with some basics first.
BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. It is an artificial intelligence system designed by Google. The goal of BERT is to better understand what users are searching for on the web.
When you go to search for something on the web, it isn’t always easy to put into words what it is that you are looking for. And a lot of the time, the search results you get back aren’t really what you are looking for.
Actually, many times the search results don’t help at all!
This is where BERT steps in and is aimed to help improve the search results you get.
In the past, algorithms look at a search query as just a bag of words, but BERT’s significant system will also consider the sequence of words. This will help Google provide you with more accurate search results.
Now, keep in mind that this new algorithm isn’t replacing any existing algorithm, but instead working with them.
Google Engineers trained BERT by giving it paragraphs while randomly deleting 10 to 15 percent of the words. BERT needed to fill in the blank, which helped teach itself about the language.
This is where the magic happens. BERT continues to learn the language to better understand humans and how we communicate with search engines.
With this knowledge, BERT can better understand content on web pages, which leads to better matches for your search queries!
This is the FIRST time an algorithm looks at ALL of the content on a webpage and captures the more natural and conversational pieces, all leading to more relevant search results.
For example, let’s say you want to search for something like, “can I pick up medications for someone else at a pharmacy?” In the past, you would have gotten several search results regarding WHERE to fill a prescription. But thanks to BERT, the search result will give you the actual answer to your question straight from HIPPA.
As of now, Google claims to impact 10 percent of search queries, but of course, is looking to improve. BERT hasn’t been around long, so you might not quite see the significance of it yet, but as time goes on, we are optimistic that BERT will make a massive impact on search results.
Since BERT is so new, you will want to work with a Phoenix SEO agency like IVIO Agency, who are SEO pros to help you optimize for the new algorithm.