What is BERT Algorithm?? and Impact of Update on SERPs Rankings

What is BERT Algorithm?? 

The backlash to the BERT update was swift and without mercy. Many SEOs warned about “how to optimize for BERT” articles before any “how to optimize for BERT” articles were published.

Ryan Jones (@RyanJones) tweeted:

“the most exciting thing about BERT is that suddenly, overnight, every SEO is now an expert on neural networks and natural language processing.”

BERT and E-A-T

I came across one article that claimed BERT and E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) had something to do with each other.

I won’t link to the article but I did show it to search algorithm expert Dawn Anderson (@dawnieando)

BERT Algorithm Myths

There is a great deal of confusion and link baiting surrounding BERT. The situation might even be worse than many had predicted.

Here are a few examples to watch out for.

1. Myth: BERT means optimizing your site for long tail queries

It’s not that your site has to be long tail search friendly. BERT is about Google understanding what user’s mean and THEN being able to connect that to more specific information that already exists on your website.

2.Myth? BERT’s Effect is Small

There are some who are advancing the idea that this algorithm is not particularly significant. Yet Google is on record stating that this update affects one out of ten English language search queries in the United States of America. Ten percent is a significant amount of search queries.

Why would people think this update is small?
I believe the perception that this update is small might come from maybe this update not shaking up coveted two and three word phrases but rather other phrases that may have been misinterpreted.

The effect being that more traffic was being sent to the right pages but without shaking up all the keywords that matters.

Kind of a conundrum where it affects 10% of searches (that’s big!) but maybe doesn’t shake up established money phrases (that’s a yawn).

So is BERT a small update or not?  

3. MYTH: BERT Makes Stop Words Important

The Google announcement used as examples search queries that have their context influenced by the words “to” and “from.” Some SEO articles claimed that this means stop words are more important now.

People are taking that seriously. I saw one SEO bragging he always includes stop words in his article URLs.

4. Myth: BERT is the Biggest Update of All Time

It’s been reported in many articles that BERT is one of the biggest updates of all time. That statement is based on a misinterpretation of a press release issued by Google.

This is what the press release stated:

“With the latest advancements from our research team in the science of language understanding–made possible by machine learning–we’re making a significant improvement to how we understand queries, representing the biggest leap forward in the past five years, and one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search.”

According to the press release, BERT represents one of the biggest improvements in five years, not of all time.

BERT also represents among the biggest improvements in search of all time. That does not mean it’s the biggest. It means that BERT is among the biggest.

Other candidates in this class of updates could include statistical analysis, the Hummingbird update, Caffeine update and the Panda and Penguin updates. Those were all major updates, as is BERT.