New Google Update "BERT" Happening Now

Google Announced the BERT Alogorithm Update October 24, 2019.

I happened to see that Google is integrating a new core update called BERT. I think it started last week. It was announced October 24th.

BERT stands for "Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers". It has some very interesting implications for online marketers and bloggers.

What Does the Google BERT Update change?

Basically, the BERT update allows Google to recognize nuances in search terms and specifically recognize the importance of prepositions (by, during, except, from, in, on, to, up...). Google gave some examples of this such as a query "2019 brazil traveler to USA need a visa". Before BERT, if you searched for this phrase you would get information about traveling to Brazil from the US. The query is actually about someone from Brazil traveling TO the US, but Google was not so good at understanding the importance of the word "to" in the search query. With the BERT update, Google will now show you results about traveling to the US from Brazil and getting a visa. Similarly, queries with words "no", "without" etc. will be more accurate. These are just a few examples but there will be many, many searches affected.

What Does the Google BERT Update Mean for Bloggers?

For bloggers the BERT update means we will be rewarded for more specific, focused posts. Using a long-tail keyword phrase with the specific wording a person might search for is a good idea now more than ever. A long-tail keyword phrase with correct wording such as "How to..." or "What is the best..." aligns with the new direction of Google searches which is getting more precise.

According to Neil Patal (whose post on this was the first I saw about the BERT update), most online marketers still use short keywords of only 1 or 2 words! There are a very small number going after long-tail keywords. Those of us already using long-tail keywords should be very well positioned I would imagine!

I noticed yesterday I had a lot of traffic to my site, I don't know if that was coincidence but perhaps my focus on long-tail keywords will pay off with the BERT update!

I hope you guys are using long-tail keywords.

WA Training Made Me Prepared for This Latest Update

Thanks to the great training here at WA I already knew to use long-tail keywords and they are the core of my posts. Most of my content already uses them and I am so glad for that! I don't have to make any changes to prepare for BERT.

As long as you follow the training here at WA you will be well prepared for changes in SEO, Google updates and whatever other bumps in the road that pop up.

Jessica