The BERT update which rolled out in
September 2019 has managed to raise eyebrows in the digital marketing sphere.
Any Google search engine update always sends SEO into a fit, but the BERT
update is special because it is being seen as a culmination of a long-held
belief - content really is king.
For a long time, SEOs have been
invested in intensive keyword research while writing content. This has led to
the process of content creation becoming more invested in keyword percentages
and appearance rather than the actual content itself. Content writers are
required to be more keyword-focused rather than reader-centric. In fact, the
main motivation to write new content is to be discovered on search engines and
not actually solve problems being faced by the audience.
One can almost say that the SEO
industry has been divided into two factions. One part is obsessed with content
and focusing on helping solve any problem a reader might have. The second
faction is more aligned with the practical need to maintain a presence on
search engines.
What has the BERT Update Done?
The Bidirectional Encoder
Representation from Transformers (BERT) update may sound complicated (and it
is), its impact on the SEO landscape is largely straightforward.
The BERT update has been launched to
help Google better understand the context of a search query. For example, if
someone searches a medical examination, it can either mean the medical
procedure or actual medical entrance examinations. The BERT update is expected
to solve these context-related problems which people have earlier called Google
out for.
In other words, with the BERT
update, Google just got smarter. It is expected to seep down to different
aspects of SEO and make the quality and context of content more important than
technical factors like keyword research.
This has promoted a shift in many
digital marketing institutes as well. The focus has now shifted to writing more
quality content and content writing in general. The digital marketing space has
opened up for creative writers who can write quality content which onboard the
target audience.
Will Digital Marketers Change Their Content Strategy?
This is perhaps the only thing SEOs
care about asking. How will the BERT update affect the day-to-day working of
SEOs and content writers? Will they need to change a lot or is the BERT update
a toothless change?
Let’s put it this way.
If you have been creating quality
content and have always kept the interests of the readers at heart, you don’t
need to change. The BERT update has been launched to help those who write
quality content for their audience.
If you do not generally write
quality content and focus more on keyword density and off-page factors, you
need to change your content strategy. Google will no longer help you rank high
on search queries if your content is not clearly solving a problem for the
readers.
The BERT update is also an
indication of the direction in which Google is moving. One can expect Google to
become more context-oriented and less dependent on keyword density.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, this article covers
the BERT update briefly and whether digital marketers need to change their
content strategy accordingly.
About the Author - Kanika Malan is a food blogger with
long experience as a marketing consultant for a retail brand. She currently
writes guest posts on SEO for Eduburg, an institute known for its digital marketing course in
Delhi.
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