Google: This is the BERT update and why it's so important

Google's search algorithm is constantly being improved or changed, but some updates are particularly important. Among them is the BERT update, and our guide explains what it means.

Rising machine IQ: The BERT update greatly advanced the AI of Google's algorithm.

In the U.S., the BERT update already took place in the fall of 2018, so SEO experts had enough time to deal with it until it went live for more than 70 other languages (including German) in December 2019.

BERT update: Big changes as a result

Officially, Google called the Bert update one of the most important leaps of all time in the search mechanism.

• The name BERT did not come about by chance, but stands for "Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers".
• Explained in an understandable way: BERT is based on neural networks and is supposed to understand language much better. This leads to a higher relevance in the results.
• According to Google, such a step is necessary because search inputs are becoming more and more similar to spoken language - see also Voice Search.
• As a consequence, BERT mainly affects long-tail keywords, which should be better understood by the machine in terms of content. The so-called transformers are important for this, as they capture and process relationships between words. In contrast to the isolated consideration of each individual word, this is a step forward.

Due to the BERT update, many websites had to accept declines in traffic, while other sites recorded increases - this consequence is typical for large Google updates. Misleading information is now better known as such and no longer has any positive effects, while not much changes for relevant content. Accordingly, by no means all pages are noticeably affected, but only a relatively small part of 10 to 15 percent. For the future of search, BERT could nevertheless be groundbreaking.