BERT Affects Exact Match Keywords

John Mueller from Google explained to SEO consultants whether exact match keywords are made less important by BERT. His answers are helping SEO marketing consultants learn about the purpose of BERT and how it affects the use of keywords in the long run.

One SEO professional asked a question about how BERT affects keywords. The question had something to do with Google Office Hours hangout, whether the launching of BERT will make the exact match keywords much less important.

First, Mueller told the SEO that BERT is not being launched now; it has been in operation for a while.

Next, he explained more about BERT and its purpose. Mueller compared it to a machine learning set up that understands content better. For instance, when Google users type in queries, BERT tries to understand those questions better. Then, it also tries to understand page content from websites better, too.

Because of this kind of approach – the use of machine learning – Google can determine the content of web pages as well as user queries. Then, it tries to match the two so that the user gets the best and most relevant answer.

Mueller then explained more about the direction of impact on keyword use. He explained some of the things that many SEOs have already noticed about exact match keywords in their content. One example is misspelt words.

In the past, SEO consultants used common keyword misspellings on their webpages. This was a technique to make it possible for low-quality affiliate websites to rank over authoritative websites, which never consciously added misspelt keywords to their webpages.

However, this is no longer the case. Google can now rank authoritative websites for misspelt keywords in search queries. Mueller affirms that Google will eventually rely less on exact match keywords and highlights as an example exact match misspellings as well as singular and plural keyword variations.

Mueller explained that these changes have been going on over the years, leading in the direction where SEOs do not need to have the exact keywords on their webpages anymore. He also added that businesses and website owners are starting to realise these changes in Google and that all the exact match keywords now become less critical on webpages as long as they provide the users with the right answers to what they are looking for.

Despite all this, he clarified that although Google’s purpose is not to make exact match keywords less important. He said that the actual algorithm’s purpose was to provide users with helpful answers.

This means that SEO marketing consultants should change their strategies to comply with Google’s new BERT algorithms and concentrate on content that will exactly answer their user queries.

John Mueller explained that Google is indeed leaning to the direction of making exact match keywords less important. However, he did not tell businesses and website owners that exact match keywords are already useless.

For this reason, it is much safer for SEOs to continue writing the best content possible – something that is relevant and easy to understand. Using a keyword is crucial to make Google users understand what the content is about, and this is something that SEOs should keep on doing for the betterment of their websites.

Here at Position1SEO, we will make your SEO project a success by complying with the latest Google algorithms. This prevents SEOs from getting penalised by Google as well as organically increase their website traffic, which eventually boosts your sales.

Our team of experts can provide your target audience with relevant content that certainly answers their queries. This improves your brand’s online presence and allows you to be one step ahead of your competitors.

Write to us at office@position1seo.co.uk or call us via 0141 846 0114 if you’re interested in an affordable and efficient SEO package!