How does BERT affect media SEO?
BERT is here to improve the results Google offers users. Will it affect media SEO positioning?
BERT, Google's new algorithm, is able to interpret each word in a search according to the connections it has with the words that precede and follow it, thanks to which it manages to give them the precise meaning they have because of the context in which they are found. This is especially relevant in searches that integrate polysemic words, such as "bank". Now, Google is able to conclude whether the user is referring to a banking institution or a street furniture item.
For media websites, it is important to emphasize that the writing of a news item or an article must be approached differently if it is done for publication in paper or if it is done for the online medium. In this way, we have brought together the key elements that provide a springboard for organic positioning in search engines:
1. Keywords
In each search, users type an average of three keywords whose meaning determine the content they want to find. We must identify which are the keywords (always 'longtail', specific) of the news or the article that we are going to write, that appear in the key points of the content: headline, 'meta description', headlines, 'anchor text'...
2. Holder
The headline of the news must incorporate the keywords that are positioning the content, which will be arranged in a similar way that users perform online searches to reach the information. For a headline to meet the objective of achieving good positioning it is important that it is both descriptive and attractive, and has between 60 and 70 characters.
3. Tags
On each page of our website, the tags that tell Google what information we are offering users must be configured. When publishing a new article or news item we have to take this into account, and assign in the CMS the most relevant tags based on the type of content we are publishing.
4. Meta description tag
This is a short paragraph that summarizes the information that the user will find on the page. The search engines do not take it as a key reference in their parameters, however, it is a fundamental element to capture the user's attention and to increase the traffic to our website.
5. Links
Establishing a strategy of internal and external links is fundamental for good positioning. By linking to existing content in new articles we increase the authority of our website and manage to keep old but potentially interesting news in force. Thus, they remain visible to Google and continue to receive visits from users.
With a strategy of external links to reference websites, we will establish a relationship in which both parties will benefit, since these links will reciprocally transmit the 'domain authority', that is, its organic positioning quality.
BERT will prioritise the appearance in the first search results of those websites whose information and content have been written to offer accurate, up-to-date and quality information to users.
How can I make my website BERT-friendly with ITERweb?
A BERT-friendly website is one that offers content of interest to users, one that is not written with what we want to say in mind, or how Google's robots will interpret the content.
With BERT changes the way we express the information we want to convey. However, we should not leave aside SEO techniques that are still relevant and that continue to favour organic positioning, such as the aspects to take into account when publishing new content that we have just reviewed. ITERweb is a CMS that offers you all the possible facilities so that your content complies with the technical characteristics that Google values the most.
ITERweb is going to continue being the utility with which you will continue applying the basic and essential organic positioning techniques for your web, but the very writing of the contents will be the factor that determine the excellence in the organic positioning.
How to write for BERT?
As we have already seen, BERT has not actually arrived for us to incorporate new positioning techniques into the content we write or the websites we manage. This time it is simpler than all that, it is a question of gradually incorporating a more natural way of writing, using common sense and thinking about how we humans deal with subjects in ordinary, everyday conversations; how we ask about something we are interested in knowing, what steps we take to deepen our knowledge of a subject, or how we shape our opinion or exchange ideas about it with other people.
Google's algorithm uses increasingly advanced artificial intelligence, which is capable of analyzing faster and better understanding of user behavior. Therefore, when writing articles or news for media websites, it is best to think about how we can base our content on providing relevant information to users.