Google has rolled out a new search query update called BERT that’s poised to help potential clients find your firm more easily. Further, other than continuing to maintain high-quality content, there’s virtually nothing you need to do to access what’s on offer. While Google BERT is hot off the presses, better understanding what it’s all about can help you implement digital marketing strategies with increased confidence. If you’re interested in advancing your Law Firm SEO game, the experts at Gorilla Webtactics are here to help you do just that.
BERT?
BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, and it’s a fancy name for a network technique that helps Google Search’s natural language processing. Put more simply, this means that BERT allows Search to better understand what individual searchers are really looking for in their queries – whether it’s legal services or anything else.
Benefits for Users and Law Firm SEO
Google, itself, describes BERT as “one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search,” and this translates into Google searches providing users with results that better correspond with their intentions in any given query. About 1 out of every 10 searches will benefit from BERT, which can help boost your firm’s online traffic from the get-go. The driving force behind BERT is better understanding searches that are written in conversational long-form (with prepositions included) – the kind of language that’s organic to most searches. This means that searchers are better poised to connect with quality content (with less searching), rather than with inferior content that focuses on rearranging words to garner hits.
BERT and Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a subsection of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on linguistics – specifically, how we naturally use language to communicate. NLP allows Search to home in on the intention behind the natural language used in specific queries. Instead of your potential client having to alter his or her search language, Google Search now better understands what that client meant in the first place, and that’s good for business. While NLP is nothing new, ongoing advancements like BERT make it increasingly helpful with your Law Firm SEO.
Bidirectional Training
Bidirectional training is the process of training language models in relation to all of the words typed into a query, rather than to the order of the words in the query. BERT is not confined to processing a word in relation to the word that comes before or after it. Instead, BERT can better process all the search words typed – in relation to one another.
RankBrain
Google’s RankBrain is another AI tool for process queries, but it runs on a different algorithm. RankBrain compares and contrasts related queries over a range of time, thus building on its ability to interpret searches that don’t include exact wording for the information sought. For example, consider someone who’s searching for Mount Rushmore but who uses neither Mount nor Rushmore in their query. In fact, South Dakota Monument will get you where you need to be – courtesy of RankBrain. BERT, on the other hand, is all about the interrelationship between words in any given search. When combined, RankBrain and BERT offer a far more nuanced and organic understanding of natural language searches, the gold standard of digital marketing.
Working with BERT
While many search engine updates involve a bit of a learning curve, BERT requires nothing of you. Google’s got this. You don’t have to rethink your content strategies. Google remains committed to rewarding excellent content, and BERT helps them do this more efficiently and effectively. To continue improving your Law Firm SEO and online ranking, there are several strategies that Google encourages you to focus on, including:
- Produce quality content that focuses on your potential clients’ needs and the probable intentions behind their searches.
- Focus on creating compelling, inviting, informative, and concise content that’s written in natural language.
- Don’t compromise your content with artificial language in an attempt to match with linear-phrase construction.
BERT can help you move away from awkward phrasings and toward quality content that builds your legal brand while providing searchers with the information they seek.
Strengthen Your Law Firm SEO and Increase Your Bottom Line
Google continues to reward those online marketers who produce quality content and strong branding. Your potential clients use Search to find you, and BERT is making it easier for them to do so. If you’re looking to maximize your online market share, your search is over – contact the legal-marketing experts at Gorilla Webtactics today.
