BERT is rolling out to Google search in over 70 languages

The algorithm was first introduced to search in October.

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BERT, the natural language processing algorithm that launched on English language queries in October, is now coming to over 70 languages globally, Google announced on Monday. Previously, BERT was only applied to featured snippets in languages other than English.

BERT Featured Snippet Example
An example of a featured snippet for the query “Parking on a hill with no curb” before and after BERT is applied. In the past, queries such as this would confuse Google’s system and it would place too much emphasis on “curb” and ignore the word “no,” not understanding how important it was to appropriately addressing the query, the company has said. Source: Google.

Why we care

With regards to search engines, BERT is designed to better understand the intent behind a user’s query, and Google has said that 10% of all searches are impacted by the BERT update. Now that the algorithm is receiving a worldwide roll out, Google search in those 70+ other languages should benefit from BERT’s language processing capabilities.

More on BERT

Here are some additional resources to help you understand BERT’s significance and why you can’t optimize for it.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

George Nguyen
Contributor
George Nguyen is the Director of SEO Editorial at Wix, where he manages the Wix SEO Learning Hub. His career is focused on disseminating best practices and reducing misinformation in search. George formerly served as an editor for Search Engine Land, covering organic and paid search.

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