{"id":8641,"date":"2019-11-04T14:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qeretail.com\/blog\/?p=8641"},"modified":"2019-11-04T14:00:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T14:00:41","slug":"google-bert-and-ecommerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qeretail.com\/blog\/google-bert-and-ecommerce","title":{"rendered":"Google BERT and eCommerce – The Aftermath Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google BERT, in simple terms, is an intelligent algorithm to understand and revert to an unformulated search query more effectively and relevantly. Google\u2019s RankBrain update from 2015 already made this search giant smart enough to learn the \u2018intent\u2019 behind a query. The latest breakthrough is a considered step-up in the same arena where the machine learning enables word processing in relation to all the other words present in a sentence, rather than one-by-one in order. A few examples of \u2018before\u2019 and \u2018after\u2019 search result scenarios are available on <\/span>Google\u2019s BERT announcement<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we are to spell it technically, BERT is an abbreviation to Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. It is a neural network-based technique for natural language processing (NLP) that helps decode complex and conversational search queries with more relatable results. Putting the technical jargon aside, Google BERT is here to crack the search queries with an ability to process prepositions (e.g. – \u2018to\u2019, \u2018for\u2019, \u2018from\u2019, \u2018with\u2019) present in a sentence! Long story short, BERT will understand and revert to the natural language used by searchers in contrast with going by the keywords.<\/span><\/p>\n

The theories of how the <\/span>Google BERT model works<\/span><\/a> and how it will affect 10% of the English language searches are not the things that we are here for. This episode today is for eCommerce businesses and how they will be influenced by this acclaimed biggest leap forward in the history of Search. We have tried encompassing possible BERT effects on online stores, and the good news is, they\u2019re positive!<\/span><\/p>\n

Google BERT and eCommerce<\/span><\/h2>\n

eCommerce sales are creating new benchmarks YOY! People are turning towards online purchases and on the other side, eCommerce businesses are striving to provide better customer services. Google BERT is nothing but Google\u2019s strongest effort to serve its customers, i.e. searchers better! It is a good news for the eCommerce businesses because BERT will help rank the product and category pages more once the search intent is clear. Product pages have great potential to rank in SERPs and with this advancement, quality traffic will drive to eStores.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The story again ends at CONTENT! How Google BERT algorithm will affect your online store rankings is entirely depends on the quality of the website content you offer. This update supports preposition evaluation in a search query by giving an edge of language understanding capabilities to Google. eCommerce stores have product listings that are described via prepositions for its various attributes. Different types, colors, sizes, features, and services of any product need some major explanations that are correlated with prepositions. These descriptions available on the websites have higher chances of getting featured by the BERT update. People searching with specific product details and attributes will now see more accurate results.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Google BERT Aftermath for Product Pages<\/span><\/h3>\n

The product page descriptions play a major part here<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Page content holding descriptive, relevant sentences will benefit from BERT. The details present on the product webpage would have the product attributes written with prepositions, and BERT will make use of it to provide the searcher with significant results. Let\u2019s better understand this with a few examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, someone\u2019s Googling,<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 7 ft curtains <\/span>with<\/i><\/b> cartoons, or<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. men’s analog watch <\/span>in<\/i><\/b> black dial <\/span>with<\/i><\/b> metal straps, or<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. greeting cards <\/span>for<\/i><\/b> back to school<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The mentioned search queries have specific attributes like Cartoon, Black Dial & Metal Straps, and Back to school respectively, which are described by prepositions. In these scenarios, Google will return with definite results by understanding the intent. The product pages containing these pieces of information are more likely to get picked with the help of BERT.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is how your product content will get benefitted from this latest search algorithm.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    We searched for the term \u201c<\/span>shoes with spikes in red color<\/b>\u201d, and below is the screenshot of the results we got.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Google<\/p>\n

    What Should eCommerce Stores Do?<\/b><\/h4>\n

    Google BERT is here for good and will support more to-the-point results. As mentioned earlier, it\u2019s the game of Content! Do take care of your product page content and make it descriptive enough for the end-users. Providing specific and in-depth product information is more of a necessity than advice. People make online purchase decisions solely based on what they read and see, thus making their experience worth is something that all online stores should work upon. BERT is not penalizing any sites, but a drop in relevant website traffic is more or less the same. Moreover, when explicit search results will appear, the quality of relevant visitors will also increase. Only people with higher purchase intent will visit your online store, so overall, it\u2019s a Win-Win for the eCommerce stores that have considerable content on their product pages.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Pro Tips:<\/b><\/h5>\n