Veena
Last Updated on July 15, 2024 by Team Experts
Mammoth search engine Google is always looking for new ways to make an impact on the user experience and improve their technology and algorithms to make searches more seamless and rewarding as ever. Personalisation is the name of the game and from the seeds of technological progression comes the AI algorithm Google has dubbed MUM.
From BERT to MUM
MUM stands for Multitask Unified Model and is the technological successor to BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers).
BERT began the big progressive push towards allowing the integration of natural language into user’s searches which yields more accurate results and improves the user experience. MUM improves on this technology with a more powerful approach and a better understanding of global languages to make the search results even more fulfilling.
With an understanding of 75 different languages, including English, German and Russian, MUM’s Predictive Answering Machine can allow for a more personalised experience to deliver further information on a base query. These will become super snippets, the bigger and better version of featured snippets that appear at the top of the SERPs.
Content Localisation
MUM’s language agnostic features means its content localisation is stronger than ever. When searching for information pertaining to another country, the results will be in that country’s language, making your content more versatile and broadening its audience.
Localised content also improves the user experience and offers local SEO advantages. MUM will give Google a better understanding of the local tone of voice, sentence structure, grammar, knowledge and other cultural specifics that make that content unique. Tailoring your content is now more important than ever to be noticed by MUM’s algorithm and increase your value to the search engine.
The Importance of Google Lens
MUM’s multimodal features concerning its processing of visual media makes it the perfect partner for Google Lens.
Google Lens involves taking a picture of a place or object to find out more information, such as reviews on a product or suggestions for similar venues and attractions. Google Lens can also identify landmarks and locations and add events to your calendar to improve every day life.
Multimodal features increase Google’s scope and make the search engine richer and more relevant than ever with every user query able to be paired with the right answer whether that answer is textual or image-based. Including more images in your content will help you get noticed by MUM and Google Lens as it will be able to identify matches between similar pictures in content and queries.
Search Intent and SERPs
With the new and exciting capabilities MUM has to offer, the necessity for keyword searches is shrinking. MUM will be able to predict search intent far more effectively while also covering its bases with an offering of questions related to the search topic to give users everything they need to embark on and fulfil their search journey.
This will also benefit copywriters as they will be increasingly able to write in a natural way without having to plug their content with keywords to increase their value and relevance to the user.
Google is also updating its SERP features in the future to better align the SERPs with MUM. ‘Things to Know’ will list information around a topic, similar to MUM’s offering of additional questions and features like ‘Refine This Search’ and ‘Broaden This Search’ enhance the natural conversation flow the MUM technology strives for. This will allow the algorithm to work almost like a silent partner in tandem with the user’s goals to help them get everything they need.
The SEO Factor
MUM’s groundbreaking algorithms will have a significant impact on the world of search technology but don’t worry – SEO will still be as important as ever in helping your content to rank.
Your strategy will likely have to be amended to adhere to MUM’s capabilities so make sure that when you are emphasising your reliability and value on a subject to keep the new algorithm in mind.
There will be more competition in searches due to MUM’s greater language processing skills so making sure your content is the best of the best is more vital than ever. Adapting your SEO for voice search is also recommended so you can match the natural language style the search engines are aiming for to give you a better chance of proving your usefulness to MUM and to the user.
MUM is the bright future of search algorithms and encourages all aspects of search technology to evolve with it including SEO strategies. The more high quality content you produce, the easier it will be for MUM to rank you, creating a more complex and human approach to the search experience and emphasising the user’s needs more powerfully than ever.
