Why the Google NLP API Tool Is Everything That Content Marketers Need?
Do you go the extra mile to optimize the text so that Google better understands it and awards you with a higher ranking? If you are a content marketer, you surely do. The thing is, not always your perfect optimization achieves the wanted result. In fact, I bet that even if you do everything right (meaning you use the right amount of the keyword in the text, make it long — just enough to transfer quality while keeping the reader focused and optimize the meta tags and headlines), there are still no visible results. Why?! — you wonder.
No one can give you a 100% right answer except Google. But Google is not that explanatory, right? Experts always assume, claim, and discuss how all you need to put out there is quality content and hope Google will notice it. Sure, there are thousands of articles that discuss the ranking factors when it comes to content but, all the claims come down to the same statement: create your best work and hope for the best.
Well, while it is undeniably true that quality is all Google is about these days, Google offers you the best tool so far to help and tell you precisely whether your content is valuable. The NLP API Tool is called BERT, and it was officially announced on October 25, 2019.
What does NLP API and BERT mean?
OK, let me take a step back and explain what all these abbreviations mean.
NLP — Natural Language Processing
API — Application Programming Interface
BERT — Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers
And as Google defines it:
“The powerful pre-trained models of the Natural Language API let developers work with natural language understanding features including sentiment analysis, entity analysis, entity sentiment analysis, content classification, and syntax analysis.”
What is the best part? Google uses this tool in search algorithms!
This means that you have a tool at your hand that will help you analyze your content the same way Google does, and according to the findings, optimize it to be the best version that Google will appreciate.
What is more, the analysis goes so deep that you can check whether your content is optimized for the particular niche of the industry you are writing about.
How Does Google NLP API Tool Work?
Simply put, it analyses every single word in the given context. This is done with several different analyses: syntax, entity, sentiment, and content classification.
The syntax analysis creates dependency parse trees with identified parts of speech and gives you an insight into how you are building your sentences.
The entity analysis takes out the entities from the content and labels them as date, person, contact information, organization, location, events, products, and media. This analysis is extra useful as it clearly shows you whether and how Google is recognizing the things you are writing about.
For example, take a look at this excerpt and how it is analyzed.
“6. Going viral
I’ve long advocated banishing “going viral” from our marketing vocabulary and our business goals. And if RIGHT NOW isn’t the time to stop using the phrase, I really don’t know when will be. — Erika Heald, founder, Erika Heald Marketing Consulting
7. Empathy
I’m so glad we’ve acknowledged our audiences are humans with feelings, but let’s collectively pledge to move past this using this word as shorthand for manipulating emotions to get clicks. I think “useful,” “meaningful,” and “enjoyable” are all better guiding words for brands. — Jennifer Jordan, vice president and head of content (US), Babbel”
As you can see from the analysis, Google recognizes the entities and classifies them, which adds to the excerpt’s value and quality. By using this analysis, you can improve your writing by including more valuable and precise information.
The sentiment analysis shows you how Google understands the attitude and the general opinion of your content. Take a look at this excerpt:
“But a free tool — Google Search Console — can help you identify these “hidden” keywords and further optimize your content. Follow this easy-to-implement, seven-step process to develop a strategy that could bring in thousands more visitors every month.”
As you can see, the sentiment analysis uses three colors for the score range — green, yellow, and red. Green denotes that the emotion is positive, while red means that it is negative. In the presented case, it is green, which means that Google has a positive opinion.
Finally, the content classification offers 700+ predefined categories that your content might classify in. Suppose you get a precise categorization of the content you are analysing. In that case, you are headed in the right direction — this means that Google understands what topic/niche you are writing about and classifies it the same way you intend.
Look at this excerpt:
“A recent study confirmed that using the third person creates barriers. In the study, participants who experienced anxiety talked about themselves in the third person. Using this voice created distance between participants and their negative emotions, helping them calm their anxiety.”
As you can see from the image, this excerpt is categorized as Health/Mental health category, which is exactly what the author is talking about in the context, making their point of view loud and clear.
The Benefits of Using NLP API Tool
It is free, practical, and increases your confidence levels in writing. You get the idea of what is right, what is not, and what should be improved. Basically, by using it, you can fully optimize your content so that Google will thoroughly understand your goal in writing it.
To Sum Up
As a content marketer, I saw huge benefits from using this tool. It helps me see how my content is viewed, analyzed, and presented to Google and whether it is a good-ranking material. It is not a creative type of tool that helps you get inspiration to write a quality piece of content, rather yet, it is a strict analytical tool that shows you how you managed to write the article. Based on the analysis, you can start improving it until it is satisfactory for Google’s taste.
