Search engine optimisation is always changing and in particular, Google is continuously updating its ranking algorithms. Google MUM update was launched in June 2021 and its purpose is to generate search results that overpower language and format limitations - thereby, improving the search experience. In today's blog, we will talk about how the Google MUM update will influence your search engine optimization strategy and how to prepare for it.

A short introduction to Google MUM update

   The Google MUM update focus is to acknowledge contemporary search demands with the help of an artificial intelligence algorithm to increase online search capability.  When searching the internet, contradictory to expectations users have to choose between multiple searches, geographical, and language barriers due to a lack of intuition on the search engine. It can understand up to 75 languages - providing a comprehensive search experience and results to even the most complex queries. There is no doubt that Google MUM is changing the way people access information across the world wide web. Nevertheless, with this new update, we will have access to high qualitative information, as never before.

Why the MUM update is the answer

Google intends to make continuous improvements and eliminate any machine learning inconveniences. However, feedback from people using the Search Quality Rater Guidelines will provide further details about how people find information. Just like 2019´s BERT update, MUM will go through the same process activated on Google search models.

What makes MUM so important? 

First of all, MUM describes the meaning in a user-friendly way, removing language barriers to contribute to the most knowledgeable search engine capability ever.  Secondly, being agile, extensive and accurate makes Google MUM relate to older Google updates. These qualities are fundamental to the online experience today as users need detailed, consistent and precise answers only with some clicks in a very short time. Nevertheless, keywords and optimized content for Google search have been mandatory components in the way information is provided and how it needs to meet user’s intent. During the last few years, while this has been important to highlight the attention to specifics, it has considerably changed to be more phrase friendly, such as finding keywords used in a more natural context.

The Google MUM´s Advantages

There is no doubt that Google MUM´s AI smarts will be a key piece in managing and recognizing user intent and thought processes. Let's imagine that you would like to travel to a country and the questions you currently have are all the information that you need. First of all, you might need to know how to get there. After, you might need to find where to stay,  check for visas and vaccinations that you might need and maybe about the weather forecast and the activities available. As users need more and more information delivered in just a few seconds, Google MUM is the start of meeting these needs.

Multi-modal feature

MUM uses T5 text-to-text framework and its capabilities are 1,000 times more powerful than BERT. Users have access to answers to direct questions straight away. But the ones which are more complex or don’t have an exact answer will develop thanks to this multi-modal feature.

Why is MUM different from BERT?

BERT was launched in 2019 and its main purpose is to understand the searches better than it was ever done before. At that time, keywords were seen as key phrases which needed to provide results based on user intent. Long story short, content needed to be able to provide common questions. In 2021, MUM is without any doubt more powerful than BERT and it looks like this is massively changing the search and SEO industry.

How to prepare for the Google MUM update

Build qualitative and straightforward content, with a focus on internal linking. Content should answer questions and implement the right formats of multimedia so that MUM takes into consideration your content. Written content, blog posts and articles are still very important to attract the attention of Google MUM. Maximize the value of your content with podcasts, images, audio and video formats. Add a multilingual SEO strategy to your website. Create content that focuses on brand recognition and loyalty, with the help of descriptive, engaging content and images. Add structured data to inform crawlers about your content. Bottom line, what you need to make sure of when creating MUM-friendly content is to make it qualitative, interesting and relevant to your audience.

Conclusion:

As we have seen in this article, we are all witnesses to a new change in the SEO landscape. There is no doubt that this will improve the user experience and for sure, we will be witnesses to more good changes coming from Google in the future.