Recently, John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, responded to a Reddit thread that asked whether, for different languages, Google uses the same algorithm or not.
He said that, for most languages, Google uses the same algorithm. But in some specific situations, it is forced to use a different algorithm which the language needs for interpreting the queries.
Further, the thread inquires about how the SEO practices and ranking factors differ with the language.
The thread says that since the BERT upgrade was about semantics, the inquirer wondered if it would be the same in other languages. This got him thinking about additional ranking factors and how their relevance varies between languages and cultures. Finally, he asks whether anyone who has worked in SEO in another language has seen any variation in ranking factors.
In his reply, Mueller didn’t address ranking factors, but he discussed the use of different algorithms for different languages.
Contents
Variation Of Google Search Algorithms With Language
Although many people assume it to be a singular entity, the Google search algorithm comprises many algorithms.
Some of these algorithms are utilized for all language searches, while others are explicitly used for specific languages.
Some languages do not use spaces to separate words. According to Mueller, using a different algorithm becomes necessary for these languages, and the algorithm for languages having words separated with spaces cannot be applied there.
He says that there are several algorithms used in Google search. Some apply to data in all languages, while others are peculiar to specific languages. For example, some languages don’t contain spaces to separate words, making searching difficult if Google treated all languages the same as English.
How Google Search Recognizes Content In Different Languages
It is worth mentioning a topic brought up at previous week’s Google Search Central SEO office-hours session. It was about searching Google’s content in different languages.
Mueller was asked whether Google knows when two pages, written in different languages, have the same content. Simply, Google doesn’t.
When various pieces of data are written in different languages, Google depends on content providers to determine if they are similar.
Mueller describes how the ‘hreflang’ HTML attribute does this. He says that Google simply utilizes ‘hreflang’ to figure out identical URLs from an individual’s perspective and switches them after that.
He believes it would be difficult for them to comprehend how content would be equal in a different country or language. Even too many local variations are always feasible. Realizing that Google can’t assess the equivalency of content in different languages on its own was the key. This offers additional insight on why specific languages have specific Google algorithms.
Conclusion
In this article, you got to know How Google Uses Different Algorithms for Different Languages.
See Also: What Google’s Enhanced Autocomplete Box Means For SEO