Sentiment Analysis is the process of identifying and categorizing opinions expressed in a piece of text using calculations. This is done by specialized software. Sentiment analysis helps determine whether the writer’s attitude towards a particular topic or product is positive, negative, or neutral.

Search engines are always looking for ways to improve the results they show to users through algorithm updates and by improving their ranking and indexing process. For them, understanding searcher intent is fundamental.

Over the years, a series of technological advances in AI and machine learning have made this possible, and sentiment analysis has played a key role. Now, search engines use it to better understand what a person is looking for to provide the most relevant yet balanced results.

In 2008, Google introduced what we now know as featured snippets. These are selected search results that are included on top of Google’s SERPs, before organic results. Their primary purpose is to answer users’ questions right away. A site that’s displayed among these results gets additional brand exposure and visibility among SERPs.

Bing announced in 2018 that it is incorporating sentiment analysis to the process of retrieving intelligent snippets on the search results pages. However, they take into consideration a few other factors in the process:

  – The given authority and quality of a website.

  – How relevant the content for a given topic is.

  – Whether the content is easy to crawl and index.

  – If the webpage offers a good user experience.

How could sentiment analysis affect SEO?

It could be particularly helpful for local SEO. Search engines may gain a better understanding of whether a business’s review is positive or negative, or even if a webpage is linked in a negative way. Then, use this information to index and rank said page or business.

As for how can SEO professionals use the information? By analyzing the results returned for a given query, search engines may offer clues about what users are looking for. Additionally, sentiment analysis can play a significant role in:

The new update will set the stage for future algorithms. With it, search results are getting more and more accurate every day. Users will be able to find whatever they are looking