Latent Semantic Indexing in the SEO process

What is Latent Semantic Indexing?

LSI is a search engine technique that finds connections between words, phrases, and concepts in order to rank the relevancy of web pages to specific searches. It takes into account not only the keywords in the text on each page but also the frequency with which these words appear across all of the pages on a site. Also, it can be used by website owners to increase their rankings in Google’s search results.

They help to clarify the work of search engine robots and are related to the intentions of Internet users. From the SEO point of view, they allow you to avoid the problem of duplicate content and cannibalization of keywords, and also develop a long tail word strategy.

Semantic keywords have four elements:

• volume – more data and retrieval of new information,
• velocity – variability and frequency of processing,
• variety – variety of supported data (from content to graphics, video and audio),
• veracity – reliability and better data verification.

Unlimited streams of information flow through the devices and grow with the innovation of new technologies. LSI has increased the content on the website and matches the desires of the user. Their significant additional advantage is ensuring their safety and avoiding detective techniques. They’re the backbone of a modern intelligent network. These, for example, should be utilized as part of your keyword strategy. Optimization is a continuous process, so speak with one voice.

Why is it important?

How it can help your content rank higher?

It is Google’s policy to provide good quality content, so it uses algorithms to better match search results with user needs. Especially in this context, the Hummingbird Algorithm counteracts Black Hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing. Through this algorithm, you are able to expand your vocabulary by using artificial intelligence.

Latent Semantic Indexing helps search engines understand what your site or page is about. The more content related to a topic, the higher that topic will rank in the search engine results pages. LSI also allows for more targeted searching by providing search results based on the meaning of words, rather than on just the words themselves.

How to find them?

To find semantic keywords, simply use the tools traditionally used to parse long tail and exact match. So we are talking about word planners from Google, Senuto, Semstorm, Answer the Public or Keyword Finder. You can also search for hints in the Google Search Console admin panel. There are also specialized tools that are profiled for LSI searches, such as LSIGraph and LSI Keywords.

User and their needs. What is search intent?

When you define intentions in the context of SEO, you can better adapt to the needs of Internet users and make your algorithmic and robotic work more effective. There are millions of recipients, but their intentions can be categorized in four main categories:

• informational inquiries (to obtain information, advice, instructions),
• navigational inquiries (related to specific needs),
• commercial inquiries (to obtain additional information before making a transaction decision),
• transactional inquiries (related to clients completing the transaction).

How to combine LSI and search intent? It’s an algorithm that automatically analyzes text and assigns weight to words or phrases with respect to other words or phrases on web pages indexed by Google search. By using LSI you can significantly expand your capabilities, and by using artificial intelligence you will also save your time and resources.

Optimizing your content for semantic keywords

Semantic search lets you better understand the question and intentions of the user. It is particularly important in artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is the science of human-like natural languages. The ultimate goal of AI is to be able to understand and communicate like humans. That is to say, Google offers a more-useful user experience.

Although LSI is not different from standard SEO techniques, it is very important to know where to place them for maximum effectiveness. In light of this, please consider:

• page and subpage titles,
• URL address,
• subheadings,
• headers,
• ALT attributes,
• the title and meta description tags.

Each of these items enhances your site’s ranking and gives you a chance to show up on Google’s recommendations. What’s more, it raises your site’s authority and inspires user trust.

Voice search and LSI potential

Nowadays, you can’t move without a voice search. Siri, Alexa, Cortana are just a few of our friends. It is estimated that by 2026 most of us will be using the voice search function. It is akin to a conversation in that it is a spoken command. It allows you to search for terms with a more difficult spelling and longer phrases (phrases such as long tail or full questions). This is related to the development of AI and the change in the indexation method.

LSI is entering here like a storm, because they are the next step in communication between the user and the search engine. Thanks to the LSI, the structured data also comes to the fore, which improves the entire communication. The development of technology continues to raise the bar, so it is worth trying to keep up with the news today.

Last but not least

The general idea behind latent semantic indexing is that it allows computers to analyze a set of documents in order to find the ones that are most relevant to a given search term. This analysis can help improve an SEO campaign by making sure that all the pages on a website are optimized for the keyword phrases that someone might be using when they search for your product or service.