LSI And Synonyms

What is the similarity between “big”, “huge” and “massive”. For starters they are all synonyms of “large”. You and I understand that. But does your favorite Search Engine understand that? Surprisingly, yes! Let us find out how. 

What exactly is LSI?

LSI – latent semantic indexing is an algorithm used by Search Engines to detect words similar to the main keywords in the content. This helps Search Engines understand what your content is about and thus returns with relevant results.

LSI Keywords, the What of it

LSI keywords make the content more comprehensible to the Search Engines. For example, “Apple” and “iTunes” are LSI keywords because they share the same context and are frequently found together. But they are not synonyms.

If your page or blog post is about Apple, how will a search engine know if you’re referring to the fruit or the company?

Answer: It looks for LSI keywords. Take this example:

• If your page contains the words “baked apples,” “red apple,” “green apple,” “apple nutrition,” “Fuji apples,” “honeycrisp apple,” and/or “eating apple,” the search engine recognizes that your page is most likely about the fruit.
• If your page contains the words: “iTunes,” “Apple Hulu,” “Apple news,” “Apple stores,” “Apple iPhone,” “Apple iPad,” “Apple stock price,” and/or “Apple campus,” then the search engine understands your page is most likely about the company.

This will indicate to Search Engines that the website deals in selling and purchasing of the brand “Apple” products. LSI keywords are just another name for synonyms used in the SEO world. So why not use them to write more lucid content. This makes our content coherent to the Search Engines.

What are synonyms?

Synonyms are words or phrases that mean the same or nearly the same thing as another word or phrase. Examples include rich and wealthy, fall and autumn, and cars and automobiles.

Here’s why synonyms are problematic, according to the LSI patent:

There is a tremendous diversity in the words people use to describe the same object or concept; this is called synonymy. Users in different contexts, or with different needs, knowledge or linguistic habits will describe the same information using different terms. For example, it has been demonstrated that any two people choose the same main keyword for a single, well-known object less than 20% of the time on average.

How does this relate to search engines?

Imagine that we have two web pages about cars. Both are identical, but one substitutes all instances of the word cars for automobiles.

If we were to use a primitive search engine that only indexes the words and phrases on the page, it would only return one of these pages for the query “cars.”

This is bad because both results are relevant; it’s just that one describes what we’re looking for in a different way. The page that uses the word automobile instead of cars might even be the better result.

Bottom line: search engines need to understand synonyms to return the best results.

The Benefits of Using LSI Keywords:

LSI keywords have advantages for both SEO and user experience. There are several benefits of having LSI keywords in your content:

• LSI prevents your content from being labeled as spam in the eyes of search engines.

Having varied mentions of keyword phrases that are semantically related to your primary keywords increases your content’s credibility. If someone finds your site through a search engine but doesn’t find the content he or she is expecting, that person can report you to the search engine as spam. 

• LSI keywords help you reduce bounce rates by preventing your site from ranking for the wrong terms.

For example, if you are selling Lenovo Notebook computers, you do not want the search engine traffic from those seeking information about the 2014 movie “The Notebook.”

• LSI keywords will help you retain visitors on your site by making the flow of content natural and meaningful.

This gives your readers a peaceful environment without making it feel stuffed with keywords. This also differentiates your content from keyword dense content, which simply repeats keywords and key phrases to dupe the search engines into giving a high ranking. 

• LSI can help your site rank better for related searches.

Search engine bots automatically crawl your site and make a perception about the content. LSI keywords will rank your site for semantically related searches, no matter what your target keyword. For example, if you include LSI keywords for a business selling custom greeting cards at a premium price, your LSI keywords should allow you to skip searches for “inexpensive” or “print at home” greeting cards.

• LSI keywords can increase sales by helping your business rank higher with less competition.

For example, Amazon records an amazing 57% of all sales through keywords that are LSI versions of the primary keyword.

Overall, LSI keywords help you get your website content in front of even larger audiences.

How to Create LSI Keywords

There are several “premium” tools on the market for generating LSI keywords, but a business does not need to incur a lot of cost to venture into LSI. There are several free tools that can help you generate LSI keywords for your website:

• Google Autocomplete. The easiest way to find LSI keyword is to choose one main keyword and put in Google search bar. Google automatically provides the best matching phrase or list for your primary keyword as you type it in the search bar.

• LSI Graph is a free SEO tool which generate LSI keywords for you. Just put your main keyword in the search bar and the tool will generate a list of relevant keywords for you.
• Niche Laboratory offers keywords suggestions, top ranking websites, website page titles, website meta descriptions, web site meta keywords, and a website competition matrix. This is a very helpful tool to find the best LSI keyword matches, as well as get an idea of a competitor’s traffic-driven keywords.

Finding the right LSI keyword tool will depend upon your content management system, goals, and search engine advertising strategy. However, you should not have to spend the money on a premium LSI tool to produce effective results.

How to Use LSI Keywords

LSI keywords should be added throughout your website’s pages, but the usage needs to sound natural and appropriate. Some of your LSI keywords can be synonyms for your main keyword and, therefore, can simply be substituted for your main keyword.

Here are the main places you should use your LSI keywords:

• Page title
• H1 and H2 tags
• URL address
• Meta tags
• Images alt text
• First paragraph of text
• Link and anchor text
• Last paragraph of text

As with your main keyword, try to avoid over-optimizing your site for any particular LSI keyword. Overusing an LSI keyword may be seen as keyword stuffing and will incur a penalty from the search engines. A good rule of thumb is to use each LSI keyword just once on a page.

The role LSI keywords play in SEO

LSI keywords plays an interesting role in SEO. The role is not particular to content but a lot more:

• Content creation — In the earlier days, we used tactics, like keyword stuffing to make our content rank higher on SERPs.  For example, you are a furniture manufacturing company, called Black Rose, so you include Black Rose again and again in your content trying to outrank your competitors. Google penalizes sites for using such spam techniques. If we do not use the ‘keyword stuffing’ technique then how do we optimize our content for Search Engines? Well, this is where LSI keywords come into the picture. Instead of using the same keyword multiple times, use its synonyms. This lends a more natural touch to the content and ensures smooth flow of text. LSI keywords lend a fresh and rich feel to your content.
• Reader engagement — Would you, as a reader, like to read content that features one word multiple times? Or would you rather read content that is engaging? There is a plethora of information available on the internet. If you are not able to grasp the interest of the user, someone else will. LSI keywords create a variety of words that can be used in the content. Interesting content engages readers.
• Improve Search Engine rankings — Search Engines are always on the lookout to provide unique content to the searchers. LSI keywords help you create unique content on the same topic by using a mix of several keywords. Search Engines prefer content that has a natural feel to it. They also determine the quality of the content by checking its primary keywords and its LSI variations. More keywords also widen your horizon of content creation and save you from keyword stuffing. This always helps for better rankings.

Remember, Don’t make the mistake of stuffing your content with keywords. Keyword stuffing is looked down upon as ‘Spammy’ by Search Engines.