The primary goal of a digital marketing campaign? The most common answer is usually to drive as much traffic as possible. But how do you attract more traffic to a digital marketingcampaign? Years ago, everyone knew that SEO keywords were crucial, but recently, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) has been gaining significant traction. Let’s join Markdao to understand how LSI keywords influence website rankings.
What are LSI keywords? What is their history in the digital marketing industry?
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) refers to terms related to a concept that search engines use via mathematical techniques to analyze how keywords are grouped together, allowing for a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of web page content. LSI has been around since the mid-80s, but it has only recently gained attention in the digital marketingcommunity, especially in SEO, ever since Google began using LSI for ranking websites on SERPs.
Simply put, LSI keywords are terms semantically related to your main keyword. They are words frequently found alongside your keyword in specific contexts. Let’s see how LSI keywords work in the example below.
How do LSI keywords work and influence digital marketing?
Suppose your main SEO keyword is “Cars”; Google can interpret this word in up to 5 different ways:
- Cars – automobiles – a type of vehicle
- Cars – the title of an animated film by Disney
- CARS – acronym for the Canadian Association for Rally Sports
- CARs – the Canadian Aviation Regulations
- (the) Cars – an American rock band active in the 1970s
So how does Google know which meaning your keyword “Cars” refers to? This is where LSI keywords become extremely important. Google searches for and indexes LSI keywords on your page to determine the exact meaning of your SEO keyword:
- If Google finds words like “engine,” “use,” “drive,” “buy,” “sell,” or “price,” it will understand that your page content relates to the first meaning of the keyword “Cars”—that is, automobiles.
- In another case, if Google finds keywords like “movie,” “director,” “script,” “animation,” or “Walt Disney,” it will understand that your page content relates to the second meaning of the keyword “Cars”—that is, the movie Cars.
- The same applies to other meanings.
Why are LSI keywords important in digital marketing?
To answer this question, it might be helpful for your digital marketing campaign, and it would also be easier if we find the answer to the question, “Why did Google decide to use LSI keywords for website ranking?” Back in the early days of SEO, all Google relied on to rank websites was the keyword density within the content. Obviously, we now know that this indexing method is inaccurate because keywords can easily be stuffed indiscriminately into articles. That is precisely why Google decided to use LSI keywords as a ranking factor.
In this way, Google can easily determine which website has higher-quality content among those of the same type. For example, if you have a site selling “cars,” and your page contains a variety of related terms like “Toyota Fortuner,” “Toyota Innova,” “discount,” “list price,” “maintenance,” and “installment,” your page will be given a higher quality score by Google than pages that simply repeat the word “car” over and over.
How can you improve digital marketing with LSI keywords?
Have you worked hard and put in a lot of effort to find the most potential keywords, but the results are not what you expected? You create technical articles with SEO keywords present throughout, but website traffic still isn't increasing? Do you realize that your competitors are using the same keywords as you and fear they will outperform you? Are you facing these problems? If so, try changing your strategy with LSI keywords. Below are 3 ways you can apply them to improve your digital marketing campaign with LSI keywords.
Focus on overall content rather than keyword density
Following numerous recent system upgrades and the implementation of countless new algorithms, Google now prioritizes a website's overall content—specifically the context in which your keywords appear—far more than keyword density. LSI keywords provide additional, valuable context for your specific keywords and your article as a whole. This means your page will rank higher for your primary keyword because Google better understands the context of your page, which means your digital marketing campaign will have a greater chance of success by attracting more traffic.
Avoid Google penalties for keyword spamming
When you don't use LSI keywords, your only option is to stuff your article with as many keywords as possible. This approach is inherently unsafe, as Google can penalize your website at any time if they detect excessive spamming. With LSI keywords, you can include your primary keywords while simultaneously enriching your content.
Find keyword variations for use in digital marketing
LSI keywords are closely related to your primary SEO keywords — in some cases, they are referred to as 'keyword variations.' Digital marketing on your website using LSI keywords means your page will appear in search results for your primary keyword as well as those keyword variations.
How to find the right group of LSI keywords for a digital marketing campaign?
The best place to find LSI keywords for your digital marketing campaign is none other than where they actually perform—Google. This way, you will know exactly how the LSI keywords indexed by Google correspond to your primary keyword. You can easily research LSI keywords by entering your primary keyword into the Google search bar and looking for related terms in the SERP snippets.
Google Search's Auto Suggest feature is also a useful tool for finding LSI keywords. This feature appears as soon as you start typing in Google, offering a wide range of search options for your primary keyword. Additionally, the 'Searches related to' section, which usually appears at the bottom of the SERP, is an ideal place to find ideas for LSI keywords.
