Search Engine Optimization and LSI – The Truth

Many people get confused with search engine optimization and LSI. What is LSI and what does it have to do with SEO? In fact, nothing. That’s right – nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. So why all the fuss? Due to ignorance and possible subterfuge.

LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing, a term that has no meaning. There is a term called ‘latent semantic analysis’ which is the analysis of the hidden meaning of the text and its explanation through an analysis of the way other words are used in the passage. The code of each letter of a word is analyzed and thus the word is identified. There are certain known juxtapositions of certain words that provide meaning to these words, although all may not be as it seems.

For example, did I buy an apple, did I buy a computer, or did I buy a piece of fruit? That only becomes apparent when looking at the rest of the semantics of the passage. The word semantics means the meaning of words in the way they are used. For example: “I bought a leash for my German Shepherd” indicates that the German Shepherd is a dog, and not a Teutonic Knight tending sheep. It is the rest of the semantics of the text that makes clear what the term means.

Let’s take another example: “Spiders crawl the web looking for….”. What does this really mean? Is the passage referring to arachnids looking for flies or search engine spiders looking for specific keywords? Only the rest of the text will make this clear. What does the term ‘the history of locks’ refer to? If you came across a website with that title, what topic do you think it would cover? The history of channel locks? The history of door locks? Only an analysis of the rest of the text on the page would tell you that, and that’s what LSI is. It is not ‘latent semantic indexing’ but ‘latent semantic analysis’.

The term relates to the ability of search engine algorithms to determine the relevance of their content to the search term used by the search engine user. Someone searching for “english canal lock history” does not want to be presented with a website titled “the lock history” which is an authority on prison locks. The algorithm analyzes the text on the page and decides the topic based on the word used.

It also ensures that the content on the page is relevant to the keyword and not just a continuous repetition of the keyword, as many sites did before Google’s algorithm change. In fact, this type of analysis put an end to software that generated thousands upon thousands of website and page content from a single template that contained no content to speak of, but rather a form of words into which words could be entered. key. Therefore, “information about dogs is readily available on the Internet, and dogs are a popular topic with many websites providing information about dogs.”

Any keyword you can think of could be used in place of ‘dogs’ and the content does not provide any information. That is the typical reason why Google introduced the LSI algorithm, although the term does not make sense to the webmaster. Aside from the fact that it should actually be called Latent Semantic Analysis, LSA, and not LSI, it’s an analytics technique, and no one can use analytics to improve their website. You can’t make a website LSI compliant, but you can write a web page with good content that is relevant to your page title. You can include varied information and good English, instead of endless repetitions of the keyword, and thus allow search engine spiders to understand what your web page is about.

How many keywords is too many? You tell me! However, there is growing evidence that you should use the page keyword once in the title, but it should not form the title. So, if your keyword is “writing articles,” your title should not be “Writing Articles” but rather “How to Write Articles That Get Traffic.”

You should then use the keyword only once in the first 100 characters of your body copy, and again in the last paragraph of the page. Google will look for you in these positions. Maybe one more time every 500 words, but no more than that. Keyword density is outdated and irrelevant. I got better results doing that than using 1% or 3% KD. That would equate to 5-15 keywords in a 500 word article compared to the three you would use.

Of course, you don’t have to believe me, but if you don’t, I bet my listings are higher than yours!