Thursday, February 3, 2011

What is LSI and how it works in terms of SEO ?

Okay, I am here to let you know all about LSI and its uses in terms of Search Engine Optimization.
LSI keywords start off being complicated because of their name. LSI means Latent Semantic Index. Now, that's an intimidating name. It one of those names that computer geeks love to lay on things so normal people think they (the geeks) are really, really smart.


Is it that complicated?


According to Wikipedia, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is an indexing and retrieval method that uses a mathematical technique called Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to identify patterns in the relationships between the terms and concepts contained in an unstructured collection of text. LSI is based on the principle that words that are used in the same contexts tend to have similar meanings.


Wow! That's even worse!


OK, that's all the big words I'm going to use here. Unless you're involved in developing search engine technologies, you don't need to understand SVD. You just need to know what LSI keywords are and how to use them. LSI keywords are just words that relate to your main keyword.


In search engine optimization (SEO), you want to use the keywords you are targeting on your page so that the search engine will rank your page highly when a searcher enters those keywords in their search. That's fine, and easy enough, except that if you use the keywords too much, the search engine will penalize the page as being spammy and move it down in the listings.


That's where LSI keywords come in...


You can put LSI keywords in your content instead of overusing the main keywords and it will be like putting in lots of the main keywords with out the problem of overdoing it. They can also be worked into the content in a manner that doesn't hurt the readability of the page for humans.


So where can I find LSI keywords?


The easiest place is The Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Just do a search for "Google AdWords Keyword Tool". Be sure that Descriptive words or phrases is selected, then enter your keyword(s) in the text box. Put in the captcha and press the "Get keyword ideas" button.


You'll get a list of keywords that are related to the main keyword. Scroll down until you come to "Additional keywords to consider". These are LSI keywords that you can use in your content to safely add to the strength of the main keyword.


The bottom line...


LSI keywords are just keywords that relate to the main keyword. Use them to safely increase your search engine ranking. source: Ezinearticles.com