What you need to know about LSI and experience when using it

Things you need to know about LSI_As a content marketer, what are your main goals? If anyone asks this question, most people probably say it is to have high traffic to content.

In the last few years, if we asked how to get high traffic, the answer would usually be keywords. But now, everyone is talking about Latent Indexing (LSI). Therefore, they are implicitly mainly used and mentioned in SEO, when we are talking about content and keywords.

Although the history of LSI dates back to the mid-80s, this concept got a lot of attention when Google used LSI to rank web pages in tool results pages (SERPs).

Before getting to know LSI, let us ask you a few questions.

• You worked hard and used all the best keywords in the content but the results were not as expected, why is that?


• You have stuffed the content with all the high ranking keywords, but the traffic never stops on the site, why?


• Do you think the keywords you think are your best weapons can destroy you?


• Do you realize that competitors are also using similar keywords for content?

If you're using every SEO technique to boost rankings and still fail, it's time to learn about LSI.

What is LSI keyword?

The concept behind the LSI keywords is quite simple. Let's take an example. You know Old and Car are two different words with different meanings. When you combine these two words, they will create an Old Car with new meaning. Latent semantic indexes work really the same.

LSI keywords are looking for a relationship between two or more sets of keywords through pertinent analysis. They are frequently used words together for the same context.

LSI keywords are basically closely related keywords with the same search intent and meaning. Using LSI keywords is a good way to boost your SEO (SERP) rankings, because you will include similar and relevant keywords (LSI keywords) that your audience is looking for. This helps support your content and gives it a better, more thorough context.

Understand LSI keywords with the help of examples:

Hot Lava and Cake are two different words. They have a different meaning, but Hot Lava Cake is a popular dessert. For foodies, these three words have a meaning and that is a cake.

Now let's look at more examples to understand this concept better.

Let's say your blog is about food. Now food can involve thousands of different words. For example:

• Food list


• Types of food


• Importance of food in life


• Different food sources


• Foods good for health


• Cooking recipe

So, how will Google find the most appropriate key for your blog?

Here, Google will use the underlying semantic index to find the most relevant terms related to your blog / website.

• If Google finds words like farm, harvest, market, kitchen garden, etc. then your blog is mainly about different food sources.


• If the most used words are safe, clean, nutritious, healthy, beneficial, fresh, pure, you have a blog about healthy food.

The same, similar

• If the LSI keyword for an apple is fresh, ripe, sour, sweet, green, then it displays a food blog about an apple.


• If the LSI keyword for an apple would be iTune, iOS, Apple store, apple phone, iPhone X, it will display a blog about Apple phone.

Now the next question that comes to mind will be how does Google find the semantic relationship of the keywords with the main keywords?

Google and LSI keywords

In the early years of SEO, keywords were the main source to rank high in the SERPs of any tool, including Google. This leads to keyword stuffing. SEO experts care more about keywords than content quality.

As a result, the internet became an archive of unrelated keywords just to attract attention.

Many SEO experts soon learned how to deceive the Google algorithm. However, it takes a long time for Google to understand the whole game. Soon after, Google updated its algorithm and came up with the concept of semantic indexing to measure contextual relevance of a page instead of keyword stuffing.

Indexing latent meanings helps improve Google's understanding of search queries. Now, Google can better interpret the meaning of queries and websites. It helps Google deliver almost accurate results from its database.

Keywords Hummingbird and LSI

In 2013, Google took advantage of Hummingbird for the first time. The algorithm is also well known as a semantic algorithm.

Algorithms help Google understand more about the context of a website. In particular, Hummingbird focused on its search intent.

Understand the Hummingbird algorithm with the help of an example:

Let us help you understand this with an example. When users search for a specific person, Google often tries to understand the intent behind the search.

Information:

Who is Celine Dion?

Obviously, users want to know about Celine Dion.

Google has an idea and displays a profile page in top searches.

Previous algorithms such as Google Panda focused mainly on each word in the search engine, but Hummingbird towards the entire search query content instead of a single word.

It is correct to say that Google, after its introduction, used the Hummingbird algorithm to be smarter. Now it tries to find the true intention the user is searching for.

Now, the concept behind the Hummingbird algorithm is clear. The next question is how to rank higher with the Hummingbird algorithm.

Improve rankings through LSI Keywords

It's easy to improve page rank through LSI keywords. You need to remember a few tricks and learn how Google applies LSI keywords.

Here are three essential ways you can improve your page rank with LSI Keywords.

• In the past, keyword density was used to determine the future of a page. Now Google looks at the landscape as a whole. The formula for success is to use words / phrases in content that have the same meaning as the main keyword.


• Use words related to the main content. This helps Google understand the context of the content leading to higher rankings.


• Although you are using keyword density, it has a limit. Let us say you are at the limit of keyword density. Using more keywords can put Google Penalty at risk.


• You can use LSI keywords that are closely related in the content. They are safe to use and help Google better acknowledge your content.


• LSI keywords act as a variation of the main keywords. These are not exact words but are words related to the main word. With a strategy to find out the intention of the searcher, Google will search the main words as well as LSI keywords of the content. That means a very high chance to rank in the top of the search query if the LSI keyword is also in the content.

How to find LSI keywords?

Here are some useful tips and tools for finding LSI keywords.

Step 1: Google search engine:

Enter the main keyword. For example: Caffe Latte Starbucks

You can see the words in bold in the search results. These are the main keywords.

Now, you can see that some bold text is not the main keyword. However, they are part of the keyword. Starbuck alone is not exactly the main keyword but it is also in bold. This is LSI keyword.

All words are in bold, but not the main keyword is LSI Keyword. You can use them in your content.

Step 2: Google Auto Suggest:

When you enter any query from the Google search engine, the auto-suggestion function suggests similar terms related to your query. These are also LSI keywords. Google identifies them as words often associated with the main keyword. Google gathers them together to let you know more about what you can find about keywords.

You get a predictive model. You can use this template in your content as LSI keywords.

Step 3 - Search related queries:

Google also tells you about searches related to the original query. You will find them at the bottom of the search page.

Here, you can see many new keywords related to my Starbucks search. All are LSI keywords related to my original search. You can use them in the content along with the main keywords. They help content rank higher.

Step 4- Using the LSI Creator:

Many free and paid LSI identification or creation tools are available online. You can take advantage of any of them to prepare a list of LSI keywords and further enrich your site's LSI keywords.

5 Great tool to generate LSI keywords

Here, we have compiled 5 free, popular LSI keyword tools. Take a look at them below:

1) LSI Graph

It is a free and simple LSI keyword tool. You do not need to register to search a few LSI keywords. This tool usually generates long tail keywords.

Here, we have tried to find LSI keywords for the keyword ‘LSI KEYWORD’. You can see the results below. Each LSI keyword that the LSI graph finds is at least 3 words long.

Limitations of using the LSI Graph Tool

• This tool is only useful at the beginning of content creation. You only receive a few queries per day. So you need to be specific while choosing keywords


• You can only execute 20 queries after registration.


• In a single query, you only get 50 keywords.

2) Niche Laboratory

Tool to find a keyword. It also generates LSI keywords. Niche also provides you with a detailed report covering some of the top websites related to keywords. It also includes long tail keywords, competitive analysis, ideas for articles, and other related niches.

This tool is quite useful once you have reached the content discovery stage.

You can see here when we type the main keyword is Old Car, the tool offers many different tabs. Phrases, keywords, related forum niches, ... are a few tabs.

Let us click on the keywords tab and see what we get.

You will see the number of options related to the main keywords appear on the screen.

When we click on the competition tab on the net, we receive the names of all the famous articles available online related to the same topic.

You explore more options and use the tool at your request.

Limitations of using the Niche Laboratory tool:

• While the tool is free to use, some services are available with a paid version such as forum help from experts.


• The tool displays nearly 150 keywords. However, most of them are useless. If you are not sure about the article, you have to search and find accurate and useful keywords.

3) LSIKeywords creation tool

It is a long keyword tool. This tool is free and provides additional information and features in addition to LSI keywords. This tool is useful when you are taking advantage of many keywords in the content. It allows you to find LSI keywords for 10 keywords at a time.

In addition to keywords, it provides CPC, monthly volume and information about competitors. You perform unlimited searches, unlike LSI Graph limits.

You can also export keywords to excel tables. However, you must export all the keywords, as the tool does not allow the export of selected keywords. Alternatively, you can use country filters. You can select country specific keywords.

Limitations of using LSIKeywords Tools:

• Many times small keywords do not work in this tool. For example, when I type ‘coffee’, the appliance does not work.


• This tool usually provides thousands of LSI keywords for 10 long tail keywords. But many times, it is difficult to find LSI related keywords exactly for content.

4) Answer The Public

This tool is famous for keyword suggestions. However, if you look closely, you will find that it also offers many LSI keywords. For example, when typing ‘Tour and Travel’. You can see the result in the screenshot below:

This tool provides relevant words for your query. You get keywords about questions, comparisons, related keywords, prepositional keywords and keyword lists in alphabetical order.

You can search without time limit. Each time, it provides about 20 related keywords with visual representation.

Limitations of using this tool:

• Free users can search for UK related keywords only. If you want keywords for other countries or domain names, you must purchase a subscription.

5) Ulimate Keyword Hunter

Ultimate Keyword Hunter offers LSI keywords for free. However, it requires downloading and installing the tool to use. The tool comes with some special features.

You can customize the number of websites from 10 to 50. The tool analyzes and finds related LSI keywords from your chosen set. In addition, you can perform unlimited searches once you have installed the tool on your computer.

Limitations of this tool:

• The Ultimate Keyword Hunter tool is only available to Windows users.


• It is a complex, difficult tool to use for beginners.


• To use the tool, you will need to install the tool to your computer first.

How to use LSI keywords?

Using LSI keywords together with the main keyword helps to increase SEO traffic on the website or blog. You also rewrite old content using LSI keywords and bring them to a new life.

Because Google compares the relationship between different terms throughout the content, you scatter LSI keywords across the content.

However, don't overdo it with cramming LSI keywords and make your content as natural as possible. Most of the time, LSI keywords are a direct synonym of the main keyword. In such cases, you can only replace the main keywords with synonyms. This has two benefits:

• First, you can stuff the keyword, but make sure it is added naturally


• Second, your content will have a natural look and Google will not penalize your content for keyword stuffing.

Here is a list of locations where you can place LSI keywords in your content:

• Meta description


• Page title


• Text H1 and H2


• The first paragraph of the text


• URL address


• Image alt text


• Link anchor text


• The last paragraph


• The body of the text


• Excerpt

Things not to do when using LSI keywords

Google always warns against misuse of keywords in content. The same thing happens with the use of LSI keywords. You have used the main keyword. LSI keywords only help when they relate to your main keyword. You must avoid over-optimizing the use of LSI keywords on your site.

You might think that you can fool Google using many LSI keywords but, Google works smarter. Misuse of LSI keywords can get you in trouble.

Let us say Google missed too many keywords in the page. However, those keywords can degrade your content. Therefore, that will increase the bounce rate on your site in a worse way.

See more: Create a sales web

Conclude

Now, you know the importance of LSI keywords for your content. You also know how to use and where to find these keywords. However, if you are writing content over 1000 words, LSI keywords will automatically find their position in the content. You do not need to stress to search LSI keywords.

If your content is below 1,000 words, use the LSI keyword generator and use that keyword in your content. Don't forget to put them smart and save yourself from Google penalties.