About a week ago, Brian Dean of Backlinko posted this video to his LinkedIn about LSI keywords and how they affect your SEO and ranking position...and SEO professionals around the world audible sighed and rolled their eyes.
For those of us in the SEO industry, we know that LSI Keywords, or Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords, aren’t really a thing.
In fact, when Latent Semantic Indexing was created in the 1980s, Google and keywords didn’t even exist.
So how did a simple SEO keyword research suggestion turn into a huge debacle on Twitter? Keep reading to find out…
First of All, What Are LSI Keywords?
Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords are keywords closely related to your main target keyword. For example, if you are writing content about Italy, your “LSI Keywords” might be Rome, Gelato, or Vespas.
The assumption is this: If a web page includes related keywords, synonyms, and keywords that other high-ranking pages use in their content, the page will rank better. Therefore, you need to find those LSI Keywords and “sprinkle them” throughout your content so that Google knows your page is relevant.
The problem with this though is that it’s not an accurate way to determine the relevance of a page and led to obvious, not to mention blatant, keyword stuffing.
While it is recommended that you put similar keywords that your audience might be searching for into your content, the term and existence of ‘Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords’ aren’t real.
There are many ways to add semantically related words and phrases to content that you might be writing. Those additions are not LSI Keywords because that is just a nonsense phrase. But there are many ways to research words that you can add to the content you create.
So Why Are We Mad at Brian Dean Again?
The answer is pretty simple.
And that answer is…
He should know better.
As the owner of Backlinko, a company that Forbes themselves described as “the place for next-level SEO training and link building strategies,” Brain Dean should know better than to continue the myth of an already debunked SEO story.
John Mu, Google’s leading Webmaster Trends Analyst for the past 14 years, has stated time and time again that LSI Keywords don’t exist.
As SEO experts ourselves, we pride ourselves on staying up-to-date with all the latest SEO news, trends, and findings. We make sure that the SEO strategies we use for ourselves and our clients are going to be strategies that actually work.
What Is Latent Semantic Indexing in SEO?
While LSI Keywords aren’t a thing, Latent Semantic Indexing most definitely is.
As we stated before, Latent Semantic Indexing was created in the 1980s. It is an indexing and retrieval system that uses a mathematical method called singular value decomposition (SVD) to recognize patterns in the relationships between the words and ideas contained in an unstructured collection of text.
When first created, its main task was to find hidden or implied connections between the meanings of words and to improve the method of data processing. Simply put, its role is to help find a connection between terms and content when there are no common keywords or synonyms that clearly point to it.
Should you be including similar and related keywords into your content naturally? Of course. But are these called LSI Keywords? No. These are simply co-occurring articles and related terms or phrases, not “LSI Keywords.”
How to Maximize Your "LSI Keywords" Correctly
The controversy that surrounds the use of the phrase “LSI Keywords” isn't so much aimed at the importance of writing content that talks about the things you'd expect to see on a page about any given topic, but rather that there's no evidence that Google uses Latent Semantic Indexing for this purpose.
Instead of trying to stuff your content with "LSI Keywords", we suggest focusing on using keywords that you can rank for, that are relevant to your topic, and that improve your content’s overall quality.
Google is going to naturally understand that if you’re writing a blog about Vespas, Gelato, or Versace, that you’re probably writing content about Italy. You don’t need to include “LSI Keywords” unnaturally or overstuff your content full of unrelated terms.
Remember, LSI Keywords are not synonyms, but related terms your audience is searching for.
So What Does This All Mean?
Regardless of whether you are on team LSI-Keywords or team The-Phrase-LSI-Keywords-Don’t-Exist, there's no denying that you should be using semantically related terms and phrases within your content.
Latent Semantic Indexing is a very old process of understanding what a document is about. Rumors of Google’s use of LSI surfaced in 2003 after Google acquired Applied Semantics, the company that produced the contextual advertising product AdSense.
But again, Google has repeated multiple times that it uses no such process or thing as LSI Keywords.
When it comes to putting your trust in an SEO agency that knows what it’s talking about, let Zoek figure out the myths and trends for you. Book a call, here, and let’s figure out the best SEO strategy for your business and website.
Kellyann Doyle is a Content Marketing Writer at Zoek, an SEO, Web Design, and Digital Marketing Agency that assists small and medium-sized businesses with their online footprint. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2013 from the University of Houston with a Major in Communications and a Minor in Marketing and has been working in the Digital Marketing world ever since. When not working, you can find Kellyann trying new recipes, enjoying a good nap, or watching Friends for the 500th time.
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