Latent Semantic Indexing – Selecting Primary Keywords

Posted at January 14, 2006

Here’s an easy way to convince Google and the other search engines that your web site really is about your primary keywords.

You can’t just stuff your page with the same keyword over and over anymore. That’s called “keyword stuffing” and now a high keyword density will get your site penalized in the search engine rankings.

Here’s what works now. Google and many other search engines have started using a technology called “latent semantic indexing.”

Basically, this is a high-tech way of knowing which words are related. For example, does Google know that bread has anything to do with sandwiches?

Is ice cream related to pizza? Google thinks so. By including words on your site that are “related” to your topic, you help make your site seem more relevant to your primary keywords. Here is how to find out which words Google thinks are related to your keywords.

Go to http://labs.google.com/sets and enter your main keyword.Google will give you a list of the words they think are related to your keyword. Whether the words are related or not, Google thinks they are and that’s what matters.

I don’t see how ice cream is related to pizza, but Google thinks it is and if I had a site about pizza, I would consider including “ice cream” on the page.

Add some “related” words to your site and you could see both an increase in your search engine rankings and more traffic.

Bonnie Burns SEO Director – Â Ecombuffet.com www.ecombuffet.com