& Associates Blog

Google and other search engines have been required to constantly improve their algorithms to provide relevant content to searches. No longer is it enough to have a certain percentage of a keyword phrase in your copy, or a certain number of inbound links in anchor text (all still important). Now, the Search Engines are looking to make sure there are plenty of related words in the copy to increase the quality of the search results.

LSI considers words that are not necessarily literally semantically related but that are used in the same context and is more like humans categorize and classify information. LSI knows to connect “Apple” both with “Oranges” and also with “Computer” as it is used in context in common speech.

LSI and The Fractal Connection

The 20th century Mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot used mathematical equations to produce images called fractals which map the probabilities of word occurrences in English. Interestingly, the way we use language and classify documents can be described by mathematical equations similar to those that describe other chaotic systems. Therefore the seemingly mathematical and abstract principles and concepts underlying LSI are surprisingly similar to how humans use words and organize documents.

Because of this, web content that performs well under LSI analysis is likely to be more thoughtfully written, higher quality content and not something a robotic word machine could crank out. What this means to our search engine optimization (SEO) efforts is that every word on the page and not just our chosen keyword is important. In fact, this very document is being written with this in mind, weaving in words we know are seen by Google as related so that this article will stand up well to semantic analysis (one of those related phrases).

Using LSI is both art and science working toward the continual improvement of our web page rankings. Used correctly, it can propel a simple web article or blog post into the top 10 Google results in a matter of hours, and I have done that many times recently.

How to improve SEO using LSI

By placing additional weight on related words in content, LSI has a net effect of lowering the value of pages which only match the specific term and do not back it up with related terms. In fact, some pages may have their rank lowered by being “over-optimized” for one particular phrase.

So, mix up your anchor text and keywords used. For example, if I were working on SEO terms, I would also use various anchor text combinations so that the linkage appears more natural.

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is good for the web searcher because they get more relevant, compelling content. It’s good for the search engines because it increases the quality of the content in their databases. And its good for your business because it ensures you’ll have content that drives more traffic to your site for more conversions and sales.

LSI Secret Weapon - NEW!

& Associates uses a powerful software tool that combs through the top 10 Google results for any keyword phrase and produces a report showing the most common  2, 3 and 4 word phrases that are showing up on these top ranking pages. A new article or post written based on these phases can reach top rankings in a matter of hours. Allow us to help you achieve these results for your targeted phrase. We have made it very affordable for small businesses. And besides, you leaving money on the table by NOT getting your web page onto this valuable piece of commercial real estate.

Where do I learn more? See technical doc here:
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), by Clara Yu, et al., National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, January 1, 2002.

Contact & Associates

info@andassociates-ca.com

Wayne Marshall

Online Marketing Strategist

& Associates

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of preparing a web page to encourage the search engines to rank it highly on their results pages for certain keywords. Some sites get hundreds of visitors PER DAY from organic (FREE) search listings. It can be easy or hard to get there, depending on the keyword phrase. Being on the front page of Google is like owning Park Ave in Monopoly and having a steady source of traffic and revenue.

This SEO process includes both “on-page” and “off-page” factors.  On-page SEO includes the title of the document, using heading tags, and using the targeted keywords appropriately on the page. Off-page SEO mainly consists of incoming links to your site from other sites and the text they use to link to you, called anchor text.

Not too long ago, when on-page optimization was the only thing that really mattered. All you had to do to get onto the first page of a search engine was to stuff your pages and meta tags full of the same keyword phrase. The more times the phrase was repeated, the higher the page would appear.

But the search engines soon caught on, and they had to take steps to correct this.  They started penalizing sites that repeated keywords too often.  They began to ban sites that used “hidden” keywords. They had to take action, because their visitors were not getting the quality results they were looking for.

Search engines had been working harder and harder to counteract these measures, but for years, they weren’t very effective.  Once the search engines caught on to one trick, webmasters found another way to exploit the system.

Then Google developed a unique algorithm that virtually eliminated all of those on-page spam techniques.  They gave some weight to on-page factors, but they also included a new system that helped determine the importance of pages.

They decided that sites that were truly high quality would have a large number of sites linking back to them.  This system has come to be known as Google PageRank, or PR. Google itself has a PR 10 and new sites usually start with a  PR of 0. The higher the PR number a page has, the more important it’s believed to be.

Of course, PR itself also began to be abused.  People figured out that all they had to do to increase their PR in Google was to get thousands of links pointing to their site. They started spamming guestbooks, free-for-all link sites, and other low quality sites to get links.  Then Google changed their algorithms again to give less weight to links from low quality sites and more weight to higher quality sites.

Another big part of off-page optimization is the actual text that other websites use to link to you, known as anchor text. Anchor text is used to tell people what a particular site is about, but it also tells the search engines what the site is about.  If your site sells mens shoes, and you’re trying to optimize a page specifically for “mens shoes,” then you should have sites use that text to link to you as often as you can.

Backlinks are arguably more important than on-page optimization. Backlinks from sites that are in the same niche as your site are weighed especially well, especially if those links are on pages with high PR.

The more links from reputable sites that you can get, the better your page is likely to rank, especially if your on-page factors are also well-optimized. The best way to get backlinks is to use free Web 2.0 social sites such as Squidoo, Hubpages, Wordpress, Wetpaint and many others who have high PR and pass on some of that authority to the subpage you can easily create.

Lastly, there’s a new kid on the block with the Google algorithm and it’s called Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI. Basically, LSI means that Google is looking at your on-page content AND the incoming links, not only in terms of your primary keyword phrase, but also taking into account the related or themed keywords that are associated with that phrase. Shoes would be related to clothing and socks, for example. There are ways to analyze the top ranking web pages to see what Google thinks the themed words are for those pages and create content based on those reports. An active blog site can have front page Google rankings within 20 minutes using this strategy and I have done that recently with a few keyword phrases.

Of course, all this takes time and the expertise to do the above tasks correctly. Most small business owners do not have the time to do this well and often rely on search engine optimization companies, many of whom are unscrupulous and still try to get by with the same old tricks that used to work but clearly do not now.

In contrast, & Associates has the necessary skill and also high integrity to get your keywords to the front page of Google and others at an affordable fee structure. Contact us and we will offer you a free site evaluation based on your home page and the top 5 keywords you would like to rank on.  We will also offer a 30% discount off the keyword research report that is always our first step regarding SEO. We outsource to a service by SEO Research Labs, who provide a comprehensive report with a minimum of 300 keywords showing search volumes and those with few competitors (low hanging fruit).

Wayne Marshall
Online Marketing Strategist
& Associates