Latent Semantic Indexing Tips

What is it?
Semantic indexing occurs when search engines associate certain terms with concepts when indexing web pages. For example, Paris and Hilton are associated with a woman instead of a city and a hotel, Tiger and Woods are associated with golf.

How does it work?
Using its vast index, Google finds that many web pages contain both the word Paris and the word Hilton. Google may assume these keywords are related. Other onpage words or terms could suggest to Google that this word combination is about a woman.
Words that often appear in close relation to each other might establish a tighter connection. Google uses several algorithms to calculate the relation between words.

Will this influence search engine optimization efforts?
To succeed with Google it's vital to show that your website is relevant to your topic. Things that can help show search engines that your site is relevant are:

• Use meaningful site architecture
• Organize your site content in a logical fashion.
• Create content areas that deal with different parts of your main topic. Also, ensure that your page content is completely relevant to the topic.

Make sure web pages are listed in the right categories of the website and that the different categories are easy to find.
Use pages that allow for different search terms
Example: If the targeted search term is "used cars" you may also create pages that are relevant to "auto", "vehicle", etc.
Get links from pages that are topically relevant
Using the “cars”example from above, pages that link to the site should not be about the Pixar/Disney film. Links from relevant pages will be semantically beneficial to your site.

Don't focus on single keywords when optimizing your pages. Prepare your website for advanced search engine algorithms by optimizing it for many different but related search terms. In addition, it's vital that links to your site come from topically related pages so that search engines place your website in the right context.

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Jerry West is the Director of Internet Marketing for WebMarketingNow. He has been consulting on the web since 1996 and has assisted hundreds of companies gain an upper-hand over their competition. Visit Web Marketing Now for the latest in marketing tips that are tested and proven.

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