KEYWORDS IN CONTENT (LSI) – GOOGLE RANKING FACTOR?

With LSI, a mathematical technique is used to find semantically related terms within a collection of text (an index) where those relationships might otherwise be hidden (or latent).

Backlinko defines LSI keywords in this way:

“LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) Keywords are conceptually related terms that search engines use to deeply understand content on a webpage.”

But does Google Use LSI in Their Algorithm?

Probably not.

In fact, a Google representative stated in 2019: “There’s no such thing as LSI keywords – anyone who’s telling you otherwise is mistaken, sorry.”

Although technically not “LSI Keywords”, some SEO professionals still refer to adding related words and phrases to a page as “adding LSI keywords” (even though the term is technically not accurate).

Why are Related Words and Phrases On a Page Important?

In the early days of SEO, search engines would figure out a page’s topic-based 100% on the keywords they found on the page. So if a search engine saw the keyword “Plumbing Service” over and over again, they’d say: “This page is obviously about “plumbing service”.

Today, a search engines goal is to figure out the page’s overall topic. Search engines rely on semantically-related terms to understand content.

But they’ll also scan your page for related keywords (like “pipe”, “fittings”, “sink”, “toilet”, and “leak”).

While a few LSI keywords can be synonyms, not all synonyms are LSI keywords. Most LSI keywords are words and phrases that are closely related to your main keyword. Using synonyms in your posts can help your article on-page SEO, but synonyms aren’t LSI keywords.