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How does semantic search affect SEO?

by tommydale
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I've been reading a bit about semantic search and search engines understanding content and searcher intent.

I wanted to open up a discussion around this.
How do you think this will impact SEO and optimization moving forward?

For those that aren't familiar with semantic search, here's an explanation of it:
What is Semantic Search and Why Should I Care? | SEJ

Wikipedia:

Semantic search seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the searchable dataspace, whether on the Web or within a closed system, to generate more relevant results.

Techopedia:

Semantic search is a data searching technique in a which a search query aims to not only find keywords, but to determine the intent and contextual meaning of the words a person is using for search.
#affect #search #semantic #seo
  • Profile picture of the author dougp
    MeFirstMeFirst!

    Search engines like Google make the majority of their income by selling advertising to companies. If advertisers are not getting results then they'll stop spending money and hence the search engines will lose money.

    Therefore, the more relevant you can make your site naturally the better. You can do this by studying latent somatic indexing are including relevant terms like synonyms in your web content. In other words, don't use your preeminent keywords repetitively, substitute them with relevant terms.
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  • Profile picture of the author fahadkhan14
    It's only solution is that don't use specific keywords only in your onsite content as well as as anchor texts while performing link building. Broaden the keywords ideas by using their synonyms also and their related terms. Think yourself that what can be the possible and best nearest search terms related to your specific niche/keywords. Use all these smartly in your onsite content and also, use these as anchor texts by making them a part of your link building strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author johncalkovich
    If you’ve been an advocate of high quality content that is always relevant, informative, and top notch, then you’re already on the right path for semantic optimization. The focus is no longer on rigid keyword insertion but on natural keyword incorporation. As a result, the manner in which you select your keywords is about to change. SemRush.com recommends a three-tiered approach to researching semantic keywords:
    1. Core Keywords: Instead of a single core or focus keyword, you’ll have a list that includes synonymous variations. These variations will allow your content to be considered when related keywords are searched.
    2. Thematic Keywords: This secondary list of keywords will house conceptually related keywords. For example, if one of your primary keywords is “Texas Copywriting Agency,” then a thematic term could be “copywriting services in Austin Texas.”
    3. Stem Keywords: This tertiary list will be composed of keywords that anticipate information people might ask or demand of a search engine. For example, “find affordable copywriting agency in Texas.”
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  • Profile picture of the author aadi14
    Yes, ofcourse semantic search affect seo as you cannot figure out what exactly user is typing to reach you unless you look at analytics. Also, you may have seen that you are getting traffic for those keywords that are not optimized by you.

    And as you know keyword stuffing should be avoided, so people use LSI Keywords to alter that spam thing and use synonyms instead. and they get ranked for those keywords also as they are closely related and your content clearly reflects that too.
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  • Profile picture of the author rajibkp
    Google has been doing this for awhile already but as usual they do it wrong. Why? Most relevancy is getting watered down and distorted. After they combine it with “authority” another source of irrelevancy because it opens the door for subjects which have nothing to do with the core. Last not least the heavy dependence on links which are useless today because of buying etc. All in all what is the outcome for a good search result? > Bing and Yahoo, they don’t talk bla-bla the whole time to be in the media, but they deliver RELEVANT search results. Most Google stuff is irrelevant or extremely watered down. Hummingbird etc. maybe Penguin or Rat the next time is a toy from people who have obviously nothing serious to do so they play. I would suggest they should use a game-console and stay away from the computer.
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