Semantic Keywords: Move Over Traditional Keyword Research Strategies
Back in the early days of SEO, Google used to see keywords not as ideas but as entities. So even though the keywords “best movies on Netflix” and “top Netflix movies” hint essentially at the same idea, Google used to look at the keywords separately. But not anymore.
What Does Semantics Mean?
Look at the underline phrase –
- You are a good friend.
- You are a good friend to leave me stranded on the island.
Both of the sentences have the same common phrase but the meaning of the phrase changes with the way it is used. The study of the underlying meaning of the words or phrases is what we call Semantics.
What Are Semantically Related Keywords?
Here’s what I want you to do. Search on Google with the keyword – “Villain who has no nose.” What do you see? Yes you see Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter. See, you have not specifically added any Harry Potter related words. But Google still correctly gauges what you are intending to see by typing that keyword.
With the Hummingbird Algorithm update. Google is now able to gauge the intent of the searcher. And this power of Google is refined by the RankBrain technology. But how does Google gauge the intent behind the keyword? By semantically analysing the keyword with RankBrain.
In a more real world scenario, we typed on Google “affordable camera phone.” But the first search result did not have the term ‘affordable’ in it. It had the term ‘budget camera phone.’ As you know, both the keywords have the same meaning and intent behind it. So Google sees ‘affordable camera smartphone’ and ‘budget camera smartphone’ as similar keywords.
What This Shift To Semantic Keywords Means For SEO
This shift to semantic keywords carries a lot of significance in the SEO world. Till the introduction of Semantic keywords, RankBrain and keyword intent, SEO article writers would create separate content for separate (but thematically similar) keywords. Now, Google wants content writing companies to stop doing this. What is recommended now is to write a long content with all the thematically related keywords that point at the same ‘intention.’ So if you write multiple content on similar keywords, instead of helping your website, those content will compete against each other.
For the WordPress users who invariably use YOAST SEO, please stop relying on the “Focus Keyword” feature. Gone are the days when you would focus on just one keyword. You now have to focus on multiple keywords that are semantically similar.
RankBrain also examines the website as a whole while ranking a particular page of the same website. It gives precedence to the websites that focus on specific genres instead of generic content. So make sure that you write blog posts on the topic cluster that your website is related to.
At Dimensions Content Writing Services, Kolkata, we keep ourselves updated with all the latest developments in the SEO and content marketing world. Let’s have a chat. Let’s give your website a breath of fresh air.
