LSI is the acronym for Latent semantic indexing. Latent semantic indexing attempts to identify related terms and concepts through mathematical analysis. In other words, it looks to determine the meaning of words by the words and phrases used around them.
For example, if you were to write an article on Microsoft Windows, how would a search engine know your article was about an operating system and not home construction? Through the concept of LSI, the search engine would scan that article and find terms that would be computer-related, and classify that article accordingly.
While it is debated whether search engines use latent semantic indexing extensively, finding LSI keywords is relatively easy, and a great way to discover other topics when writing for your website.
Generate LSI keywords yourself. What's misleading about LSI is that it uses an advanced mathematical formula to do something that's very easy for the human brain to accomplish. Simply think about your topic and then write down all the words related to it. For example, if you had a website about "fruit," some good LSI keywords would be "apples," "pears," and "bananas."
Use Google's own data to discover LSI keywords. Google has two free online tools that work well for LSI research. The first is Google's own keyword tool. Gathering the related terms from this data will yield many LSI options. The second is Google's "Wonder Wheel." By selecting the "Wonder Wheel" option on a general search page, a wheel diagram will be displayed that shows terms related to your search query. You can click on these related terms to discover more keywords.
Use a third-party research tool, such as Quintura. Quintura is a "visual search engine" and will provide an LSI map as the default for every search performed.
For example, if you were to write an article on Microsoft Windows, how would a search engine know your article was about an operating system and not home construction? Through the concept of LSI, the search engine would scan that article and find terms that would be computer-related, and classify that article accordingly.
While it is debated whether search engines use latent semantic indexing extensively, finding LSI keywords is relatively easy, and a great way to discover other topics when writing for your website.
Generate LSI keywords yourself. What's misleading about LSI is that it uses an advanced mathematical formula to do something that's very easy for the human brain to accomplish. Simply think about your topic and then write down all the words related to it. For example, if you had a website about "fruit," some good LSI keywords would be "apples," "pears," and "bananas."
Use Google's own data to discover LSI keywords. Google has two free online tools that work well for LSI research. The first is Google's own keyword tool. Gathering the related terms from this data will yield many LSI options. The second is Google's "Wonder Wheel." By selecting the "Wonder Wheel" option on a general search page, a wheel diagram will be displayed that shows terms related to your search query. You can click on these related terms to discover more keywords.
Use a third-party research tool, such as Quintura. Quintura is a "visual search engine" and will provide an LSI map as the default for every search performed.