LSI keywords start out complicated because of their name. LSI stands for Latent Semantic Index. Now that’s an intimidating name. It’s one of those names that computer geeks love to put into things so that normal people think that they (the geeks) are really, very smart.

It’s so complicated?

According to Wikipedia, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is an indexing and retrieval method that uses a mathematical technique called Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to identify patterns in the relationships between terms and concepts contained in a collection of unstructured text. LSI is based on the principle that words used in the same contexts tend to have similar meanings.

Wow! That is even worse!

Well, those are all the important words that I am going to use here. Unless you are involved in the development of search engine technologies, you do not need to understand SVD. You just need to know what LSI keywords are and how to use them. LSI keywords are just words that relate to your main keyword.

In search engine optimization (SEO), you want to use the keywords that you are targeting on your page so that the search engine will rank your page high when a search engine enters those keywords in their search. That’s fine and easy enough, except if you use the keywords too much, the search engine will penalize the page for being spam and move it down the listings.

That’s where LSI keywords come in …

You can put LSI keywords in your content instead of abusing the main keywords and it will be like putting in a lot of the main keywords without the problem of overdoing it. They can also be incorporated into the content in a way that does not impair the readability of the page for humans.

So where can I find LSI keywords?

The easiest place is the Google AdWords keyword tool. Just do a search for “Google AdWords Keyword Tool”. Make sure to select Descriptive Words or Phrases, then enter your keyword (s) in the text box. Enter the captcha and hit the “Get Keyword Ideas” button.

You will get a list of keywords related to the main keyword. Scroll down until you get to “Additional Keywords to Consider.” These are LSI keywords that you can use in your content to safely increase the strength of your main keyword.

The bottom line …

LSI keywords are just keywords that are related to the main keyword. Use them to safely increase your search engine rankings.

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