Latent Semantic Indexing Changes The Face Of Optimization
by Jeff Alderson
There's a new game in town when it comes to how websites can gain search engine attention. The old ways of keyword stuffing, using single phrases to optimize and concentrating heavily on incoming links are fading away as a newer, more holistic system for judging content comes into its own. This system is Latent Semantic Indexing and it has webmasters scrambling to keep up.
Latent semantic indexing is a Google creation that can better read the content on web pages to view them to discover their overriding theme. Latent semantic indexing stands for "hidden meaning" indexing. It is a more sophisticated means of measuring sites and their pages to figure out what really makes them tick. Although this new system doesn't mean webmasters need to throw their old SEO babies out with the bathwater, it does mean they need to make sure their content makes sense and shows a little more depth.
The history of latent semantic indexing is a continuation of Google's mission to make its search engine produce relevant, high-quality results. The initial ranking system relied heavily on incoming links and keywords alone to scan pages for their relevancy in regard to searches. Unfortunately, this system had a propensity to penalize some very good and relevant sites. It would overlook sites that were too new or added content too quickly. Although there are plenty of new sites that aren't necessarily loaded with good content, some are.
Since the former way wasn't necessarily working fantastically, Google wanted to tweak it. Latent semantic indexing is that tweak. Although the old measures still count, such as incoming links and keywords, the rules of the game have changed a bit.
This new focus puts an emphasis on quality and freshness of content to help sites gain ranking position. In essence, latent semantic indexing is meant to give a search the best possible site to meet their needs based on relevant keywords and comprehensive coverage and not just incoming links. This system basically presents a more fair way to give search engine users the pages they really want. It does what Google has always tried to do - provide higher quality, more relevant results.
The days of Google placing a bigger emphasis on incoming links or votes to rank sites for searches are coming to a close. Although incoming links will still be important, particularly if two sites tie on a search, these links don't carry the same weight. This simply makes it easier for webmasters who do their jobs well to gain opportunity for ranking.
Latent semantic indexing doesn't mean that publishers need to throw out everything they've done in the past. What it means is that sites that want to rank well need to make sure their content is relevant, has depth and is actually useful. In essence, those sites that do their jobs and do them well should fare just fine. Those that keyword stuff and link farm might not do as well on rankings.
The trick to getting ahead now falls on what good webmasters have long done. It's really nothing more than creating good content. Sites that do so should rank better for their relevant keywords. Those that don't, won't.
Author Jeff Alderson specializes in boosting traffic and profits. He is also the developer of numerous PPC and SEO software. Jeff suggests using a
keywords analyzer like Ad Word Analyzer to find keywords for your site. Click here to get your own
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