LSI Keywords: The Key to Increasing Organic Impressions, Ranking, Clicks and CTRs
Brittany Reis St. Louis
Brittany Reis St. Louis
January 12, 2018

LSI Keywords: The Key to Increasing Organic Impressions, Ranking, Clicks and CTRs

Can Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords Really Improve Your Organic SEO?

The answer to this question is yes! Latent Semantic Indexing keywords (LSI keywords) can instantly give your content that extra boost in organic reach while allowing search engine crawlers to better understand your primary keyword topic.

What Are LSI Keywords?

LSI keywords are words that are related to your focus keyword. These keywords are words (or phrases) that group together with other words because they share a similar context. Think of LSI keywords just as keyword variations of your primary keyword.

How Do LSI Keywords Improve SEO?

Here are a few ways that LSI keywords can improve your SEO:

  • Search engines are now looking at total context rather than keyword density. This means your page will rank higher for your main keyword because search engine crawlers understand the context of your page better.
  • They give you a chance to calm down on keyword density, as additional repetitions of your primary keyword can put you at risk of a Google penalty. By using LSI keywords, you can safely keep adding these closely related keywords into your content.
  • LSI keywords are related to your main keyword, and are therefore considered to be keyword variations. That means your page is going to come up in the search results for your main keyword and for those keyword variations.

    • Is Keyword Density No Longer a Good SEO Strategy?

    Yes and no. You don’t want your keyword density to be too low or too high. Google considers articles that have a high keyword density to be “spammy,” and will penalize these sites, as they are considered as having poor content.

    This is where LSI keywords come into play. You’ll want to keep your keyword density to 0.8% and LSI keywords to 2.8% so a) you won’t get penalized and b) you can increase your own SEO.

    How to Find LSI Keywords

    There are numerous free and paid tools for finding LSI keywords. My personal favourites, which help myself and the content team at Perk, are LSIgraph.com and Google’s “searches related to” results (which you can find at the bottom of the SERP).

    These tools allow you to assess what type of content your users are looking for in addition to the focus keyword.

    Screenshot of different keywords related to "cars."

    Examples of LSI keywords for “cars.”

    For example, let’s say your primary keyword is cars.

    The LSI keyword that relate to cars can be about any of the topics below:

  • Cars – vehicles (new, used, pre-owned, dealership etc.)
  • Cars – the animated Disney film (characters, soundtrack, Walt Disney, etc.)
  • The Cars – an American rock band (music, rock, rock n’ roll, songs, etc.)

    • By including the LSI keywords, search engine crawlers will better understand what you’re trying to cover, and what you’re trying not to cover.

    How to Use LSI Keywords in Your Content

    Now that you have a better understanding of what LSI keywords are and how to find them, it’s time to start implementing them in to your content to help improve your content’s SEO and organic ranking.

    Where can you place LSI keywords?

  • The page title
  • H1 and H2 tags
  • URL address
  • Meta tags
  • Images alt text
  • First paragraph of text
  • Body of content
  • Links anchor texts
  • Last paragraph of text

    • The Takeaway

    If you’re not sure where to implement LSI keywords as you’re creating content, it’s best to save that part for last. Focus on creating content for your audience first, and then think about SEO, keyword density, and how you’re going to implement LSI keywords within your content.

    About The Author

    Brittany Reis St. Louis
    Brittany Reis St. Louis

    Brittany is a Digital Content Coordinator at Perk.com Canada who focuses on the health properties of the company. She enjoys taking on new projects and responsibilities to expand her knowledge and skills, such as writing for Buzzfeed and Diply, and representing Hootsuite. These opportunities offer her new challenges, and allow her to reach new heights.

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