What is LSI Keyword? 4 Simple and Effective Ways to Find LSI Keywords for SEO

What is LSI keyword?

LSI keywords are words or phrases that are semantically related to the main topic of the article. For example, when writing about “weight loss,” you may include “dieting,” “exercise,” “calorie burning,” “fruits and vegetables,” and more.

The concept of keyword LSI in SEO

How LSI Keywords Work

LSI keywords use pre-programmed algorithms to identify relationships between words and phrases in text. Let’s take a look at a text string example with the theme “seasons of the year” analyzed in detail below.

• First, the synonym for “fall” is “autumn.”
• Next, words related to each other in meaning include “season,” “spring,” “summer,” “fall,” and “winter.”
• Finally, “fall” is determined to have a semantic relationship with two word chains with two completely different concepts. One of which is “fall” as in seasons and the other is “fall” as in accidents.

Search engines will coordinate the information and suggest the most appropriate results for users.

Benefits of LSI Keyword in SEO

If an article contains reasonable LSI keywords, it will bring many benefits to both SEO and user experience.

Increase search engine ranking

Search engines are where users find and read valuable information and content. Optimizing LSI keywords will make the article more helpful and relevant to the user’s search intent.

As a result, the website will continue to climb the rankings and grow better. If users search for keywords related to the target one, your article will also appear on the search results page.

LSI keywords help increase website rankings

Increase content credibility

What users care about is whether the content is sufficient and accurate enough for them to trust it.

Optimizing keywords related to the target keyword and providing additional useful information will increase the user’s interest in the article. Subsequently, they will stay longer on the website. As a result, the credibility of the website is also rated higher than other competitors.

Reduce bounce rate

Content containing LSI keywords will definitely connect with the right audience in need. Therefore, once users are interested, they will spend more time researching information and interacting with your article. The bounce rate will also significantly decrease thanks to this.

Create a better user experience

Optimizing articles containing LSI keywords always brings the best experience for users searching for information. They may not need to search for your target keyword precisely, but they can still receive the useful content of your article through those closely related keywords.

Sometimes the article content inadvertently helps readers solve some problems they are facing.

LSI keyword optimization brings better user experience

Simple and Effective Guide to Finding LSI Keywords

Using Google Search Engine

Search engine is one of the easiest ways to find LSI keywords. You just need to enter the phrase you want to search for in the Google Search box. From that, it will display related keywords for you. For example, when searching for “keyword,” you will get some suggestions as follows:

Find LSI keywords through Search Engine

Google Autocomplete (Google Suggest)

When you enter a keyword into the Google search box, you will see suggestions for related words or phrases. For example, when entering the keyword “content SEO,” the keywords that may appear include:

Use Google Autocomplete to find LSI keywords

Related Function

If you want to find LSI keywords after seeing the search results, you can scroll down to the bottom. Pay attention to the “Related searches” section. These are useful keyword suggestions that you can refer to in order to find accurate keywords.

Related functions on Google to help find LSI keywords effectively

Information on Search Results Page

In addition, you can also look at the search results that Google returns to get ideas for LSI keywords. For the keyword “weight loss,” you can gather many additional keywords from the search results below:

Find LSI keywords based on Google search results

Using Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is also a popular tool for finding LSI keywords. All you need to do is log in to Google Adwords to use Keyword Planner. Choose the “Discover new keywords” option to search for desired keywords.

With Google Keyword Planner, you can start searching with keywords or a website. After entering the word or phrase, just click “Get Results.” The tool will suggest keywords for you to choose from.

Keyword Planner is commonly used to find LSI keywords

Using LSI Keyword Tool

LSI Graph

LSI Graph allows you to search for keywords for 20 phrases. Simply enter the keyword you want to search for (e.g., “content SEO”) and click “Generate.”

LSI Graph supports searching for about 20 phrases

Keywordtool.io, Ubersuggest

These two tools are also useful for finding LSI keywords easily and conveniently. Keywordtool.io and Ubersuggest will return many new keywords and topics when you perform search operations.

Ubersuggest is a useful keyword search tool

Using SEO tools

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a tool that many SEO practitioners choose for research and analysis. To find LSI keywords, use the Keywords Explorer feature. Simply enter the keyword in the search box and wait for the results.

Use Ahrefs tool to find LSI keywords easily

SEMrush

SEmrush is also a common tool for keyword research by SEO professionals. It works similarly to Ahrefs. In addition, the tool also offers the special feature “SEO Content Template” to optimize search time for users.

Finding keywords with SEMrush tool

Common Sense

Here, common sense means checking your content to see if the ideas in the article are complete. If not, you will need to add LSI keywords. Google always focuses on the correlation between words and entities that humans often implicitly understand.

Therefore, rely on common sense to evaluate your article and add related words if necessary.

Using TF-IDF

In fact, TF-IDF is not directly related to LSI. However, you can sometimes find the necessary keywords or entities for your website.

Observing Knowledge Base, Knowledge Graph

Knowledge Base refers to informative websites like Wikidata.org or Wikipedia. Here, you will find abundant sources of information and even related phrases for LSI keywords.

Google’s Knowledge Graph collects data mainly from the two Knowledge Bases mentioned above. So, try entering a keyword to see if there is LSI Graph Knowledge data available. These are entities and data points that Google considers to be closely related to the topic of your keyword.

Referencing data on Knowledge Base, Knowledge Graph to find keywords

Finding Entity through Natural Language API

Copy and paste the text from top pages into Google’s Natural Language API. You will find important and relevant entities that you may have missed.

7 ways to optimize LSI Keywords in SEO

After having your list of keywords, consider how to optimize them in your articles to increase website traffic. You can refer to the following ways:

Using LSI Keyword in Title Tags

LSI keywords can also be called “long-tail versions” of the main keywords. For example, if your target keyword is “SEO tool,” then the additional keyword at this point may be “free SEO tool.” If there is a related keyword in the title, it will be optimized for both keywords.

It is recommended to include LSI keywords in the Title tag

Adding LSI keywords to Meta Description

Adding LSI keywords to meta descriptions can make a good impression and attract those who are searching. However, it is important to avoid overstuffing keywords as it can affect readability. Furthermore, Google also does not appreciate this practice.

Including LSI Keywords in Image Alt Tags

Alt tags with keywords should be added to all images in the article with appropriate density. Remember that the keyword you add should also be relevant to the content and the image.

Optimizing LSI Keywords in Headings

Including related keywords in the headings plays a significant role. Google usually pays attention to and evaluates these tags before the content of the article

Additionally, the content can be divided into smaller, more understandable sections using related keywords. In case there are too many of them, carefully select which ones are suitable and which ones are not.

Optimizing keywords for Headings

Adding LSI Keywords to Anchor Texts

Optimizing keywords for anchor texts can impact website SEO. For example, if other websites link back to yours using a keyword, the ranking of said keyword can be affected.

Do Not Neglect Primary and Semantic Keywords

The primary keyword still plays an important role. Note the following when optimizing primary and LSI keywords:

• LSI keywords are used to support the primary keyword and cannot completely replace it.
• The primary keyword is still more important because if you neglect it, the website is likely to drop in rankings.
• Primary keywords are the bridge that links the semantic keywords together into a closely related keyword system.
• Overstuffing keywords can result in Google penalizing the website. If you have already been penalized, the website will quickly recover soon.
• Adhering to this optimization method will naturally improve search rankings without overusing keywords.

Pay Attention to Context and Readability

LSI keywords may be related to the primary keyword, but you need to make sure if they are appropriate within the context. Avoid randomly adding keywords if you do not want your article to appear cluttered and bother readers.

Inserting keywords according to the context of the article content

Make sure to do everything at an appropriate level so that the article is good for both Google and users.

Positions to Use LSI Keywords

Below are some positions to use LSI keywords that you should pay attention to:

• Title tag: This is an important position because it will appear first. The best way to optimize it is to combine the primary keyword and LSI keywords.
• Heading tags: Add related keywords to H1, H2, H3 headings, etc.
• Meta description: The content description should contain the primary keyword and 1 or 2 additional keywords.
• Alt tag (alternate text for images): Add some related keywords here to further optimize the article.
• Anchor text and links: This position will increase the keyword recognition and traffic to the website.
• Main content: Adding LSI keywords to the opening or closing paragraphs is a suitable choice.

Read more: What is keyword? What are its immense roles in a SEO project?

Final thoughts

It can be observed that a quality article not only requires optimizing content with primary keywords but also reasonable keywords distribution. Hopefully, the article above will help you understand what is LSI keyword, its benefits, and how to optimize it.

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