After Matt Cutts recent remarks I spent some time researching the best Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) tools for writing relevant content that gets top search engine ranking and converts. Matt Cutts is the only Google engineeer allowed to publicly discuss Google’s organic ranking algorithms. First, some background on LSI.
LSI is a ranking factor in Google’s organic search engine algorithm. In terms of writing online content for the purpose of maximizing conversions, it means that we have to pay attention to the phrases and content that are associated with your main topic in the course of a normal conversation. From Wikipedia, LSI is the “ability to correlate semantically related terms that are latent in a collection of text“.
LSI incorporates the mathematical concept of transitivity. This means that, if Word A is associated with Word B, and word B is associated with work C then A is associated with C.
A few examples would be, if you are discussing “Gangnam Style”, the raging and popular video that has swept the world then you’ll probably also mention PSY and South Korea in your article because they are the name of the singer and the country he comes from. Similarly, if you are discussing “Call Me Maybe” then you’ll also probably mention Carly Rae Jepsen, the singer-songwriter and Canada, the country she comes from. If you are discussing fishing then you’ll probably also mention words like lure, bait, river, lake, names of bodies of water and probably beer.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and similar topics are important to your online success, and if you ignore these topics then you simply won’t be successful in creating online content that ranks and converts.
I researched the best LSI copywriting process and the best LSI tools for online copywriting and they are listed below. We tested a tool that had a confusing user interface and didn’t provide the nifty capabilities of the other tools listed below, so I did not include it below.
These are the tools that we are using in our companies now:
Google Suggest – Straight from the horses mouth. Just type your keywords into Google and as you type you’ll see what Google suggests as the best keywords associated with the keyword terms you are typing in.
Google Adwords Keyword Planner – Get LSI Keywords directly from Google’s algorithm. The granddaddy of all keyword tools, this free tool from Google draws LSI keywords from their algorithm and database. If you login with your Gmail address then you can see up to 800 keywords, and if you run Adwords campaigns the tools will separate them into ad groups for you to input directly into your campaign as well.
LSI Ranker and Editor – Get LSI Keywords from top 5 pages, write and score articles
These 2 paid tools create a list of the most important LSI keywords from the top 5 sites ranked for your main keyword, then scores your article for those LSI keywords as you write. It highlights the keywords in the article and shows recommended and actual keyword densities in real-time. You can see visually how and where you need to make edits to your article.
If you use the tools above then you’ll be sure to write relevant content that the search engines love, and that convert the best. It’s a beautiful thing.
Local SEO