What is latent semantic indexing?

Posted by on March 10, 2011 No comments

Few concepts in SEO are as misunderstood as latent semantic indexing. This leads to a lot of misguided methodology from people keen to look like they know what they’re doing.

Part of the reason why it is so frequently mentioned by certain SEO ‘experts’ is because it sounds faintly scientific. People don’t understand the words, so they can explain it how they choose. In reality, it’s a fairly straightforward concept.

It is, quite simply, the indexing of material according to the meaning (semantic means ‘related to meaning’) that is present (latent) in the text.

That’s it. Indexing stuff according to meaning.

Here’s an example. The following words appear on a page:

• Search engine
• Docs
• Translate
• Analytics
• AdSense

From the meaning of those words, we can put together a complete picture and quite confidently state that this page is about Google. We don’t actually need the word ‘Google’ to appear to tell us that.

Latent semantic indexing revolves around the relationships between different words and the pictures those relationships build. Anyone who attempts to manipulate their web content to better exploit it for SEO is missing the point entirely, because the point of latent semantic indexing is this: it rewards plain, simple, on-topic writing.

Content farms prove the long-term nature of SEO

Posted by on March 10, 2011 No comments

Content farming is the process of producing large volumes of web pages where the subject matter has been chosen via keyword tools. In theory, it’s about identifying a niche and then filling it with information that serves a need. In practice, it’s generally nothing short of opportunism.

Because of the way that Google’s search algorithm previously rewarded pages targeted at low volume search terms, a lot of companies sprang up to exploit this. They churned out near-worthless content at low cost and took their revenue from advertising. It became an industry.

However, because these companies were effectively polluting search results, Google took action (eventually). Its ‘farmer’ update targeted low value highly-targeted sites and rankings took a tumble. These companies are going to find themselves in trouble in coming months and that’s what comes of exploiting a system as opposed to serving an actual need.

If you’re conducting SEO, always aim to provide a useful, worthwhile website to users. That is what people want and so that is what Google wants to present to them.

Even if you totally ignore the mechanics of search, you will find success, because whatever changes are made to search algorithms, they should always be made with a view to promoting the most useful websites. Provide that and you’re halfway there.

Is it worth optimising for Bing?

Posted by on March 10, 2011 No comments

We have grown so used to tailoring all our search engine optimisation tactics to Google that many of us simply ignore its rivals as a matter of course, but is this the right tactic?

If you are promoting a website, it is important to monitor search market trends. For example, Bing might have a relatively small number of users right now, but is it becoming more popular?

Bing has Microsoft behind it and that is not insignificant. If you have installed any Microsoft software recently, you may have noticed that a ‘make Bing my homepage’ box was automatically ticked. You probably unticked it, but many people wouldn’t and not every web user will necessarily have noticed that they were no longer using Google for searches.

That might sound ridiculous, but these days pretty much everybody uses the internet, yet not everybody is all that web-savvy. Have you ever watched your parents surf the web?

On top of this, Windows phones are ever more popular and being as phones are increasingly being used for surfing the web, Bing could gain a lot of ground here as well.

When it comes to SEO, always plan ahead.

Is more traffic necessarily better?

Posted by on March 10, 2011 No comments

Most people who run a website are looking to attract more visitors. E-commerce sites want more customers, information sites want more readers. However, is more traffic always desirable?

Generally speaking, yes, but it is also about attracting the right traffic. There is no point seeking out web traffic wherever it may be. A thousand footballers will probably buy fewer surfboards than just 10 surfers.

It seems simple, but the quest for numbers can often lead us astray. Blog posts about celebrities might see our sites receive huge surges of traffic, but how many of those visitors are actually useful to us?

Visitors from StumbleUpon might only stay on a site for a split second, while someone arriving from a related site is far more likely to stick around (particularly if the link was in the form of a recommendation).

Think carefully about what you are trying to achieve with your website and ensure your search engine optimisation tactics are designed to attract the right sort of people.

Should product reviews influence search engine rankings?

Posted by on March 9, 2011 No comments

Some people suggest that product and retailer reviews could be taken into account when deciding where to rank certain websites. There is merit in the idea in that in theory it helps provide a quality measurement, but in practice there are two major drawbacks.

False reviews

The most obvious shortcoming is the fact that reviews are created by people and can therefore be manipulated by people. Have you ever tried to book a holiday and found yourself wading through dozens of reviews that gave either top marks or zero marks for the same hotel? The people most likely to write a review are those who have most to gain, which also leads us to point two.

Reviews are rare

For all the many review websites that are out there, it’s actually fairly uncommon for people to genuinely review products. Think of all the stuff you buy. Only the most major purchases are likely to warrant a review and even then you probably won’t bother unless you’re profoundly unhappy or absolutely elated with the item in question. In short, reviews give a false perspective about something’s worth, or, at best, an incomplete picture.