What they are and how to find them

What are semantic keywords?

Semantic keywords are words or phrases that are conceptually related to a given keyword or topic.

For example, “Italy” and “dough” are semantically related to “pizza.”

It is important not to confuse semantic keywords with target keywords (keywords you want to rank for).

For example, you might want a page to rank for “pizza dough recipe” and related keywords such as “how to make Italian pizza dough.” But you wouldn’t really want it to rank for “Italy”.

please note: Some people refer to semantic keywords as LSI keywords. But this term is imprecise and should not be used.

Why Use Semantic Keywords in SEO?

Semantic keywords are used in SEO to help search engines understand what your content is about. They provide insight into the content’s scope and depth.

This information enables search engines to rank the page more accurately.

Google explain:

If you’re searching for ‘dogs’, you probably don’t want a page with the word ‘dogs’ hundreds of times. With this in mind, algorithms determine whether a page contains other relevant content besides the keyword ‘dogs’ – such as pictures of dogs, videos or even a list of breeds.

Semantic keywords can also help you produce quality content. By inspiring you to cover relevant subtopics (eg dog breeds) and write more naturally (ie use varied language).

This can lead to higher search rankings and better user engagement.

How to find semantic keywords

Learn how to find semantic keywords with the following...