To put it in simple terms, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a technique of indexing, parsing, listing or categorizing certain keywords or phrases in the content of various websites, books or documents in such a way that they have contextually and conceptually what they are. same. or related intent and meaning despite the different words used in them.

The technique used in latent semantic indexing aims to find the keywords in the text that have a latent relationship in structure and usage. The idea behind the LSI concept is to collect data that is conceptually similar in meaning and context to search queries entered by searchers into search engines. Search results may therefore not share the specific words or phrases entered by the search engine.

For example, if you use the word ‘Saddam Hussein’, the search engine may return articles about the Gulf War, the situation in Kuwait or Iran, the Iraqi despot’s elite force, UN sanctions, oil fields in Iraq and much more without even mentioning the search word ‘Saddam Hussein’.

The LSI technique automates the document categorization process almost like humans do. The selected text may not have the same words or sentences. The returned results can have lists, free notes, web content, or even emails.

Advantages of Latent Semantic Indexing

Sometimes the web browser is aware that they are not using the correct keywords or phrases due to a lack of knowledge of the appropriate vocabulary. He therefore uses only approximate words which may not return the desired information if the search process follows the Boolean pattern. The latent semantic index technique makes it easy to retrieve related conceptual content even if search queries do not use the “correct” words.

latent or true information

The LSI technique returns information in its true conceptual representation, which is not easily possible through the traditional search approach. It uses a synonymy that can generate the underlying concept even if the searcher uses different words or phrases. The traditional retrieval process does not always discover the correct content on the same subject that uses different vocabulary.

Polysemy

A large number of words have multiple meanings. Therefore, if a search engine uses many polysemous words, it can reduce the chances of getting the right information. LSI helps remove unnecessary words from the data and attempts to arrive at the average meaning, which is close to the actual meaning of search queries.

Sift words near and far

LSI examines the content of different websites or documents and tries to find out which of them contain semantically common words, similar words, closest words or distant words. This is almost working like a human being. Although LSI does not understand the meanings of the words, its algorithm detects the patterns of the words and indexes them accordingly. This process demonstrates the amazing intelligence of the LSI technique.

How should latent semantic indexing be used?

Latent semantic indexing is a very useful tool for search engine optimization of your website or copywriting. Therefore, you must use keywords and phrases very carefully. For example, if you are using the keyword or phrase ‘buy jaguar’, you should explain what the word ‘jaguar’ means, as it is a polysemous word. It can mean a cat, a car or a plane. It can also be a brand of a medical device. Using the word ‘jaguar’ in isolation can confuse the LSI tool. So you need to clarify what your ‘jaguar’ means. Failure to do so will defeat the very purpose of launching your website.

You should also be careful in using synonyms so that they convey the exact meaning you want to convey. Synonyms are very helpful in clarifying the meaning of words. But keyword stuffing to make the site SEO friendly can also defeat the purpose and your site can be blacklisted for spam.

What happens if latent semantic indexing is not used?

Search engine spiders or software are making a paradigm shift in the selection of sites for front page ranking. Google and many other search engines use LSI to determine the relevance of your keywords and phrases in the context of the site’s content topic. If you don’t use keywords and phrases wisely, you may not be able to optimize your site for high rankings. Not using synonyms or topic related words may not help the LSI tool identify the relevance of your site to search queries. If your website is about barbecue, you should use words like grill, patio, sauce, charcoal, recipe, etc. that are related to the main keyword. If you don’t use LSI, your site is doomed to go unnoticed.