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 are contextually and conceptually the 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 concept of LSI is to collect data that is conceptually similar in meaning and context to search queries entered by searchers on search engines. The search results may therefore not share the specific words or phrases entered by the searcher.
For example, if you use the word ‘Saddam Hussein’, the search engine may return articles on 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 searcher is aware that they are not using the correct keywords or phrases due to a lack of knowledge of the proper vocabulary. He therefore uses only fuzzy 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 search engine uses different words or phrases. The traditional retrieval process does not always discover the correct content on the same topic that uses different vocabulary.
Polysemy
A large number of words have multiple meanings. Therefore, if a search engine uses numerous polysemous words, it can reduce the chances of obtaining the accurate information. LSI helps remove unnecessary words from the data and tries to arrive at the average meaning, which is close to the actual meaning of the search queries.
Sift near and far words
LSI examines the content of different websites or documents and tries to find out which ones contain semantically common words, similar words, closer 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. Otherwise, you will defeat the very purpose of launching your website.
You should also be careful in using synonyms so that they convey exactly what you want to convey. Synonyms are very useful to clarify 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 home 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 grilling, 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.
