OntoSearch

To put in a layman’s terms, latent semantic indexing (LSI) is a technique of indexing— analyzing, listing or categorizing certain keywords or phrases in the contents of different websites, books or documents in such a way that they have contextually and conceptually the same or related intent and meaning despite the various words utilized in them.

The technique used in latent semantic indexing aims at discovering the keywords in the text that carry a latent relationship in structure and usage. The idea behind the concept of LSI is to collect data that is conceptually akin in meaning and context to the search queries entered by the searchers in the search engines. The search outcomes may possibly, for that reason not share the specific words or phrases entered by the searcher.

For example, if you use the word ‘Saddam Hussein’, the search engine could return articles about the Gulf War, scenario in Kuwait or Iran, the elite force of the Iraqi despot, UN sanctions, oil fields in Iraq and a lot much more with out even mentioning the search word ‘Saddam Hussein’.

The technique of LSI automates the method of categorizing the documents nearly the way the human beings do. The text selected could not have the exact same words or sentences. The results returned could have lists, free of charge notes, web content or even emails.

Benefits of latent semantic indexing

Occasionally the web searcher is conscious that he is not utilizing the right keywords or phrases due to the lack of understanding of appropriate vocabulary. He, therefore, uses only approximate words which could not return the desired information if the search process follows the Boolean pattern. Latent semantic index technique facilitates the retrieval of the related conceptual content even if the search queries do not use the ‘correct’ words.

Latent or true details

LSI technique returns information in its true conceptual representation, which is not easily achievable through the standard search approach. It uses synonymy that can bring forth the underlying concept even if the searcher uses various words or phrases. The traditional retrieval method does not usually discover the proper content on the same topic that uses various vocabulary.

Polysemy

A large number of words have several meanings. So, if a searcher uses many polysemous words, they might reduce the chances of getting the precise information. LSI helps to weed out the unnecessary words from the data and tries to arrive at the average meaning, which is close to the real meaning of the search queries.

Sifting close and distant words

LSI examines the contents of the distinct websites or documents and tries to come across out which of these contain semantically common words, similar words, closer words or distant words. This is virtually working like a human being. While LSI does not recognize the meanings of the words, its algorithm does notice the word patterns and indexes them accordingly. This procedure proves the astonishing intelligence of the LSI technique.

How should 1 use latent semantic indexing?

Latent semantic indexing is a extremely helpful tool for search engine optimization of your web site or copywriting.  You need to, therefore, use the keywords and phrases quite carefully. For example, if you are utilizing the keyword or phrase ‘buy jaguar’ you should explain what the word ‘jaguar’ stands for since it is a polysemous word. It may mean a cat, a automobile or an aircraft. It might also be a brand name of some sanitary product.  Using the word ‘jaguar’ in isolation may confuse the LSI tool. You should, therefore, clarify what your ‘jaguar’ stands for. Otherwise, you will defeat the quite purpose of launching your website.

You ought to also be careful in the use of synonyms so that they convey the meaning that you precisely want to communicate. Synonyms are extremely useful in clarifying the meanings of the words. But stuffing keywords for making the website SEO compliant could also defeat the purpose and your website might be blacklisted for spamming.

What happens if one does not use latent semantic indexing?

The search engine spiders or the software is making a paradigm shift in choosing the internet sites for front-page ranking. Google and quite a few other search engines use LSI to decide the relevancy of your keywords and phrases in context of the subject matter of the site’s content. If you do not use the keywords and phrases judiciously, you may not be able to optimize your internet site for high ranking. Not making use of the synonyms or theme related words might not assist the LSI tool to identify your site’s relevance to the search queries. If your internet site is about barbeques, you must use words such as grill, patio, sauce, charcoal, recipe, etc which are related to the primary keyword. If you do not use LSI, your website is doomed to stay unnoticed.