What are LSI Keywords? and how do they help you succeed in SEO?

Latent Semantic Indexing.

Sounds complicated. Even by SEO standards.

Maybe you’ve heard the term before. Maybe you’ve avoided diving deeper into what it means. And how using Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords can be even more effective than using individual keywords.

But we assure you. Where LSI keywords are concerned, you have nothing to fear. They’re your friends, in fact. So let’s take that deep, latent, semantic dive. And learn everything there is to learn about LSI keywords. And how they can have a positive influence on your search engine rankings.

 

What is LSI?

(LSI) is a mathematical method search engine algorithms use to scan data. A natural language processing technology able to recognise specific underlying relationships between certain words. Like synonyms.

Or words like “light” and “house” that have simple definitions of their own. But assume a new meaning once compounded into “lighthouse”.

LSI improves the accuracy of data retrieval by attempting to better understand the structure of language. And how people use it.  

And it’s invaluable to SEO. Because the better Google is able to understand your content, the higher Google is going to rank it.

 

What are LSI keywords?

Dictionary.com defines latent as, “present but not visible, apparent or actualised; existing as potential”.

And semantic as an adjective meaning, “of, relating to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols”.

So what makes a word latently semantic then?

LSI keywords are words, or word groups, that are related to your primary keywords.

They can be words that share context with primary keywords, words often used together with primary keywords or words with special relevance to a page’s theme, topic or content.

The LSI mathematical method puts a greater emphasis on synonyms and phrases than it does on individual and specific keywords. Because a semantic search isn’t looking for just keywords. It’s looking to determine the intent and contextual meaning of a user’s search.

Today, almost all websites use some kind of SEO. Even if it’s just basic stuff. So it’s likely you and the competition are chasing the same or similar keywords. With LSI, multiple keywords and semantically related keywords help you stay a step ahead of competitors. And rank better with search engines.

 

Why you should use LSI keywords

Keywords are the foundation of your search engine ranking. But keyword stuffing is dead. Search engines are evaluating content based on its overall context. Not keyword density. So overusing keywords is only going to reflect poorly on your site in the eyes of the algorithm.

Using LSI keywords is a tactic that can help you reach a desired result without breaching search engine etiquette.  

Remember, you’re writing for people. Not bots. And even the machines recognise that. It’s Google’s goal is to deliver the most relevant, highest quality content it can return.

So the quality of your content should always be Priority #1. Because high quality content keeps users and search engines happy.

LSI keywords improve the quality of content with meaningful phrases and semantic language. And help search engines determine the purpose and value of your content.

 

Where you can find LSI keywords

Now you know what LSI keywords are. And why you should use them. But how do you go about finding them?

The good news is, there are lots of excellent tools out there that can help you generate the perfect LSI keywords for your content.

You can try Google Keyword Planner for linking synonyms to main keywords. Answer The Public, a ​visual keyword research tool that supplies relevant LSI keyword options. Or LSI Graph, a tool specifically designed for LSI keywords search.

Website Auditor can help determine which LSI keywords your competitors are currently using, and how often they use them, by using the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) analysis, a tool that defines the relevancy of content for visitors on the basis of different keywords placed around the main keyword.

These are all kinds of ways to get ideas for LSI keywords. So if digital tools aren’t your thing, there’s a much simpler way of creating LSI keywords – Google’s search result page.

Every time you write your keyword in the search tab, you’ll get search suggestions. Plus related searches at the bottom of the results page.

Take the time to get creative with your search, and you’re sure to find the most effective variety of LSI keywords for your content.

 

How to use LSI keywords

Once upon a time, keyword density was the only metric search engines had to measure the relevance of a page to a search query. But it wasn’t long before people found a way to abuse the system by overloading content with irrelevant and repetitious keywords.  

And that’s what caused search engine algorithms to start keying in on LSI keywords instead.

There’s no hard and fast rule to the number of LSI keywords you should use in an article. But the copy should always feel natural. And not like an effort was made to squeeze certain synonyms in as often as you could. Remember – people not machines.

Pepper LSI keywords throughout the article the same as you would primary keywords. Try combining LSI keywords and long-tail keywords. Or using them in places like your first heading, anchor text, image alt text, meta description and even the page name.

LSI keywords complement main keywords as specific keyword variations. They help eliminate keyword stuffing. And better explain your content to search engines. Which helps rank your content higher with Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Using Google Analytics is a great way to check which keywords are driving traffic to your web page. It’s information you can apply to your next piece of content. And use to determine future LSI keywords. Which will help increase organic traffic, pull more visitors and earn your site higher rankings with search engines.

Users and search engines agree. Nothing beats original, high quality content that’s relevant, informative and reads natural. And meaningful LSI keywords are a tool that make it easier for you to create this kind of content.  

Which will come in handy. Because the more relevant content you’re able to offer users, the better you’ll rank with search engines. And that’s what it’s all about.

Article first published here: What are LSI Keywords? and how do they help you succeed in SEO?

Digital Marketing – How To Create A Successful Plan

How to create a successful digital marketing plan

Digital marketing has come a long way in a short time. Looking back just a few years, it was still something of a novelty. Today it’s downright essential. Without a strong digital marketing plan, your business is never going to see the kind of growth it otherwise might.

Because the digital marketing plan influences everything else you do online. It’s your foundation. So it needs to be solid. And distinguish your brand or business from the competition.

When you start strong and have a proper plan in place, you’ll be amazed by the marketing effects that come next.  

 

Why a digital marketing plan is important

If you don’t know where you want to go, you’ll never get there.

So in the same way you make preparations for a road trip, and remember to pack a map or GPS along, getting a quality digital marketing plan together will help define your journey towards success.

Whilst focused, a good digital marketing plan needs to remain flexible too. In anticipation of any unexpected changes you might encounter on the way towards accomplishing your goals.

A solid plan gives you room to breathe. Because you aren’t wasting time, effort or money making impulsive or uninformed decisions. Costly decisions that can add up in a hurry.

Without a digital marketing plan in place, it’s easier to lose focus. So understanding how to put one together is fundamental to finding success today.

 

How to create digital marketing plan

The first time you try anything is usually the hardest. So if it’s your first attempt at creating a digital marketing plan, and you’re a little intimidated by it all, that’s understandable.

In so many ways, the digital rulebook is still being written. With new strategies and techniques emerging all the time.

So whether this is your first go at putting together a marketing plan, or you’ve been there before and just want to get more out of things this time around, our easy-to-follow, 5-step method to creating successful digital marketing plans is here to help you figure out where you want to go – and then get you there safely.  

 

1. Set your digital marketing objectives

First things first, ask yourself, “What do I want to achieve?”

Is it bigger sales? More customers and leads? A better position in your market? Or something else all together?

These objectives become the goals of your digital marketing plan. And need to be clear, measurable and achievable.

They should also be specific. Because the next step in creating your digital marketing plan is determining key performance indicators (KPIs) for those goals.

KPIs are what you use to measure the progress of your plan. Depending on what you’ve established as goals, these KPIs could be metrics like cost per lead per channel, conversion rate or return on ad spend.

Growth is good. But it’s accomplished over time. Not over night.

So when setting the value of your KPIs, it’s important to keep expectations in line with previous digital marketing achievements. You want to aim high enough to see an improvement on the previous year, but need to keep it real too.  

Once your goals are in place and you’ve figured out the KPIs you’ll be using to measure progress, it’s time to decide on the method you’ll be using to measure that progres. Luckily, there are lots of great options out there.

Like Google Analytics, a fantastic free tool that measures conversion. Google Analytics also provides valuable social media analytics you can use to track your social media effects.

Or BuzzSumo, an awesome tool used to evaluate the marketing success of your content.

 

2.     Review the effects of your current digital marketing strategy

Mistakes are nothing to be ashamed of. So long as you’re able to learn something from making them.

So before drafting a new digital marketing plan, review the previous year’s plan. Continue doing anything that might be working. But where things aren’t working, start thinking about how to change up your gameplan.   

It can be really beneficial to evaluate the marketing strategies of your competition too. Because there’s often plenty to learn from what they’re doing right. And if you can learn from a mistake the competition’s made before making it yourself, that’s one less hole you’ll never have to dig yourself out of later on.  

Benchmarking Reports in Google Analytics is a great way to keep tabs on the competition. And SEMrush can provide you with valuable insights into competitive SEO strategies.

 

3.     Create a new strategy and set a plan of action

You’ve got your goals and KPIs in place. You’ve taken a long, hard look at the best and worst of the previous year’s efforts. And have a pretty good idea of what’s working (and what’s not) for your competitors.

Now it’s time to build your new digital marketing plan.

Which includes everything you’ll need to focus on in for the following year.

• What needs to be done?
• Who’s going to do it?
• What resources will be required to accomplish this?

Use KPIs to determine what digital marketing actions are going to work best for you. And remember your goals.

Are you looking to increase your number of leads? Then it might make sense to create more high-quality content with relevant, authoritative backlinks.

Looking to convert more leads to customers? Try a more proactive approach on your next marketing campaign.

Get practised at gathering data, adjusting your strategy on the fly and aligning yourself with the right partners, and you’ll be that much closer to mastering the art of creating successful digital marketing plans.

 

4.     Build a team of capable people and get resources

A team is only as strong as its weakest link. We’ve heard the expression a million time. And there’s plenty of truth to it.

Because even the best laid plan struggles to come together if there isn’t a team of dedicated professionals committed to implementing it. A team 100% focused on the marketing goals as outlined by your digital plan.

And since resources are defined in line with your business goals, you need to set a budget – and stick to it.

Slight deviations here and there are one thing. But significantly exceeding the limitations of your set budget will bring things down overall. And a year from now, when reviewing the old plan, it’ll be one of the things you make a note to avoid when plotting next year’s plan.

 

5.     Transform your digital marketing plan into the action

Potential energy is nice. But kinetic energy is active. And it’s the kind of energy that gets you results.

A plan is nice too. But until that plan is active and put into action, you’re never going to see a result.

Define your timeline. Target customers and make them an offer the competition either can’t, or won’t.

Think big picture and consider everything that contributes to SEO and earning higher rankings. A solid digital marketing plan is a comprehensive one. So make time for social media and influencer marketing.

Keep your website updated. Be mindful of factors like page load speed that can have an adverse effect on user experience. Regularly assess your progress. And be willing to make adjustments to your digital marketing plan as conditions call for changes to be made.

Article first published here: Digital Marketing – How To Create A Successful Plan

The Best SEO Google Chrome Extensions

Google is kind of a big deal. Hence the endless amount of SEO ranking options you’ve got in front of you. 

So big, it’s made itself into a verb. It’s something we do.

Something we now do on average more than 2 trillion times a year. Google is easy the most often used internet search engine in the world. And they know it.

So if your brand or business expects to rank high with Google, Google expects you to put in the effort.

But they’re fair about it too.

On top of providing business owners, webmasters and digital marketers with a set of useful SEO guidelines, Google Chrome also offers users a number of valuable extensions that can help boost SEO results.

 

What is a Google Chrome extension?

Extensions for Google Chrome are software programs that let you customise the browsing experience for users; intuitive features built on web technologies like HTML and JavaScript where you can customise site functionality in response to specific user needs and preferences.

Most of them are free. And you can use them online or download them.

They can save you heaps of time, correct simple mistakes, get your site ranking better and most importantly – help you optimise SEO moving forward.

There are a ton of different Google Chrome extensions out there. Ready for you to start using right now. But these are some of our favourites.

Moz Toolbar

MozBar is a powerful extension that estimates the authority of your web page.

It uses more than 40 different metrics to rank your website with a grade from 1-10. And considers important metrics like how old your website is, how many links you have and your website’s current popularity.

There’s a free version that you can use to assess Page Overlay, Link Metrics, Custom Search, Social Metrics, Data Export (CSV), and On-Page Links. The extension takes all this info and uses it to help determine your ranking.

Best part is, if you like what the free version is able to do for you, there’s a paid version available that you can upgrade to that gives you access to even more cool analytics tools to work with.

 

Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is an invaluable SEO extension that can help you find out how many similar keywords you have, where they are and how they affect your rankings.

It’s a time saver that shares Google search volume and Cost per Click data for your keywords. It’ll even  show you how many times a keyword is used on the internet, not just inside Google searches.

It lets you see variations of your keywords that people search for.

And can be used together with Google Analytics or Search Console to get monthly volume and CPC data for the keywords that had the best SEO effects. Which will help you put together a stronger keywords strategy resulting in higher Google rankings.

 

Majestic Backlink Analyzer

Majestic Backlink Analyzer is the SEO chrome extension that takes a dynamic approach to analysing backlinks.

Use it to view data related to links on your web page. Get tools such as Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and Topical Trust Flow to count and analyze your links and check the authority of your domain.

With Majestic Backlink Analyzer, you’ll be able to accurately estimate your chance for good ranking. And see anything that needs to be changed.

You can even try out the Check My Links SEO chrome extension to help find  broken links on your web page. It marks good links in green and broken links in red. Which is huge. Because fixing broken links is one of the best ways to increase your chance for higher rankings.

 

Open SEO Stats

Open SEO Stats is an SEO chrome extension that used to be called PageRank Status. It’s awesome for producing useful date like SEO stats, link stats, page speed, traffic stats and detailed page and site info.

Combine this extension with other SEO chrome extensions to achieve advanced SEO effects and start seeing more daily visits to your site.

 

Page Analytics

Page Analytics is a chrome extension that lets you log into your Google Analytics account and view web page metrics in real time.  

With Page Analytics, you can always check your site’s bounce rate, see how many unique page views you’ve gotten since last checking in and find out how long the average visitor spends on your site.

The extension also shows you which pages on your site are getting the most visits. And which ones are getting the least. So you can make informed choices and adjust content accordingly.

Page Analytics is more than just another SEO traffic report. It’s useful information that will help tell you more about your site’s traffic.

 

ShareMetric

Social media shares may not have a direct effect on search engine rankings. But having your content shared on social media does increase organic traffic. Which influences Google rankings in a roundabout, but significant way.

ShareMetric is an extension that monitors your social traffic and keeps track of how many times your content has been shared.

With ShareMetric, it’s easy to review the number of likes, comments, retweets, and shares you get. Which is great for SEO since number of shares is also visible on search engines results.

 

Page Load Time

 

It doesn’t matter how good your content is if your site makes it clunky or difficult for people to access it. Which is why user experience is one of the most important factors affecting search engine ranking results.

Use the Page Load Time extension to check your website’s loading speed. The faster your site loads, the better user experience you’ll be offering site visitors.

Because if your site is slow to load,  visitors will probably quit waiting and move on to another site to find what they need. Page Load Time is a handy way to diagnose problems with loading times. And finding ways to solve those problems with detailed analytics for your posts and pages.

 

Mobile Friendly Checker

People are spending more time than ever on mobile devices. And that’s a trend that won’t be changing anytime soon. So your website needs to be mobile friendly.

The Mobile Friendly Checker extension gives your site a mobile score between 0-100. The higher the value, the better your site is performing on mobile. The extension even lets you preview what your website will look like on mobile devices before you publish it.

So take your pick. Try your luck. Mix and match. Because you can’t go wrong with the right combination of the best SEO chrome extensions.

Article first published here: The Best SEO Google Chrome Extensions

The 5 best FREE SEO plugins for WordPress

The internet is growing at a breakneck pace; almost doubling annually its size in recent years. For users and consumers, that means almost infinite results when it comes to search. So in 2018, how are you supposed to get your website ranking in such a hyper competitive market?  

You can start with WordPress, and the huge variety of free SEO plugins that go along with it. 

WordPress is the popular open source website creation platform that powers a whopping 28% of the internet. And here’s a lot to dig about it.

It’s easy to use, search engines love it and WordPress doesn’t require any special knowledge of HTML editing or FTP software to build a beautiful website with.

But one of the biggest reasons people are gravitating to WordPress in record numbers is for the free SEO plugins.

Plugins are software extensions easily added to WordPress sites that enhance performance and increase functionality. And there are literally thousands of them available for free.

Here are 5 that we happen to really like.  

 

Yoast SEO plugin

Keywords and quality content are what drive traffic to your website and help it to rank higher with search engines. Which makes the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress on of the most valuable free plugins you can upload and add to your brand or business’ website.

Yoast analyzes your content to ensure you’re using keywords to their fullest potential.

Using too many keywords (keyword stuffing), or using keywords without any real purpose behind them, will result in search engine penalties that lower your ranking.

But if you’re not using keywords enough throughout your copy, your content won’t register any SEO effects at all.

The Yoast SEO plugin is a tool that checks how many times you’ve used a specific keyword in your content. It shows you where the keyword appears and how your content will look in search engines results with a convenient Google Search Result Snippet preview.

Yoast SEO for WordPress lets you add meta descriptions, meta titles and meta tags;  generate XML sitemaps and plenty more. It’s the plugin that increases click through rate, improves organic search results and helps your site rank higher by helping you make the best possible use of keywords.

 

All in One SEO Pack

The name kind of says it all. The most complete of all free seo plugins. 

Which makes the All in One SEO Pack one of the best free seo plugin options business owners, webmasters and digital marketers can use to improve SEO.

It’s list of features is impressive. But so is the plugin’s flexibility. Installing the All in One SEO Pack doesn’t lock you in to using all of the plugin’s available options. Only use the features you want – the way you want to use them.

Features like XML sitemap and canonical URL support, Google Analytics integration and the ability to optimise content titles and generate meta tags automatically.

The All in One SEO Pack provides free WooCommerce integration (a feature premium packages usually charge for) and the option to enter your data manually or have it taken care of automatically.

The All in One SEO Pack is compatible with hundreds of other plugins. And available in 57 languages with a pro option upgrade that’s loaded with even more advanced SEO features.

 

SEO Framework

It may not be as well known as Yoast or the All in One SEO Pack, but SEO Framework is a super-useful plugin popular with savvy WordPress users, and often nipping on the industry leaders when it comes to free seo plugins. 

With SEO Framework, you can set meta titles and descriptions. And add social meta information that helps increase social shares.

The flexibility of SEO Framework allows you to “set and forget” basic schema information, sitemap functions and other search engine settings for all posts. Or you can change the settings for individual posts manually at any time.  

The plugin provides support for bbPress, WooCommerce and other custom post types and even gives helpful recommendations for what’s best for your SEO as you go.

 

Smush Image Compression and Optimisation

Right now, Smush is the most popular image compression plugin out there, and a great free SEO plugin to add to your kit. People use because its effective. But they love it because it’s so simple to use.

When the images on your site are properly optimised, it saves on bandwidth. And gives the loading speed of your pages a boost; two effects that can have a big impact on search engine rankings.

With Smush, resizing full images is easy. As painless as moving a slider to adjust images individually. Or clicking your mouse once to initiate an automated process that scans all the images on your site, compressing any that haven’t already been optimised.

 

SEO Ultimate

SEO Ultimate is another free SEO plugin for WordPress.

It’s a tool that lets you rewrite titles so they’re more suitable for SEO. Imagine being able to automatically generate Open Graph data for all elements of your web page. Including attachments and user profile pages that improve social network sharing.

SEO Ultimate also includes a Deeplink Juggernaut; just set up your keywords and the plugin will automatically generate internal links on your website.

There’s a Rich Snippet creator for improving the look of your content and supplementary Search Engine Results Page (SERP) data that will help you increase organic search results. The SEO Ultimate plugin lets you highlight your Google+ profile picture to attract a bigger audience so your brand or business name ranks better with search engines too.

Improving SEO isn’t easy. It takes effort. Long hours. And many sparks of creative thinking. WordPress plugins help too.

From simple, easy-to-use add-ons like Yoast, to more dynamic tools offering advanced features, there are hundreds of free seo plugins out there that can help capture the results you’re after. No matter where you’re at on the SEO learning curve.

Increase organic traffic, attract more visitors from your social networking platforms, optimise content, earn higher search engine rankings, improve online visibility and make your site easier for users to find – and do it all for free.
That’s the power of free SEO plugins for WordPress. Start putting them to work for your brand or business today, and you’ll start seeing measurable SEO improvements sooner than you think.

Article first published here: The 5 best FREE SEO plugins for WordPress