How Online Retailers Can Leverage the Power of LSI Content

Every online retailer is in a competitive market. As an online retailer you’re not only competing for customers, you’re competing to be found in search engines. Without visibility in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, your store doesn’t stand a chance.

Competing against big brands is difficult online because corporations have a large budget to bid on industry-specific keywords. However, you may not realize those same corporations focus on related keywords, too. They don’t just want to dominate their primary market, they want to dominate all related markets, too.

If a company can lure people in on related topics, they can eventually sell them the main product. For example, a company selling hiking shoes might capture people looking for socks and eventually sell them its primary product: hiking boots. This is an advanced marketing strategy that takes time to develop, but it rests on a foundation of publishing latent semantic indexing (LSI) content.

If you’re struggling to make a dent in your industry, here’s how to use related keywords and phrases to your advantage:

Work Toward Ranking for LSI Content

Your site will rank better when you publish LSI content. In the marketing world, LSI is a process that search engines use to identify, study and compare the relationships between related words, phrases and concepts. For example, search engines know "sunscreen" and "skin cancer" are related topics. A website discussing these two related concepts is likely to rank higher than a site that talks about sunscreen and carburetors. Thanks to LSI, search engines know the former site is more likely to be what users are looking for when they search for ways to avoid harmful effects of the sun.

Teach Your Visitors Something New

While you’re publishing content dealing with subjects related to your products and services, make sure you teach your visitors something new. Instead of publishing only informative posts, look for angles that are often misunderstood. For example, you’ll find plenty of helpful information on skincare websites teaching people how to find their true skin type. This content is valuable because some people confuse dry skin with dehydrated skin. Dry skin is a skin type, while dehydrated skin is a condition. Soothing dry skin requires a different regimen than dehydrated skin.

When visitors learn something new, they’re more likely to buy the recommended product because they’ll know it’s made just for their needs.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing at All Costs

Search engines know when a web page is stuffed full of keywords just to game the system. Most people don’t use this tactic anymore, however, it’s easy to do it accidentally. Experts suggest not exceeding 2 percent to 3 percent keyword density. That means your keywords should not make up more than 3 percent of your total content. For example, if an article is 1,000 words long, limit the total number of keywords to 30 instances or less.

Keep Your Eye on Google

Google isn’t the only search engine on the block, but it does hold a net share of just under 75 percent in the global market. Google is the preferred search engine, so you need to know what it's doing. While most of Google’s algorithm changes happen quietly, some updates are quite noticeable.

Every algorithm change has the potential to impact your ranking in the search engine results pages, which will affect your bottom line. Thankfully, Search Engine Journal has an ongoing list of Google updates you can bookmark and review on a regular basis.

Offer Value Related to LSI Subjects

Once you’ve published a good amount of content containing LSI keywords and phrases, start looking for partnerships around those subjects. Just make sure you partner with complementary services and not direct competition.

Larry Alton is an independent business consultant specializing in technology, social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.