Defining keywords demonstrates to Google [that] the author understands the concepts [in the article, adding to its credibility]. Higher credibility means higher rankings.
Keywords are the words and phrases that a user types into a search engine to perform a search query. The definitions and meanings of keywords are not universal, they vary depending on the contexts such as culture, localization, trends and personal opinions.
Semantic SEO is a technical SEO methodology that uses semantics and linguistics to treat online content as structured data. This adds informational structure to content, which helps search engines understand its context and relevance. The semantic SEO methodology includes clear and “sharp” definitions of keywords, and jargon.
The writing style and article structure differ from, for example, emotion-centric or promotional pieces, like ads and anecdotes.
According to WeAreKinetica, a semantic SEO agency, companies that use semantic SEO methodologies see a 80% increase, on average, in organic traffic from search engines.
Ambiguity and Semantic Bluntness Lowers Rankings
The semantic SEO methodology include seemingly trivial and seemingly redundant statements that define the keywords (terminology) in an article. The assumption of triviality and redundancy is wrong – keyword definitions are necessary!
The defining statements focus on precise facts and clarifications, not feelings. This is called semantic sharpness. High semantic sharpness means that the content explains things in a precise manner, lowering the risk of misinterpretation and lower the opportunity of intentional, skewed interpretation.
The opposite of semantic sharpness is “semantic bluntness”. Semantic bluntness refers to the degree of vagueness and ambiguity in content. High semantic bluntness means that the content has high risk of being misinterpreted or intentionally misrepresented.
Semantic sharpness might result in longer and more complex sentences. It might produce uncommon syntaxes that, at first glance, may seem inaccurate, but are indeed correct. The goal is to lower ambiguity.
Google Does Not “Fill In The Blanks”
If an article or its keywords are ambiguous, then Google doesn’t know what the article is about.
Google works differently than our brains. The human brain automatically supplement ambiguity and lack of data with memories from past experiences, or bend related facts and data that we do have to fit into the data gaps. We “fill in the blanks”. Stereotypes are based on these cognitive processes.
Google does not supplement an article with assumptions, it does not “fill in the blanks”, but it does have default meaning of words. Google will not “vouch” for your content, it will select a semantically sharp article and rank it higher than a semantical blunt article.
Keyword Definitions Improve Rankings
Ambiguity in SEO articles is not only about potentially unclear statements, but also about lack of confirmation that the terminology used is inline with the definition that Google assumes.
Google uses NLP, semantics and linguistics to determine the meaning of keywords (entities). It has a default assumption about what, for example, “digital marketing agency” means. But it can’t know if the article uses the same definitions. If an article defines things, it makes Google more sure what the article is about. If Google is more sure, the article becomes more trustworthy, which leads to higher credibility and rankings.
Say that you want to rank for “digital marketing agency”. To convince Google that it interprets the article correctly, your must lay out a sharp description of what “digital marketing agency” is, even if it’s a commonly accepted definition.
Defining keywords demonstrates to Google that the article author understands the concepts which are the foundation of the article. This adds to the author and the article’s credibility. Higher credibility means higher rankings.
Semantic SEO Keyword Definition Example
This is an example of a passage that defines “digital marketing agency”:
“A [digital marketing agency] is an organization that provides [digital marketing services] in [digital marketing channels] to an organization such as large corporation, SMEs, and small local businesses.
[Digital marketing] refers to any marketing that is done specifically in digital channels. Examples of digital marketing channels are social media such as Facebook, Instagram och Twitter; email such as direct email messages and email broadcasts; and search engines such as Google and Bing.
Examples of digital marketing services that a digital marketing agency provide are social media marketing campaigns for brand building, emailing potential leads to find new clients, paid advertisement to promote offers, and SEO services to boost rankings in search engines.”
The example above clearly states the definition of “digital marketing agency” and other directly related keyword such as “digital marketing”, “digital marketing services”, and “digital marketing channels”.
Definition act as a perspective. All information and statements in the article will be compared to this perspective.
Side note: The usage of “[” and “]”, called square brackets, is a well-accepted typographical notation to signify an entity. By writing “[digital marketing agency]” I make it extra clear that this is one single entity, instead of multiple.
Semantic SEO Is Better Than “Normal SEO”
Semantic SEO is known to result in better rankings.
Neither semantics, nor the fact that semantic SEO performs better in search engines is anything new.
Semantics plays a central role in copywriting, and legal documents.
What is new is that SEO-marketers start to wake up to the fact that Google has reached a level of text analysis accuracy where it can be confident if a text is just shallow fluff with keywords, or a credible content.
Google algorithms have understood semantics since about 2012, but it’s in the last few years that they have been using it more aggressively to weed out the majority of content.
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