Latent semantic indexing is a concept that is used by search engines to optimize searches. It may sound complicated, but all it does is refer to the index of stored documents and find similar key words to those that have been entered in the search. If a website had been LSI’d it will come at the top of the Google search, and thus the website will have a higher chance of getting a hit – the more the hits the higher the traffic to the site, which of course is the main aim of every web designer.
LSI is critical to understand and implement, especially if you are in the internet marketing business. Let me give you an example: you design payroll software that you wish to market using the internet. You build a website and place the software on this website where visitors can purchase directly. Now, imagine you are the end client – you know that you have to buy payroll software but have no idea where to begin.
The most likely thing you will do is key in the words “payroll software” into Google, and you will get a list of websites that offer this software.
A good web designer will use LSI so that if the words payroll, payroll software, and any other key words that may be related to payroll software are keyed in, then Google will return them at the top of the search and they will have a higher chance of being visited.
The market is what it is; if you have a good product that comes up first on Google, chances are that people will buy it without bothering to shop around too much.
In a nutshell, LSI is currently the best technique used by web designers within search engines to enable users find their websites as fast as possible. When you are designing your website, even as you read and try to keep up with what all the internet marketing gurus are doing to drive traffic, do not forget this key design element – it helps you stand out in a very crowded market place.
