I started a thread about using semantically related keywords, but didn't get any replies. In case anybody was curious, here's the small bit of what I know about semantics...
Semantics can mean many things, as seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics . But when it comes to SEO, semantically related terms basically means, "a word that the search engine thinks is a synonym for any given word". I'm going to use Google as an example, as they seem to be leading the way with using semantics in their algo. Google spiders millions upon millions of pages of content, among that content, it can determine what words it commonly finds grouped in any given block of content.
For example, if Google finds 5 million pages with the word "dog" on it, and on 1/2 of those pages, it also finds the word "training"... it's pretty safe to say that those words are semantically related. It's basically just searching out patterns in natural speech and taking note of them.
Not only can you optimize your content with this technique by using related terms to your targeted keyphrase to make it clear to Google what your page is about, but it also opens up the door to making duplicate content that isn't actually duplicate... what do you think?
Semantics can mean many things, as seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics . But when it comes to SEO, semantically related terms basically means, "a word that the search engine thinks is a synonym for any given word". I'm going to use Google as an example, as they seem to be leading the way with using semantics in their algo. Google spiders millions upon millions of pages of content, among that content, it can determine what words it commonly finds grouped in any given block of content.
For example, if Google finds 5 million pages with the word "dog" on it, and on 1/2 of those pages, it also finds the word "training"... it's pretty safe to say that those words are semantically related. It's basically just searching out patterns in natural speech and taking note of them.
Not only can you optimize your content with this technique by using related terms to your targeted keyphrase to make it clear to Google what your page is about, but it also opens up the door to making duplicate content that isn't actually duplicate... what do you think?