Semantic SEO? Is it a new branch of SEO? Do we have to consider one more aspect of SEO before optimising the websites? These questions are natural if you are not aware of Semantic SEO. It is an important on-page SEO technique, which is hard to ignore. Although Semantic SEO as a concept has been there since 2003, it has gained prominence gradually as Google started understanding the search query better in terms of intent, context, and meaning rather than a combination of alphabets.
What is Semantic Search?
Semantic Search, in simple terms, is a process through which Search Engines deliver relevant and meaningful result by understanding the context of the query and intent of the user instead of just matching the pattern of the keyword. Semantic is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to a single word. For example, “halt” and “stop” technically mean the same, but students of semantics analyse their subtle meaning.
Fundamental Shift to Semantic Search
Search Engine companies follows the principle of providing the most relevant information, thereby providing excellent user experience, and Google is no exception to it.
From the time SEO started, Googlebot wasn’t as powerful as it is today. It showed the results which contained the keyword by parsing the content on the page and indexing it for the keyword entered, which resulted in webmaster producing low-quality content by increasing the keyword density on the page. The keywords were used in such a way that information on the page was of no value to the user.
To Tackle this problem, Google came up with several algorithm updates like Panda in 2011 and Hummingbird in 2013, both of which addressed most of the issues of keyword stuffing and unethical tactics for ranking. Hummingbird was a result of more than fifteen years of Data collection and user analysis by Google.
Benefits of Using Semantic Search:
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Featured Snippet
When your content is written in-depth creating authority around the topic with comprehensive and useful information, Google sometimes rewards you with featured snippets. It is also called Rank Zero.
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More visibility of Websites
High-quality content on the website helps in increasing its quality score. This score can help in higher ranking of the webpages in the search results driving more visibility and generating quality traffic for the sites.
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Ranking on number of Keywords
Relevant content about the intended topic can help you rank for many keywords ranging from a broad range to long-tail keywords, in addition to the targeted Keyword. This will result in increased traffic on the website along with revenue generation.