There are several ways you can make use of keywords in content outside the well-known direct match that is most common. As search engine algorithms evolved over the last decade, a stronger understanding of semantics and context has emerged.

For example, the early algorithms understood that a dog and a puppy were related and loosely synonymous. Additionally, the understanding was that the adjective boiling was related to heat. However, early implementations of search algorithms would return word association errors that resulted in the understanding that ‘hot dog’ was loosely related to the phrase ‘boiling puppy.’

Evidence of this context-aware artificial intelligence can be seen in modern engines when we run the query ‘hot dogs’ and examine the ‘Related Searches’ area (in Google, this is generally placed at the very bottom of the result page). Instead of having queries related to poached pooches, one is given ‘what are hot dogs made of’, ‘how to cook hot dogs’ and ‘ball park franks.’

Knowing the engines have this understanding, one can take on new tools in the content writing process that will increase article creation turnaround time, readability for the user and global relevance. For the following examples, we’ll be working on a hypothetical site for a real estate brokerage specializing in luxury real estate on Mars. The most effective terms will be ‘Martian homes’ and ‘Mars real estate.’

Direct Match
This is the usage most common to content-writing for SEO. Though it can have great benefit in ranking well for the query deemed most effective, overuse of the phrase will result in severe penalties across all engines. Both ‘Mars homes’ and ‘Mars real estate’ are direct matches for the most effective terms.

Proximity Match
Using a direct match can severely hurt readability in many cases and is a quick road to keyword stuffing (overuse). As an alternative (though less effective), having the words close together will have a positive effect and maintain the usefulness of an article for the user. As both ‘homes in the northern region of Mars’ and ‘real estate on Mars’ contain the selected terms and are contextually the same, these will improve the relevance for the targeted queries. Please note, ‘real estate near the Mars candy factory’ and ‘sitting at home with his dog, Mars’ will not help (the engines are smarter than that).

Semantic Match
When a phrase has an identical meaning, this can be used to get a strong relevance boost. Although not as effective as a direct match, using the phrase ‘Martian housing market’ is completely acceptable. This is particularly so if the flow of the sentence would be disrupted by use of ‘Mars real estate.’

Although using all three match types is acceptable, please don’t forget that your most powerful weapon for strong placement is still the direct match. To be safe, use direct and proximity matching once every other paragraph and avoid chaining keyword phrases together, but go wild with your semantic matches.

By Cody Snider