Hopefully you read our last post about How Google Uses LSI Concepts in Page Ranking, because it gives a good introduction to what we are going to talk about today.
Today, we’re going to see if we can get into Google’s mind to figure out which keywords Google thinks are semantically related. Now, you could look in a thesaurus, but you want to know what Google thinks — not Merriam-Webster.
In order to understand what words Google thinks are semantically related, it’s best to start with their Search-Based Keyword Tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal — not because it’s the best tool, but because it gives you the best view of what’s going on in Google’s mind.
Let’s take spin through this tool using the example keyword phrase “dog obedience training.”
First of all, be sure to select “external tools” at the top and then enter the keyword phrase into the tool under “Word or phrase.” Do NOT check the box “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms,” because you want the tool to give you phrases other than those with “dog obedience training” in quotes” in them. Then fill in the captcha and click on “Search.”
After you get the keyword listing, click on “Download” and load the resulting keywords and the searches into an Excel spreadsheet, and delete the duplicates and obviously bad results.
To narrow the field down further to the best related keywords, you need to find the pages (i.e., who the competition is) that already rank well for the keyword phrase. To figure that out, go to Google and enter “dog obedience training” in quotes in the search bar.
The result will be the search engine results page (SERP) with the top ten pages that Google thinks are most relevant to “dog obedience training.”
Now go back to the Google keyword tool and erase “dog obedience training,” and enter the top ranking URL on the SERP under “Website.” Copy the resulting keywords into your spreadsheet. Delete duplicates and ringers. What you will be left with are semantically-related phrases, such as puppy training, crate training, leash training, etc.
Now repeat this for the next nine URLs on the Google search engine results page for “dog obedience training.” Load them into your spreadsheet, delete the duplicates, etc., rinse and repeat, until you have mined all of the related keywords from Google’s top ten websites for “dog obedience training.”
Finally order the keywords in your spreadsheet by searches. What you will end up with is your list of semantically-related words to use in writing about “dog obedience training” ordered by the most searched terms. The next step to this process will be published soon, so stay tuned
