What is semantic SEO?

With the rise of conversational search queries and the importance of keywords in SEO, semantic search has become the answer.

New types of queries have emerged due to the wide range of devices used. From laptops to smartphones to voice assistants, our way to search for information has changed.

What is semantic search?

Semantic search is the type of search that focuses on contextually understanding search intent as opposed to solely focusing on independent keywords.

According to Google:

“Traditional search engines typically focus on matching keywords within a search query to corresponding keywords in indexed web pages. In contrast, semantic search aims to comprehend the deeper meaning and intent behind a user’s search, much like a human would.

By understanding the meaning and context of words, phrases, and entities within a search query, semantic search strives to deliver highly relevant search results that satisfy the user’s information needs.”

Ultimately, Google will dive into the real meaning of the words when they are placed together; it’s about intent and context. Google’s goal is not necessarily to display content with the exact search terms, but content which will better match your expectations.

Why is semantic search important?

Semantic SEO is important for site owners because it can help them improve their SEO by increasing the relevance and quality of their content for search engines.

This can lead to increased traffic and conversions for the site. Semantic SEO can also help improve site accessibility for users and search engines, and improve the overall quality of site content.

Google’s Knowledge Graph

Semantic search relies on structured data and large, interconnected datasets, otherwise known as knowledge graphs, to contextualize search queries and better understand users’ intent. If  you would like to know more about Google’s Knowledge Graph, we’ve written a few articles that delve deeper into the subject.

What implications does this have on your SEO strategy?

As we have established, semantic search is based on conversational queries and conversational queries do not focus on one single keyword but on a whole range of variations of this keyword. To rank well, it is important to create content around intent that embraces your targeted keywords. The answers people are looking for are now more complex, so we need to be cognizant of that as we create content.

When researching your keywords, you will need to try to identify what the person actually means when he is looking for something. If the query is “Italian food” what does it really mean? The search could mean “Where is the closest Italian restaurant?” or “How to cook Italian food?” or even “What is the best type of Italian food?”. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it gives you an idea of just how different intent can be.

The key is to focus on what type of language users will employ to look for something and in turn, you need to find the best keywords to suit these questions.

How to implement a semantic SEO strategy?

To implement a semantic SEO strategy, website owners can take the following steps:

1. Analyze their site’s content using Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools to identify relevant keywords and associated topics. This can help determine the main themes around which content should be organized to be most relevant to search engines.
2. Structure content logically, using HTML5 semantic tags to give semantic meaning to different elements on the page. This can help search engines understand the page content and index it appropriately.
3. Create quality content that is rich in information and context, and easily understood by both humans and machines. This can help improve content relevance and quality.
4. Monitor site performance using analytics tools to measure the results of the semantic SEO strategy and identify optimization opportunities.

The benefits of semantic SEO

The benefits of semantic SEO are numerous. Here are some of the main ones:

1. Improved SEO: Semantic SEO helps optimize page rankings in search results by increasing the relevance and quality of content for search engines.
2. Attracting qualified traffic: Semantic SEO can also help attract more qualified traffic to the site, i.e. users who are interested in the products or services offered by the company.
3. Increased conversions: By attracting more qualified traffic to the site, semantic SEO can help increase the conversion rate, i.e. the number of users who carry out a desired action (purchase, newsletter subscription, etc.) on the site.
4. Improved accessibility: If you use HTML5 semantic tags to structure content, you can improve site accessibility for both users and search engines. This can facilitate page navigation and indexing by search engines.
5. Improved content quality: By focusing on the creation of quality content that is rich in information and context, you can improve the overall quality of site content. This can help build user loyalty and enhance their experience on the site.

How to use HTML5 semantic tags for semantic SEO?

You need to start by identifying the page elements that need to be structured with HTML5 semantic tags. This might include the header, navigation bar, main content, content sections, secondary content and footer. Then you need to go into detail.

1. Choose the appropriate HTML5 semantic tags for each element of the page. For example, you might use the <header> element to define the page header, the <nav> element to define the navigation bar, and the <main>element to define the page’s main content.
2. Include HTML5 semantic tags in the page’s HTML code. To use an HTML5 semantic tag, you need to insert it into the HTML code of the page, surrounding the corresponding element with the tag. For example, to use the <header>tag you could write: <header>Header content</header>.
3. Check that HTML5 semantic tags are correctly used by testing the page with an HTML code analysis tool. This tool will check that the tags are used appropriately and that the content is structured logically.