This is Part Three in a Six Part Series. Here Parts 1 and 2.

Semantic Maps can be very useful in defining the words and phrases that can increase the semantic relevance of your web site content. Semantic Mapping is a combination of data discovery and a visual representation of that data to show the keywords and phrases that have direct relationships to your target search term. Direct relationships are key to Google Semantics since Google applies a higher ranking factor to those relationships than to more distant ones.

This is Part Three in a Six Part Series. Here Parts 1 and 2.

Semantic Maps can be very useful in defining the words and phrases that can increase the semantic relevance of your web site content. Semantic Mapping is a combination of data discovery and a visual representation of that data to show the keywords and phrases that have direct relationships to your target search term. Direct relationships are key to Google Semantics since Google applies a higher ranking factor to those relationships than to more distant ones.

Semantic Trees

An interesting way to think about this process is as a Semantic Tree rather than a semantic map. A semantic tree has a trunk which is the center of the tree, a root that feeds it, and branches coming off the main trunk which have a direct connection (relationship) to the trunk.

Using this metaphor, the trunk represents the primary keyword or search term that you are trying to rank for on Google, the root is Googles primary semantic root for the target search term, and the branches are the keywords and phrases which have a direct (therefore most important) synonymous relationship to the target search term.

Each of those main branches then has it’s own smaller branches and leaves which have a direct relationship to the branch that they are connected to, but a smaller and sometimes indirect relationship to the main trunk.

Therefore the components of a Semantic Tree are:

• Main Trunk (your target search term)
• Root (primary term or acronym that underpins the target term)
• Main Branches (direct synonymous relationship to the target term)
• Smaller Branches/Leaves (direct relationships to main branches)

Semantics and Context

Context is central to semantic discovery and especially for how Google indexes and scores web site content for its search results. An obvious example would be the word ‘knife’. A knife is a knife, but not to Google. It could be a kitchen knife, a hunting knife or a pocket-knife and each one of these has it’s own context. Therefore simply conducting a Google semantic analysis (by using the ~Tilde symbol for discovering synonyms directly before the keyword) e.g. ~knife will not help you in defining the words that have a direct contextual relationship for your content.

The key is in selecting where you insert the ~Tilde symbol into your Google Search Term. For example, by entering ~Search Engine Optimization into Google you will discover just 2 synonyms (bolded words in the search results), the first one being ‘SEO’ (an acronym for the target search term), the other being ‘search optimization’. While both of these have important semantic relevance to the target term, they show an incomplete picture of the semantic tree that we want to create.

Semantic Discovery For The Phrase Search Engine Optimization

For the phrase ‘search engine optimization’ we need to think about the context of the content. Is it about the word ‘search’ or ‘engine’? Not really. It seems to be about ‘optimization’ within the overall context of ‘search engines’. In other words both the provider of the content and the person searching for the content are really interested in the subject of ‘optimization’ for search engines.

So we conduct a different semantic search query on Google like this search engine ~optimization. Now we get a very different list of search results showing many more synonymous terms:

• SEO
• Search Engine Submission
• Search Engine Marketing
• Search Engine Placement
• Search Engine Analysis
• Search Engine Positioning
• Search Optimization
• Search Engine Ranking
• Search Engine SEO
• Search Engine Programming
• Search Engine Design
• Website Keyword Optimization
• Search Engine Keyword Analysis
• Search Engine Optimizer

Each of these terms has direct and strong semantic relevance to the target term. To see the semantic relationships, take any one of the terms and conducting a standard Google search, you’ll see that many of the Page 1 Google results include the term ‘search engine optimization’ in the results, showing the synonymous relationship.

Returning to our metaphor of the semantic tree, the acronym ‘SEO’ is the root for the target term ‘search engine optimization’ and each of the other terms are the main branches for the target term. You can download a pdf of a Semantic Map for Search Engine Optimization here.

In our next post we’ll take this analysis further and describe how to use it in structuring a web site with strong semantic relevance for the term ‘search engine optimization’.

Chris Lewis is the author of this post. Chris Lewis is the Founder of Search Engine Semantics, a site which offers consulting services, information guides and online resources for the correct implementation of Semantics for SEO.
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CONVERT BREAKS: __default__

Semantic Trees

An interesting way to think about this process is as a Semantic Tree rather than a semantic map. A semantic tree has a trunk which is the center of the tree, a root that feeds it, and branches coming off the main trunk which have a direct connection (relationship) to the trunk.

Using this metaphor, the trunk represents the primary keyword or search term that you are trying to rank for on Google, the root is Googles primary semantic root for the target search term, and the branches are the keywords and phrases which have a direct (therefore most important) synonymous relationship to the target search term.

Each of those main branches then has it’s own smaller branches and leaves which have a direct relationship to the branch that they are connected to, but a smaller and sometimes indirect relationship to the main trunk.

Therefore the components of a Semantic Tree are:

• Main Trunk (your target search term)
• Root (primary term or acronym that underpins the target term)
• Main Branches (direct synonymous relationship to the target term)
• Smaller Branches/Leaves (direct relationships to main branches)

Semantics and Context

Context is central to semantic discovery and especially for how Google indexes and scores web site content for its search results. An obvious example would be the word ‘knife’. A knife is a knife, but not to Google. It could be a kitchen knife, a hunting knife or a pocket-knife and each one of these has it’s own context. Therefore simply conducting a Google semantic analysis (by using the ~Tilde symbol for discovering synonyms directly before the keyword) e.g. ~knife will not help you in defining the words that have a direct contextual relationship for your content.

The key is in selecting where you insert the ~Tilde symbol into your Google Search Term. For example, by entering ~Search Engine Optimization into Google you will discover just 2 synonyms (bolded words in the search results), the first one being ‘SEO’ (an acronym for the target search term), the other being ‘search optimization’. While both of these have important semantic relevance to the target term, they show an incomplete picture of the semantic tree that we want to create.

Semantic Discovery For The Phrase Search Engine Optimization

For the phrase ‘search engine optimization’ we need to think about the context of the content. Is it about the word ‘search’ or ‘engine’? Not really. It seems to be about ‘optimization’ within the overall context of ‘search engines’. In other words both the provider of the content and the person searching for the content are really interested in the subject of ‘optimization’ for search engines.

So we conduct a different semantic search query on Google like this search engine ~optimization. Now we get a very different list of search results showing many more synonymous terms:

• SEO
• Search Engine Submission
• Search Engine Marketing
• Search Engine Placement
• Search Engine Analysis
• Search Engine Positioning
• Search Optimization
• Search Engine Ranking
• Search Engine SEO
• Search Engine Programming
• Search Engine Design
• Website Keyword Optimization
• Search Engine Keyword Analysis
• Search Engine Optimizer

Each of these terms has direct and strong semantic relevance to the target term. To see the semantic relationships, take any one of the terms and conducting a standard Google search, you’ll see that many of the Page 1 Google results include the term ‘search engine optimization’ in the results, showing the synonymous relationship.

Returning to our metaphor of the semantic tree, the acronym ‘SEO’ is the root for the target term ‘search engine optimization’ and each of the other terms are the main branches for the target term. You can download a pdf of a Semantic Map for Search Engine Optimization here.

In our next post we’ll take this analysis further and describe how to use it in structuring a web site with strong semantic relevance for the term ‘search engine optimization’.

Chris Lewis is the author of this post. Chris Lewis is the Founder of Search Engine Semantics, a site which offers consulting services, information guides and online resources for the correct implementation of Semantics for SEO.
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