Keywords vs Entity

What do keywords really do?

When people type or search for queries in the search engine, the words or phrases that they use are called keywords. In order to have a successful SEO, keywords are very essential.

Nowadays we find search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing giving more preference to a term called entities rather than keywords. Search engines  used to prefer keywords and used to work based on them, for eg, Synonyms, LSI, etc.

As entities are part of the knowledge graph, search engines are now focusing on them. So when crawlers start prioritizing rich snippets and entities on search pages, the Search Engine Optimization shifts to purely depending on keywords. Keywords still play a crucial role, however, we need to increase our focus on entity-based SEO.

In order to maximize our SEO efforts we have to include a wide range of keywords, through this we can reach out to a large group of people and improve our chances of finding potential secured customers.

Here are the 5 kinds of keywords we would need to include,

1.SHORT-TAIL KEYWORDS

It’s pretty self-explanatory, short tail keywords are short!

They consist of about 2 to 3 words and are also referred to as the head keyword. Some examples would be “homes for rent”, “business marketing” and much more. Since they generate a wide range of searches they tend to be used a lot to draw traffic to their respective pages or websites.

Short tail keywords do drive-in a lot of traffic, and they are no doubt, incredibly competitive. The nature of these keywords means that your brand is one among the thousands of companies that try to rank for the same keyword. This means there are quite fewer chances that you’re likely to come out on the top of the search engine result pages, that is unless you have a lot of funds ready for your marketing strategy.

2. LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS

Long-tail keywords are longer word searches compared to short-tail keywords. They do not bring in a lot of traffic within a required time frame but they do give you the traffic you need to grow in sales over a period of time, it is the fine balance between short tail and long tail that can really help you skyrocket with your SEO strategy.

The main purpose of this keyword is that it targets a specific group of people that are looking for a more detailed query and with this, you could attract the right audience. Unlike short tail keywords where there is vast competition, long tail can help you stand out if a detailed research goes behind these keywords.

3.SYNONYMS

How do synonyms work?

Synonyms usually relate 2 words together having the same meaning. It connects your keywords having the same definition and can help you avoid keyword stuffing. Let’s look at some examples of having similar synonyms,

• “simple” and “easy”
• “big” and “large”
• “clean” and “tidy”

Using keywords that are with similar meaning can help with smart keyword research.

4.LSIs

The Google algorithm had introduced a unique technology called LSI(Latent Semantic Indexing). They are often confused with synonyms but we must remember that not every LSI keyword is a synonym. This technology helps search engines such as Google to help them understand the context and content of your page and relate them with keywords.

They differ from synonyms as they relate two keywords that provide the same context but not exactly the same meaning. LSI will prevail in the future for a very long time, hence it should be used all across your page as it can help correlate search phrases and the content of the page.

LSIs can help communicate with the users better, hence it’s a win for the search engine, user, and the respective pages that offer the specific content.

ENTITIES

It is important to understand what an entity is, an entity is a concept that follows the 3Ds rule

• DIFFERENT
• DISTINGUISHABLE
• DEFINED

An entity can be anything, a color, an object, an idea, and much more, but how does it really work?

This form of SEO is used to add structured data to your web pages. Search engines do not guarantee that the provided structured data will be used in its search results. It ranks this piece of information solely on three major factors: content, relevance, and completeness. Content that is new and up-to-date along with high quality, which is highly relevant to the page which is not missing any important information, will have more possibilities of having taken into consideration by Google and included in its search results.

• HOW ARE ENTITIES USED BY GOOGLE?

Entities are mainly used to understand concepts and their relation. For instance, someone searches for “Prime Ministers of India”, we have a wide range of information arising from this search term, including the list of all the multiple Prime Ministers that have served the nation.

Under this search term, we have multiple images, videos, and pages giving vast information about each Prime Minister, and all this would come under a single entity.

• GOOGLES KNOWLEDGE GRAPH AND ITS RELATION WITH ENTITIES.

Google’s application of this concept and idea is referred to as the Google Knowledge Graph. Unfortunately, Google does not publish any sort of information about the workings of the Knowledge Graph, so public available data regarding the process and exact implementation of the Knowledge Graph and how it relates to SEO is limited.

Google Knowledge Graph information is used to provide extra relevant content to search results. So, for example, search queries for “Narendra Modi” would include a box with important data about him, along with images, notable accomplishments, a short text, and other biographical data, like birth dates and more. Related searches, such as other party men and Prime Ministers from his era, would also be listed.