| Have you ever wondered how Search Engines | | | | natural language into a mathematical form |
| (SE) know which pages to give you when you do | | | | that the computer can understand and process. |
| a search? For example when you search for | | | | |
| "Apple" the computer, how does the SE know | | | | The use of semantics is really central in LSI |
| not to give you pages about Apple juice or | | | | for SE. They are used to try to emulate what |
| Apple farming? | | | | a human being would rank highly. Semantics |
| | | | refers to the aspect of meaning in a |
| The solution that handles this is what is | | | | language. Its here we get terms like synonyms |
| often referred to here as a SE algorithm. An | | | | and polysems (i.e. the same word with |
| algorithm is mathematical formula for solving | | | | different meanings e.g. Apple for the |
| complex problems. SE algo is the formula used | | | | Macintosh computers and Apple for the fruit) |
| by SEs to rank the pages contained in its | | | | |
| index depending on the query. Years back when | | | | The question doing rounds in SE forums around |
| SE algos were still rudimentary they used, | | | | the internet is whether or not Google is |
| what in retrospect are very crude means to | | | | using LSI in their ranking. What is known for |
| provide most relevant results to a query. | | | | sure is that Google Inc. did buy Applied |
| Among them was the use of keyword density. | | | | Semantics, a company that creates software |
| This used frequency of a particular word or | | | | applications based on LSI technology. We also |
| term to decide if it should rank higher or | | | | know that LSI is in their systems. How do we |
| lower. | | | | know you ask? Just use the toggle key before |
| | | | your search query. The toggle key is the key |
| But unfortunately this does not represent | | | | often to the extreme left of the computer |
| complete reality. For example it was the | | | | keyboard just below the escape key with the |
| assumption of the algo that if a page is | | | | "~" sign. You will need to hold down the |
| about dieting, the word should be the most | | | | shift key. |
| frequently used word apart from other | | | | |
| grammatical necessities like me, I, and, the, | | | | If you type it before the term "apple" you |
| or etc. But this is not always true. This is | | | | will notice that in the resulting SERP are |
| because in most writings, to avoid monotony | | | | about computers with words like Mac, |
| there is a mix of words of similar meaning - | | | | Macintosh, G4, Apple Computer bolded. If you |
| synonyms. So a page about dieting may also | | | | toggle the plural i.e. "apples" you will |
| include lose weight or weight loss. | | | | notice that now you have pages on apple |
| | | | fruits and the word fruit is also bolded. The |
| Enter LSI; LSI or Latest Semantic Indexing is | | | | bolded words are what the SE also considers |
| an informational retrieval system that | | | | as synonyms to the search queries "apple" and |
| depends on a technique used to process | | | | apples" respectively. |