Are you familiar with the term “semantic search”?
There is a tendency to emphasize the quality of content in SEO measures, but it is a shortcut to know about “semantic search” in order to obtain a high search ranking.
However, if you don’t know anything about “semantic search” in the first place, you may be at a loss as to where to start.
This time, I will explain the overview of semantic search, four cases, and the impact on SEO. Use this article as a reference to take SEO measures that will be evaluated by search engines.
What is semantic search?
Semantic search is a technology that allows search engines to understand the user’s search intent and display the most appropriate content.
Specifically, Internet searches using the Google search engine. “Semantic” is a word commonly translated as “meaning” or “semantics.” On the other hand, as an IT term, it is widely used in the sense of “technology that allows computers to understand the meaning of data.”
Background behind the introduction of semantic search
The background to the introduction of semantic search is the diversification of search queries. This is because, in today’s world where the Internet has spread, it is common practice to use search engines to look up information that you do not understand.
Especially these days, the percentage of people who have smartphones is much higher than PCs, and you can easily look them up by using them instead of a dictionary. On the other hand, it has become necessary to further improve the performance of search engines in order to increase user satisfaction. In fact, Google’s mission is to “provide the most relevant and reliable information”.
Therefore, a function called “Semantic Web” was installed to instantly understand the value of sites on the Internet.
Many sites usually use HTML, but HTML is a language that humans can process when they see it, and it is a language that is difficult for computers to process.
The semantic web is a function that makes it easy for computers to understand the contents of the website, and the advantage is that information can be collected easily.
With the introduction of the Semantic Web in the early 2000s, the public realized the importance of semantic search. And in modern times, understanding the significance of semantic search is considered an effective method for SEO.
Four Cases of Semantic Search
As four cases of semantic search,
- rich snippets
- answer box
- knowledge graph
- Bold synonyms
And so on. First of all, it is important to understand the characteristics of each.
1. Rich Snippets
The reason for displaying rich snippets is to show that the site is a service that provides the best information for users by publishing more information.
Specific rich snippet items that are displayed include images, review ratings, and prices.
Usually, only a summary text part called a snippet is displayed, and it is possible to increase the click-through rate by letting users know about the content before visiting the site.
Use rich snippets to keep your users happy.
Read Also: What Is a Tag Cloud?
2. Answer box
The answer box is a function that visually places the answer of the information that the user is looking for at the top of the search.
Users will be more satisfied if they can get the best answers to their questions right away, rather than just getting information. Therefore, the ability to quickly find the information you are looking for in the Answer Box is a big appeal.
As an example of a concrete answer box,
- Featured Snippets
- Quotes Snippets
- knowledge card
- live results
There are types such as
Featured Snippets is a highly convenient function that searches for answers from information posted on the Internet and posts knowledge and answers on the top of the search results.
Knowledge Card is an answer box function based on data that holds more than 1 billion knowledge called Knowledge Graph. For example, if you want to know the calorie intake of an apple.
The final live result will be a function that will inform you of the latest situation. Specifically, today’s weather and temperature, breaking news of professional baseball games, etc. The advantage is that you can instantly receive the necessary information in real time.
3. Knowledge Graph
Specifically, the Knowledge Graph is based on Google-selected information and knowledge, and needs suggestions to fix.
On the other hand, rich snippets and collaborative snippets are part of the information on the Internet, so even individuals can modify the original information.
Also, even if you submit a correction request to the Knowledge Graph, it cannot be said that it will always be corrected. On the other hand, posting on the Knowledge Graph is a great opportunity for users to learn about your website and services, so it has the advantage of being easy to monetize.
4. Display synonyms in bold
In many other cases, similar information is in bold. Specifically, the words “gift” and “gift” have the same meaning, so when “gift” appears in bold in search results.
It is easy to visually find the information you want, which is a big advantage of displaying synonyms in bold.
The impact of semantic search on SEO
Semantic search allows search engines to display search results that match the user’s intent. This is because search engines have improved to understand page content better than ever before.
Search engines can now spot content that is inappropriate or low quality for users.
Understanding semantic search is necessary for SEO measures, but creating useful content for users is more important than anything else.
For example, users will be more satisfied if they comprehensively summarize information that includes related words in addition to the keywords they are searching for.
If you take the right approach to people searching on the internet, it will also work as a semantic search as a result.
summary
This time, I explained “Overview of Semantic Search”, “Background of Introduction of Semantic Search”, “Four Examples of Semantic Search”, and “Impact of Semantic Search on SEO”.
When it comes to SEO measures, there is a tendency to think of enriching content first, but understanding the mechanism of semantic search in the first place is also an important point of view in order to obtain a high search ranking.
This is because it not only fosters the perspective of creating quality content, but also leads to structured markup.
Please read the contents and points introduced in this article and use them to create websites and content that can transmit useful information.