Are You Taking Advantage @ Semantic Search for Semantic Web

The listing, which reached $90,100.00 (as seen in the screenshot above) after receiving 28 bids, was canceled due to Google's Glass terms and conditions.


Are You Taking Advantage @ Semantic Search for Semantic Web


At the most basic level, the leading search engines have developed an ability to match user intent based on synonyms. See the example of a SERP for “auto shipping” below.

This is important for keyword research. When building a target list of keywords, it no longer makes sense to build a slew of pages to hyper-optimize for every synonym and permutation of those terms.
Pursue high volume / low competition terms, of course, but freely use synonyms within the page content. It will not hurt you, while opening up the possibility of ranking for terms that are not overtly targeted on the page.



auto shipping

Answers to Real Questions

Search engines have also improved how they parse and analyze real questions. Anything you need to answer is fair game. Although you will find the occasional bad match, Google mostly does a good job of serving up related content.

Some of this is based on analyzing typical phrases found in questions, e.g. “How to”, “How do I”, “Where is”, and “Who Is”. When combined with semantic keyword matching, the whole system becomes much more powerful.

Below is a sample of the SERP for “How Can I Learn to Sing”. First, notice that the right type of content serves up. Second, note that none of these are exact match to the string of characters. They are best match to the intent.




learn to sing 


Try searches for questions you need answered. More often than not, you will be pleased to find the information you need.

Rich Snippets: Overlooked By Too Many of Us

Rich snippets are well understood among SEOs, but precious few of the rest of us understand them. According to a BuiltWith Study cited by Website Magazine, only 2.5% of the top 10,000 websites in the world use microdata of any type.


Rich snippets provide structure to the search engines. Structure indicates the type of content being viewed – such as a video, work by a particular author, a customer testimonial, or an event. SERP listings then show up with a thumbnail, author image, or more structured listing (e.g. a list of events) rather than just a link.

Video Markup: Highlight Videos and Increase CTR in SERPs

Video markup is nothing new to experienced search marketers. YouTube has been showing up in SERPs with rich snippets for some time now. Video markup positions your content to appear with an image thumbnail of the video in SERPs.


Unfortunately, aside from publishers, media companies, and SEOs, video markup still lacks adoption. As you can see below, the search for “pizza video” brings up two YouTube listings and one about.com listing, all with thumbnails.



pizza video


Given the slow rate of adoption with video markup, it can be a quick win for online visibility. Do some cursory searches of terms related to your industry. No videos? There’s an opportunity to show up, possibly on page one.


If you don’t want to deal with code on your own website, post videos to YouTube with keyword rich titles and descriptions. That way, your video can show up for the right searches as seen above.

Weaving in the Knowledge Graph: Famous People For well-known personalities such as actors, musicians, politicians, and sports figures, Google does a great job of pulling together general profile information to match with search intent.

Below is the SERP for the query “Chris Webber’s Birthday”. As you can see, it pulls in his birthday and age. It also includes a basic profile from in the sidebar, a sampling of images, and a list of other well-known NBA sports figures who played around the same time as Webber.

Now that’s above and beyond the intent! Is it overkill? I don’t think so. Someone looking for Chris Webber’s birthday may be interested in those topics. If Google wants to evolve from a search engine to a “prediction engine”, they are making progress along that path.


chris webber
Below you can see an example for the query “Denzel Washington Movies”. Here, you get screenshots of the movie artwork, a Denzel “Movies” avatar, and an actor-focused profile in the sidebar.
denzel washington


There are many more examples of these sorts of SERPs. Try it for yourself – look for birthdays, major events, and visible activities for any public figure. You may be surprised to see how good Google is getting in this area.

Semantic Match: Separate from Location!

One of the most discussed SEO topics over the past two years is Local SEO. This influences the 7-pack of top local vendors on the SERPs, the sidebar map showing their locations, and links to related reviews.

While collecting information for this article, I found an interesting scenario that provided rich snippets akin to local SEO, but not for a local business. Clearly, Google has decided that Hoboken Pizza & Beer Joint in San Diego, CA has some strategic importance to the search query “pizza beer joint”.


pizza beer joint



This is the only example I found where the intent was completely misconstrued. Sure, I could be looking for a place that is hyper-optimized for “pizza beer joint”. In reality, if I search for that from Austin, TX, I’d expect to see local options. But somehow I found a whole SERP about a pizza joint located 1300 miles away.

Like I said previously, the search engines are still working out the kinks. We still see some errant SERPs, but in the end, the overall search experience stands to improve significantly over the long haul.