Oke, you know what SEO means, and what Joomla is.. but this LSI?

Well, if you really are into Search Engine Optimization, you have come across this term “Latent Semantic Indexing” or in short LSI.

So, is this going to be such a long an technical post about algorithms and how they are build… no, its not..

But what you should know about LSI is simpel, it is all about related keywords!
Yes the ones you are so desperately seeking to improve your visitors numbers, but it goes beyond what you normally do.

To explain the term in a more down to earth manner, you should know that you are using it the whole day through en you didn't even realize it.
Say for example you are thinking of Joomla, what comes to mind? Components, Templates, Modules, Plugins, Content etc, all of these terms are related to the Content Management System Joomla.

Another example, you walk into an unknown supermarkt and want to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola, what do you do?
You look for a sign in the hallways marked “Soft Drinks” because you know it is related to your search.
But you don't have to think about it, you just know.

Latent Semantic Indexing

Google and other search engines use an algorithm that does something similar, it looks at the structure and words used on a website to determine the basic topic, on main subject of a website.

But is uses this related terms also in their personalized search results!
Lets look at the results a musician will get, someone who searches for Music, MP3, Records and sheet music and song lyrics in Google.
If he/she would now uses the search term “mambo”, the results will point him to websites about the Dance “Mambo”.

If I would use the same term “mambo” the results are highly focused on the Content Management System “Mambo” and there will be results about Joomla sites as well..
But that is because the main part of my searches are all about Internet and Content Management Systems.
You see these are all highly related results for both persons.

How does Joomla Help with LSI

 One thing that the search engines look for to identify the subject and relevance of your website for your Keywords is the way your website is build , or structured around the topic.

Now this is where Joomla has its strength, although some may hate it, and that is its structure for content.
You can have one, or more sections, but each section is build with categories that holds the content pages.

And to name and sort these categories, you look for, and use the structure that you see fit for your topic!
So for a Joomla Information website, you have categories about Components, Templates, Modules, Plugins and sometimes extend into Joomla SEO :-)
You see that the categorie structure forces you to think about your subject and use the most related and relevant words?

So in this case the so called weakness of Joomla becomes one of its strengths.
And yes I know, WordPress is great for Search Engine Optimization, but the use of Categories only becomes useful if your tightly restrict the use to just some categories.

Drupal is also great for Websites and Blogs, but you still have to come to grips with this Taxonomy thing..
And If you don't get it, how are you going to explain it to your customers?

Joomla is a great Content Management System, that has its pros and cons, but I really think it is one of the best for a Small or Medium Business website to start out with and has te potential to grow with the Company.
And because of the rigid structure it will help you to keep your content and structure in focus, and thus relevant for Search Engines as well as your websites visitors!

If you liked the content of this article, please subscribe to the feed to keep up-to-date.
One word of warning though… I am off to a two weeks vacation, so you won't see any update for that time.

But after that, I hope you will read some nice Search Optimization things I have thought up during that time, happy holidays!

P.s. One way to find these words, is to go to the Google Keyword Tool and use the Site-Related keywords tab and fill in the nr One website in your Niche.. you will find some great related terms you did not think off before.

First, Let me ask you, do you know how long the Googlebot or other Search Engine robots stay on your site?
No? then check you logs.

I can tell you for my websites it's under a second….

Look at your Performance

Now take a look at the performance of your website.
Does it load fast, or do you start with a flash intro, or with a big image map?

Take a real hard look at how long it takes to load your website! O, and before you do, clear your explorer cache first…. you need to see the loading time a new visitor experiences.

Did you see it, fast loading or go reaaally sslloow…..
If its fast, is that because you made it that way, or is your hosting provider up to speed with high performance servers and not overloading them with other websites.

And if its slow, the same question, did you make it that way, or are you on a cheap hosting package on which your provider is putting you on outdated servers with a small broadband connections to the Internet Backbones?

Performance and Search Engine Optimization

If you look at the results, are you satisfied, or do you have some work to do?

I asked you at the beginning of this post if you know how long the robots stay on your website.
How much of your site is being read and indexed do you think in the time its there…..

Af course if your hosting company provides a really fast server, you get more out of the robots visits.
But more important than that, what do you think your visitors experience?

A fast loading site, af course filled with quality content, will keep your visitors staying longer at your site, then if they have to wait and wait, a n d  w a i t…

And the longer they stay on your site, the search engines will think its a good site for the topic users searched for.
The more pages they view on your site, the more you climb in the SERPs for that keyword.

Choose the right one 

If you are unhappy with the performance, work with your provider!
Tell him about your problem, most of them are very knowledgeable if you talk about your website loading performance.

They might give you some good advice on how to improve your performance.

If your are still not happy, and your site is optimized for speed, then look for an other provider.
Switching is not that much of a pain anymore these days.

Improving Joomla performance 

For Joomla you can start by using the Cache function in the Global Configuration.

Then switch one the cache functions in you menu and modules.

Your provider will thank you, because it reduces the stress on there servers, since the content pages are already done.

P.s. There is more You can read on Making a Joomla site faster