That is the rumour – and if it was true think of all the work done on keyword strategies going up in smoke, thanks again to Google.
I’ve done some digging and can confirm that we need to be ‘alert but not alarmed’.
Keywords will be a significant component of our SEO strategy for years to come but we do need to revisit how we’re using them.
Why? Because Google can now understand natural language.
Using a semantics search Google will be filtering out the meanings of words and then connecting them to other related words.
For example, you have a vacancy on your website for a two-bedroom unit in South Adelaide and your village is affordable and cheaper than others in the area. But you don’t use the words “affordable retirement villa’s South Adelaide” on your website.
But if you have the price on your website and you get a good amount of monthly views, and a customer searching types in “affordable retirement villas South Adelaide” Google takes over and determines on its own that “villas” are like “units” and your prices fit the “affordable” criteria the user is looking for.
Google will then elevate your website to the top of the results for “affordable” even though you didn’t describe them that way.
For marketers this means that we should go beyond using precise words and start using colloquial words around what our customers are searching for in our website content. This actually means more words!
Therefore in reality keywords are more crucial than ever for SEO strategies – so “same same but different”.
Allison
