Understanding how to find and use relevant data can make all the difference when it comes to content. Semantic analysis is one of those tactics you’ll definitely want to utilize.

The goal of semantic analysis is to see content the way Google sees it in an attempt to increase the comprehensiveness of our content around a given subject. Google understands what topics are associated with a particular searched keyword, rather than just the keyword itself. If we reverse engineer this, we discover that adding more relevant (and useful) information to our content may improve its ability to rank. The goal is to identify what connected topics are missing, and then add in that missing information to make our content more comprehensive.

One example of this came as we attempted to rank a client for the competitive keyword “coconut oil.” Following this process, we were able to see which significant terms were related to that keyword. As we did this for our content piece on coconut oil, we were able to find that we had overlooked a promising potential connection to the term “yeast infection.” Before this analysis we hadn’t even considered including information on coconut oil and yeast infections in our content strategy, but because of semantic analysis we knew this was something valuable to our audience. As soon as we added more information about yeast infections, we saw significant increases in traffic to our content (25k -> 50k daily views in two weeks).

We wanted data to back this claim, so we put semantic analysis to the test. When comparing pages written with audience-focused data that came from semantic analysis to pages that did not, the ones that utilized semantic analysis ranked for 5x more keywords and received 12x the organic traffic than pages that didn’t. Additionally, articles with audience-focused data perform over 400% better when promoted. Control pages saw no increase to performance when promoted with links.

Semantic analysis isn’t just about being seen. It helps us be better advocates for the customer. With the help of this method, the content we create won’t just be based on our own limited understanding, but rather will support exactly what the customer is looking for, better meeting their true needs. When we are better advocates for our audience, we are going to see the results we are looking for. Search intent analysis and semantic analysis aren’t the only ways to gather information on your market. There are hundreds of interesting ways to gather that information and wrap up your content strategy.