Semantic SEO: What It Is & 10 Tips for Success

What Is Semantic SEO?

Semantic SEO is the process of optimizing online content around a topic or user need—not just an individual keyword. With the aim of ranking higher when people make relevant searches in Google.

It typically involves:

  • Identifying your-brand-should-consider-investing-in-this-year">and addressing a user need
  • Writing in a user-friendly and natural way
  • Covering related concepts and subtopics
  • Organizing information into a logical structure

For example, Lonely Planet’s Cinque Terre guide ranks in the top spot for 109 keywords. Including “italy cinque terre,” “how to explore cinque terre,” and “cinque terre how many days.” 

According to Semrush’s Organic Research tool: 

keyword list of search terms that appear in position 1 for the URL

This is not because the page mentions all those keywords.

It’s because the page is a comprehensive travel guide that’s perceived to best satisfy the needs of the users searching those queries.

Cinque Terre travel guide blog page

Why Is Semantic SEO Important?

Semantic SEO is important because it aligns your content with users’ needs and the way Google evaluates online content. So your content is more likely to generate traffic and revenue.

In the past, Google used lexical search. Which means it found search results by exactly matching words in the user’s query with words on pages.

Today, Google uses semantic search. This means that it evaluates the meaning of queries and online content to provide the best search results.

It does this using systems like:

  • Natural language processing (NLP): A form of artificial intelligence that allows computers to better understand human language
  • Knowledge Graph: An information database that maps relationships between entities (such as people, places, and things)

Including keywords in your content is still helpful for search engine optimization (SEO). But it no longer carries the same weight.

Addressing the need behind a keyword is more important than including the keyword itself.

10 Semantic SEO Best Practices

Here are 10 best practices for semantic SEO:

1. Satisfy Search Intent

Search intent is the underlying reason or goal behind a user’s search query. And you must understand and satisfy search intent to rank highly for a topic.

Use the Keyword Magic Tool for this.

Enter a basic term related to your niche.

Then, choose your country and click “Search.”

search for "cinque terre" in Keyword Magic Tool

The tool will present keywords that include your starting term or a close variation.

And the “Intent” column shows the type of search intent behind each keyword:

I

Informational

The user wants to find information

N

Navigational

The user wants to find a specific website or webpage

C

Commercial

The user wants to research a brand, product, or service

T

Transactional

The user wants to take action (e.g., buy something)

Keywords and their search intent highlighted

For a deeper understanding of search intent, click the icon in the “SF” column.

This allows you to view the search engine results page (SERP) for the corresponding term.

View SERP icon highlighted

Look at the SERP features (special results that are different from traditional listings) and results that show to get a fuller sense of the keyword’s search intent.

For example, the “cinque terre” SERP is dominated by tourist information:

Cinque Terre SERP has organic results featuring travel guides and things to do in the area

To satisfy this keyword’s search intent, you probably need to create a Cinque Terre travel guide. That describes where it is, whether it’s worth visiting, and recommendations of things to do.

If this type of content is likely to attract relevant audiences and help you achieve business goals, then it could be worth adding to your plan.

Repeat this process for multiple terms. And note that you’ll likely encounter different keywords with the same intent. Which we’ll discuss more in the next tip.

Then, save your target keywords using the checkboxes and the “+ Add to keyword list” button.

2. Do Keyword Clustering

Keyword clustering is the process of grouping keywords that share the same search intent. (Or have highly related search intents.)

For example, people searching “what to visit in cinque terre” and “cinque terre things to do” are looking for the same kinds of results. 

So, these keywords should be targeted on the same page.

This concept is important in semantic SEO because it encourages you to cover topics comprehensively. And prevents you from creating multiple pages that fulfill the same purpose.

You can simplify keyword clustering with Semrush’s Keyword Strategy Builder.

Open one of your keyword lists.

keyword list highlighted

Then, click “Cluster this list.”

The tool will group keywords that should be targeted on the same page.

keyword clusters highlighted which include groups like "where is cinque terre," "where to stay in cinque terre," and "florence to cinque terre"

Click the arrow alongside any page idea to see the individual keywords in the cluster and their metrics.

You’ll also find some useful content references.

expanded cluster shows list of related keywords, their search volume, search intent, and content references

If your topic is broad enough to warrant multiple pages, consider creating a topic cluster.

A topic cluster is made up of:

  • A pillar page that provides a topical overview
  • Subpages that cover associated subtopics
  • Hyperlinks between both kinds of pages

This structure makes it easier for search engines to understand how your content fits together. And for users to navigate between related pages.

To quickly create topic clusters with pillar pages, subpages, and keyword clusters, go to Keyword Strategy Builder and simply enter one to five keywords. The tool will take care of the rest. 

3. Use Natural Language

Using natural language that makes sense for your target audience keeps your content focused on them and what they want.

Keyword stuffing (forcing keywords in where they don’t belong) doesn’t work to influence rankings anymore. And it can make your content look spammy.

Instead, focus on:

  • Writing accurately and concisely
  • Using language that your target audience understands
  • Keeping sentences and paragraphs short to assist readability

You can get help with Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant.

As you write, the tool highlights any issues related to readability and keyword stuffing:

text is highlighted with related content issues such as hard-to-read-sentences and complex words

And built-in AI tools make it easy to address any issues:

Sentence highlighted to show the option to Simplify with the AI writing tool

4. Write Descriptive Subheadings

Descriptive subheadings make it easier for search engines to understand the breadth and depth of your content. And make it easier for users to find the information they want.

They also help to break up your content. So readers aren’t faced with huge blocks of text. 

Incorporate subheadings using the correct HTML heading tags to ensure your pages have a logical structure.

That means using H2 headings for main sections, H3 headings for subsections of your H2 headings, and so on.

Like this:

one example blog shows a title with no subheadings making the post text-heavy while the second example blog has headings and subheadings to break up the text

5. Add Visuals (with Alt Text)

Visuals like charts, photos, and illustrations can make your content more appealing. And help you communicate information more effectively.

Whenever you add a visual, provide descriptive alt text. You should write it as though you’re describing the image to someone over the phone.

This allows you to communicate the meaning of the image to users who have visual impairments. As well as search engines.

For example, this alt text tells Google that our marketing funnel guide contains an informative graphic:

on the left, an image in a blog post is highlighted, and on the right, is the alt text for that image in the code

6. Include Semantic Keywords

Semantic keywords are terms that conceptually relate to your chosen topic. And including these terms (in an appropriate context) can ensure your content is useful.

Find semantic keywords with Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant.

Start a new document and click “Set a new goal.”

Enter your keywords, set your target audience, then click “Get recommendations.”

keywords like cinque terre towns, cities in cinque terre, and cinque terre villages entered into SEO Writing Assistant

The tool will analyze the top-ranking results to provide a variety of recommendations.

You’ll find semantic keyword ideas in the “SEO” > “Recommended keywords” section of the sidebar.

Recommended keywords show semantic keyword ideas like italian riviera, castello di riomaggiore, and more

In our example, one of the semantic keywords is “train station.”

This suggests that top-ranking competitors include transportation information when writing about the towns of Cinque Terre. So, you should consider doing the same.

As you draft your content in the SEO Writing Assistant, you can easily check whether you’ve included semantic keywords:

tool highlights semantic keywords used in the text

You’ll also get other feedback relating to SEO. As well as suggestions concerning readability, originality, and tone of voice.

If you need help improving your content, take advantage of the AI-powered Smart Writer tools. 

this draft has a score of 4.5/10 with Smart Writer tools available to improve that score, such as Rephraser, Compose, and Ask AI

7. Answer FAQs

Answering relevant FAQs makes your content more comprehensive. And can help you rank in People Also Ask (PAA) boxes on the Google results page. 

Like this:

cinque terre people also ask box shows questions like why is cinque terre so famous, what are the 5 cities in cinque terre, and more

You can find frequently searched questions with the Keyword Magic Tool.

Just apply the “Questions” filter after performing your search:

questions filter applied which shows keywords like where to stay in cinque terre, how to get to cinque terre, and more

Or filter for keywords that trigger PAA boxes.

Like this:

Click Advanced filters, choose the SERP features drop-down, select People Also Ask, then apply the filter

Then view the corresponding SERPs. To see which questions and answers appear.

View SERP icon highlighted

8. Apply BLUF

BLUF stands for “bottom line up front.” It means you should provide the most important information straight away. And go into detail afterward.

Let’s say you have the subheading “When Should I Go to Cinque Terre?”

This first line after this should start with something like “We recommend that you go to Cinque Terre in …”

You can then provide context for your recommendation.

Applying BLUF is one of the best ways to decrease time to value (give users what they need as soon as possible). And reduce unnecessary fluff in your writing.

Links allow you to direct users to helpful resources.

They also help Google understand what your page—and the linked page—is about. Which is why they’re so important in semantic SEO.

For example, our post about content creation tools links to our post about content creation

And the anchor text (clickable text) is “content creation”: 

anchor text highlighted

This link helps Google and users understand two important things:

  1. These pages are topically related to each other
  2. The linked page is more relevant to the broader topic of “content creation” 

So, link to related pages (particularly those on your site) when creating content. And use descriptive anchor text.

10. Use Structured Data

Structured data is a way of organizing information that helps search engines identify different elements of your content. And is often implemented using the common vocabulary laid out by Schema.org.

For example, you can use it to tag the prep time and cook time in a recipe:

recipe prep time, cook time, and total time shown in the code and in the blog post

Structured data is great for semantic SEO because it helps search engines identify and interpret data points accurately.

Plus, it makes you eligible for rich snippets (enriched search results that can get more attention and clicks).

Like this one:

rich snippet for the recipe shows the total cook time

Google supports structured data for articles, job postings, products, and more.

You can get help applying certain types with its Structured Data Markup Helper.

Build Your Semantic SEO Strategy

Semrush has all the tools you need to build and execute a semantic SEO strategy.

Create your free account to:

And much more.

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