Google is rapidly improving its algorithms to determine the relationship among the various terms in blog content.
So what is keyword proximity?
Keyword proximity refers to the distance between individual words of a single search term. Distance is the number of words between them
Suppose if your target search keyword is, “coconut headphones”.
The distance between the words, “keyword” and “proximity” should be close to each other to make the proximity higher.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Keyword Proximity in SEO[/caption]You can write a sentence in several ways, the below sentences are arranged in priority order.
- Coconut headphone is the most creative way to make use of the coconut (no distance between the words.)
- Making headphone with the help of coconuts is the most creative way to use coconuts (some distance between the words)
- Using coconuts for making listening devices. It is the most creative way to make use of coconuts (included semantic keywords)
In the second one, the distance between the individual words “keyword” and “proximity” is more. Include one or two instances of this in the blog content.
In the third example, I have used the term closeness instead of proximity. It is the perfect example for LSI keywords. Including these kind of sentences frequently in the blog post helps to boost rankings.
Using semantic or related keywords closely to each other is known as semantic closeness. Google also uses this as a ranking signal.
Many of the SEO geeks think that keyword proximity refers to only main keywords. However, there is also a proximity stuff for semantic keywords.
Google treats semantic keywords as a better alternative to main keywords.
Using semantic keywords in prominent places (title, URL…) of a web page is highly discouraged. Only use semantically related keywords closely, only within the body of the main content.
Keyword proximity and Google
Google while understanding the meaning of the blog content, looks at the proximity of the main keywords. As long as the keywords appear in the paragraph, it concludes that the paragraph is about the keyword.
For example, consider the below paragraph.
To increase readability of a blog post, you have to increase the font size. You also want to increase the paragraph spacing. You must make use of bold, italics, and underlines properly. By this, we can increase the readability of a blog post.
Analyze the above paragraph. I have ended the paragraph with “increase the readability”.
Why is that so?
By reading the above paragraph, Google can understand meaning of it. By looking at the bold word at the ending of the above paragraph, Google determines that the paragraph is still about increasing readability.
“Powerful content relevancy signal”.
Look at this Google patent to know how Google looks at keyword proximity.
Best practices
- If there is an inherent relationship between the two paragraphs of a content, include a common related keyword in both paragraphs.
“The closer the keywords are placed, the greater the relationship between the two paragraphs according to Google.” - Include no distance between the keyword words in the blog post title or URL. Keyword proximity does not apply to the keyword prominent places in a web page. Include no stop words between the terms. Stop words dilute the relationship between the keywords (only in prominent places).
Hope this blog post helped you a lot. I hope you understood the concept of keyword proximity and its role in SEO.
It is one of the advanced SEO tactics used today to rank higher. Always target to keep the proximity higher.
Do share and comment.
Would love to here from you...