Buzzwords are used everywhere in almost every market.

In internet marketing, long tail keywords and LSI keywords are mentioned lots and are often used interchangeably.

But what’s the difference between them?

And – always assuming there is a difference – does it matter?

Let’s start with the a quick definition of each of the terms:

• Long tail keywords: these are the epitome of the 80/20 rule (the ratios will change from keyword to keyword but the principle holds). A majority of the searches for a keyword phrase will be for a handful of terms. The remainder of the searches will be spread out over a multitude of phrases – usually ones that drill down further into the subject but that include the original keyword phrase in the search.
• LSI keywords: these are words that are related to the original phrase and that can be swapped in a particular context. So they don’t include some of the words that were originally searched for but they bring up results that are equally relevant.

Long tail keywords are the original way that internet marketers targeted ever-tighter niches.

So instead of just targeting the word “Wimbledon” for the tennis tournament, you would drill down to more precise phrases.

Which is a good idea – Wimbledon doesn’t just refer to the tournament. It’s an area of London with a common (open space or park) that was made famous by the Wombles. So if you were just targeting the one word, Google wouldn’t know much about the real intent of the page. And searches for that word will likely change in intent over the course of the year – searches in June and July would likely lead to tennis related results. But if the children’s television series made a come back then that could be highlighted as well.

Long tail keywords usually help both you and potential visitors to drill down to something closer to their original intention.

I’m not a tennis fan, I just picked on Wimbledon because it’s soon to take place at the time of writing and it’s a good example of a one word phrase that is likely to get a decent result in a search despite being fairly vague. If I’d picked on The Open (a golf championship) that would have made it more difficult to explain.

Long tail keywords help Google return pages that are better related to the thing a potential visitor is searching for.

It suggests possible drill downs as you search. That isn’t just to cater for lazy searchers – although it works that way and sometimes saves a bit of typing – it’s to Google’s advantage as well.

Within reason, the more they encourage people to drill down their search the more likely they are to be able to deliver the pages you were hoping to get in the first place. And the more likely you are to stay with Google rather than shift across to Bing.

Keeping with Wimbledon, some of the slightly longer keyword phrases offered include tickets and past winners. When the tournament takes place there’s a good chance that the current results will be shown – that happens with other big sporting events such as the World Cup.

Partly because it’s convenient for searchers. And, I suspect, partly because if you find the result you’re looking for without having to make an extra mouse click then there’s a chance you’ll click on an advert (if any are shown – I didn’t find any when I searched but Yahoo and Bing show adverts for betting sites) or make a new search that does include adverts.

Either way, Google gets to keep their relatively uncluttered main search page.

LSI keywords are different.

I used them earlier when I qualified what I meant by Wimbledon common for those who come from parts of the world where that’s not a common term.

And the use of “common” with two different meanings in that last sentence wasn’t deliberate.

I nearly changed it when I was typing but thought against it as it helps illustrate the point quite neatly.

LSI keywords are words that are either interchangeable in context or that have a sufficiently similar meaning that they could both be relevant.

When you’re searching, Google gives a really heavy hint that it considers extra words to be relevant: it bolds them.

Search engines use bolding to help show that they’ve got the results you were looking for.

Most of the time that means that single and plural versions of a word will be highlighted.

Even if the different variants are reasonably distinct.

I just did a search for cows mooing (makes a change from Facebook cats) and the result that posed the question Do Cows Moo in Different Accents (answer: probably not) highlighted the word “moo” even though the search had been for “mooing”.

Watch out for this behaviour the next time you search or when you’re doing some keyword research. It can quickly lead you to potential keyword ideas that hadn’t initially crossed your mind.

Another place to look for LSI keywords are the related searches that appear near the end of the first page for most search results.

Often they will include LSI phrases – pigs oinking was one when I searched.

Doing that would give you countless ideas for potentially viral videos.

And, of course, doing the same for your niche will work in the same way.

And – just for fun – I checked the related searches for pigs oinking and got these suggestions:

That kind of search gives you plenty of ideas for related terms and if you were creating a site related to the nursery rhyme that would allow you to explore related terms for as long as you wanted.

If you’d like to know more about using these ideas for your keyword research, check out this link.

And if you’ve got any comments, please put them in the box below.