Semantic distance

Semantic distance is how far apart in meaning a query and a piece of content are, and reducing it makes content more likely to be retrieved for that query.

Semantic distance comes from information retrieval and computational linguistics, where it describes measurable similarity in a vector space.

In SEO it is used by semantic and topical authority practitioners.

Keyword matching asks whether the words are the same. Semantic distance asks whether the meanings are close, which is why paraphrases can retrieve.

Topical authority is about breadth across a subject. Semantic distance is about proximity on a single query.

Chapter 21 treats reducing semantic distance as the practical work that follows from having a topical map, moving from broad topics to specific contexts so the content sits close to the questions people actually ask, rather than close to the words they happen to use.

Read about the book's argument.