Keyword Research and Semantic Core¶

Complete process of collecting, cleaning, clustering, and assigning keyword groups to pages. Covers Yandex Wordstat operators, collection methods, SERP-based clustering, and tools.

Core Terminology¶

• Semantic core - complete set of keyword groups covering all user search demand for a site
• Marker - anchor query most precisely describing a page's content; the base for expansion
• Cluster - group of queries served by a single page
• Frequency - number of times a query was searched per month (Wordstat data)
• Cloud of queries - full expanded set of queries collected around markers

Sources for Query Collection¶

Reliable Sources¶

1. Yandex Wordstat - direct search demand data (most accurate for RU segment)
2. Search suggestion parsing - tools collecting autocomplete suggestions
3. Parsing programs - Key Collector, Rush Analytics (automate Wordstat/suggestion collection)

Less Reliable (Supplementary)¶

1. Keyword databases - pre-collected query lists; unclear origin/completeness; may contain garbage
2. Competitor site parsing - reflects competitor's structural decisions, not full demand

Supporting Data¶

• Yandex Metrika - queries that previously drove traffic
• Yandex Webmaster - search appearance statistics
• Google Keyword Planner - Google equivalent of Wordstat

Yandex Wordstat Deep Dive¶

Left vs Right Column¶

• Left column - N-gram frequency dictionary: sum of all queries containing the phrase in any form, any order, any length
• Right column - "Similar queries" - unreliable; shows queries same users searched, not synonyms

Wordstat Operators¶

Combining Operators¶

For collecting queries:

fridge (samsung|lg) (buy|price|order) -reviews

For precise frequency:

"[!fridge !samsung]"

7-Word Trick¶

Write the same word 7 times in quotes to find all queries of that exact length:

"keyword keyword keyword keyword keyword keyword keyword"

Frequency Types¶

Standard Collection Process¶

Step 1: Collect Markers¶

Manual - for "dirty" niches or small semantics (<30 Wordstat pages). Tools: WordStatter, WordStat Assistant extensions.

Automated - for large catalogs and clean niches. Tools: Rush Analytics, Key Collector.

Expand markers before collecting: add Cyrillic/Latin variants, commercial prefixes, price indicators - each generates different suggestion sets.

Step 2: Parse Wordstat Left Column¶

For each expanded marker, collect all queries from left column.

Step 3: Parse Search Suggestions¶

Suggestions can 5-7x the query list. Each of 100 markers can generate 600-700 unique queries.

Step 4: Parse Competitor Structure (Optional)¶

Crawl competitor category pages with Screaming Frog, extract H1 values = competitor's structured semantic decisions.

Example: For a phone store, crawl a competitor's /tag/ pages only (exclude pagination) to extract all filter/attribute pages as H1 values.

Step 5: Combine and Clean¶

Remove stop words: non-commercial stops ("reviews", "forum", "DIY"), competitor brand names, geographic stops if not needed.

Step 6: Check Frequency¶

Pull frequency for all collected queries. Remove zero-frequency queries before creating pages.

Step 7: Cluster¶

SERP-based clustering (standard): - Service collects TOP-10 results for each query - If 2 queries share >=8 TOP-10 pages -> same group (same intent) - Principle: same documents in SERP = identical user intent

Manual refinement always required: merge incorrectly separated clusters, split incorrectly merged ones, fix cluster names.

Step 8: Cross-Multiplication (Large Catalogs)¶

Products x Brands x Attributes = generated query list. Pull frequency, remove zero-frequency results.

Cluster to Page Assignment¶

Some queries can ONLY rank on the homepage - check SERP: if all top results are homepages, assign to homepage.

AI-Assisted Workflows¶

Marker Generation with AI¶

Iteration 1: Provide site type, topic, base keywords, known characteristics -> get ALL characteristic types.

Iteration 2: For each characteristic type, list all values including synonyms, jargon, misspellings. Format as table.

Result: [characteristic] x [value] combinations -> each row becomes a parse marker.

Meta Tag Generation¶

Title rules: most frequent query at beginning; each word once; up to 80 chars / 12 words; natural sentence, not keyword list; no discounting words.

Description rules: 150-159 chars, max 18 words; call to action + USP; synonyms to keywords; 1-2 neutral emoji allowed.

Content Brief Generation via AI¶

1. Run text analysis via Rush Analytics on target keywords
2. Parse competitor pages - extract text with heading hierarchy and token counts
3. Generate outline via AI: title, summary, target audience, H2-H3 structure
4. Distribute keywords and LSI across outline sections with exact occurrence counts

Tools for Semantic Work¶

SEOXL Excel Add-in¶

• Color by cluster - alternating colors for cluster boundaries
• Sort within cluster - sorts by frequency inside each cluster
• Sort clusters by total frequency - highest-traffic clusters first
• Lemma dictionary - most frequent word roots across queries; find stop-word categories
• Cluster review - separate sheet with first row per cluster; merge by dragging adjacent
• Squeeze - strips specified word roots; exposes distinguishing modifiers for deduplication

Key Collector (Desktop)¶

• Mass Wordstat parsing, frequency collection, internal clustering
• 4-pass frequency collection (base, phrase, exact phrase, [exact exact])
• SERP-based clustering: hard (intersection) or soft (union), configurable
• Task scheduler for overnight unattended runs
• Multi-group mode: apply operations to all groups simultaneously

Rush Analytics (Cloud)¶

Cloud-based parsing, frequency checking, SERP-based clustering.

Google Sheets Scripts¶

All SEOXL functions replicable via Google Apps Script generated by AI. Prompt format: describe scope ("work with selected range") -> describe action per cell -> specify output location -> iterate with corrections.

Gotchas¶

• Right column of Wordstat is unreliable - use only as supplementary; shows "queries same users searched" not synonyms
• Zero-frequency queries should not get pages - creates thin content harming overall site quality
• SERP-based clustering requires manual review - automatic clustering fails in 10-20% of cases
• Marker expansion is critical - bare markers miss 5-7x queries that expanded variants capture
• Cross-multiplication generates garbage - always validate with frequency data before creating pages
• Do not include LF queries in text analyzer - they distort results; use up to 6 queries optimal

See Also¶

• text optimization - Using semantic core for content briefs and text analyzer
• site structure urls - How clusters map to site structure
• seo tools workflow - Tool setup and configuration details
• seo strategy by site type - Strategy differences in semantic approach