Does Google only look at LSI per page or context of the Site?

[AshShep1]

From what I have read i should optimise each page for a keyword/phrase, however, I read recently that google may also look at the context of the site to see if there are other similar words.

For example i have different pages optimised for Funeral Planning, funeral plans, funeral plan costs, compare funeral plans, why buy a funeral plan, paying for a funeral, prepaid funeral plans.

Is this the best strategy when the words/phrases are so close or should i go for longer pages with the variations on one page or at least less pages?

Thanks

Ash

[AshShep1]

Thank Everett thats really helpful.

I must admit i do wonder whether i have split out too many pages that could be combined, I think when i launched this version of the site in June, i was trying to focus a core keyword per page, with plurials etc, as i didnt think google would in the example you used pick up funeral planning & funeral plans as connected - god this job is hard sometimes!

Ash

[Everett]

Hello AshShep1,

I don't think anyone is going to be able to tell you for sure whether Google looks at LSI specifically on a per-page or site-wide basis. However, it sounds like there is definitely some overlap with your landing pages. For example, "funeral planning" and "funeral plans" could probably be one page, which then links off to the others. The fact that Google bolds "planning" when I search for "funeral plans" tells me they view the two keywords as being so semantically related as to be almost synonymous.

The "funeral plan costs" and "paying for a funeral" page sound like they could be combined, and the "compare funeral plans" and "prepaid funeral plans" could probably be combined. I would look into the keywords to see which, if any, have the overwhelming majority of search volume and focus on that one while using the others as secondary or tertiary keywords within the context of the page.

But...Really it comes down to how you think the information is best presented to your visitors. If the "prepaid funeral plans" or the "compare funeral plans" content is best presented on its own then that is what you should do.

You may be seeking a more concrete answer from someone so I will leave this question open as a discussion for awhile. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

[SErOb]

Everything should be done within the context of the site.

http://moz.com/blog/how-to-rank