Content · 3 min read
How to Extract Keywords from Content
Using frequency analysis honestly: what it shows, and what it cannot.
What frequency analysis measures
Counting words tells you what a text repeats. After removing common stop words, the terms left at the top of the list are usually the subject, because writers naturally repeat what they are writing about. Counting adjacent word pairs adds the phrases, which are far more descriptive than single words.
This is a transparent method: for every suggested tag you can point at the sentences it came from.
Tuning the settings
Minimum word length filters out noise; three or four characters is usually right. Stop-word removal should stay on for prose and can be turned off for lists of proper nouns. If a short text returns nothing, lower the minimum frequency rather than lengthening the text artificially.
What it cannot do
It cannot infer a term your content never uses, so it will not suggest a synonym you avoided. It also cannot judge whether a frequent term is important — a repeated filler phrase will rank as highly as your subject. Always read the output before applying it.