What is relevance?
In online search, relevance, as the name suggests, is a measure of the relatedness of a particular website, web page, or piece of content to a particular search query.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How does Google determine relevance?
While no one aside from Google actually knows how exactly the company’s search algorithm determines the relevance of a website, web page, or piece of content to a particular search query because it uses hundreds of ranking signals, it has been established that it takes into account factors such as:
- The search intent of the user to figure out exactly what the user is looking for – An example of this would be a query with the keyword ‘football’. It is up to Google to figure out if the user is looking for American football or football, which is also known as soccer.
- The keywords a website, web page, or piece of content uses to get an idea of what it is about – For example, a piece of content that uses the keywords ‘muscle building’, ‘progressive overload’, and ‘total work volume’ is most likely about ways to build muscle.
- The topics a website, web page, or piece of content covers to better understand what it is about – Aside from the keywords used, Google also checks the actual content of a website to determine what it is actually about.
- The number of backlinks a website, web page, or piece of content has to gauge how reliable of a source it is – The number of backlinks is directly linked to the number of people sharing a piece of content. The higher the number, the more people view said content as a valuable and credible resource.
Question #2: How can I ensure the relevance of my content to particular search terms?
To ensure the relevance of your content to particular search terms, you will need to optimise for said search terms.
But how exactly can you do that? Well, here is a simplified step-by-step guide:
- Identify your target audience. Before anything else, you need to know who you would be creating content for because they will be the ones searching for your products, services, and content.
- Do keyword research. Once you have identified your target audience, find out what keywords they use to find products, services, and content related to yours.
- Think of topics that naturally make use of your target keywords. For example, if you are trying to rank for the keywords ‘whey protein’, then you can publish content on topics such as:
- The best whey protein brands
- How much whey protein is necessary
- How important whey protein is to muscle building
- How to get more out of whey protein
- Craft the content and use an SEO tool to optimise. For this step, it is better to use a tool to not only simplify the entire process, but also ensure that you are always optimising in line with the latest guidelines of the top search engines.
Question #3: Is relevance the only way to rank in search?
Technically, yes—despite Google taking into account hundreds of ranking signals to determine which websites, web pages, and pieces of content are relevant to a particular search query.
As for appearing on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs), on the other hand, you have another option: Google Ads.
Google’s advertising platform not only lets you target exactly who you want to see your ads based on things such as demographics, interests, and keywords used, but also lets you show up on the first page of its SERPs—in addition to other related websites that display Google Ads—regardless of the actual ranking of your website, web page, or content.
Needless to say, this paid option is the best way to go if you are looking to see more immediate and guaranteed results. Keep in mind that no matter how well you optimise your content for search, unless you operate in an extremely niche industry, there is still no guarantee that you will rank high given how much new content gets published every single day.