Relevance

Why is relevance a Google ranking metric?

Relevancy is a fundamental part of Google search. In their mission statement, under ‘Our approach to Search‘, they clearly state their aim to:

“Deliver the most relevant and reliable information available

Every day, fifteen percent of searches are ones we haven’t seen before, so we use automated systems to get you the most relevant and reliable information we can find. To help you find what you’re looking for, these systems consider many factors, including the words in your query, the content of pages, the expertise of sources, and your language and location. To measure whether people continue to find our results relevant and reliable, we have a rigorous process that involves extensive testing and the use of quality raters who ensure our automated systems produce great results as a human would expect.“

The primary goal of Google’s search engine is to deliver relevant results to users. So, your website’s relevancy is essential if you want to be visible in the search results.

How Google measures relevance

Google evaluates relevance through multiple interconnected factors, each contributing to how your content aligns with user intent.

On-Page relevance

Your web page’s content must closely match the user’s search query. This includes:

• Keywords: Incorporating primary and related keywords naturally into your metadata, headings, and body text. This is the foundation of on-page SEO.
• Search Intent: Tailoring content to match what the user is trying to achieve, whether informational, navigational, or transactional.
• Content Depth: Providing detailed, thorough answers that satisfy the user’s needs.

Website relevance

Google doesn’t just look at individual web pages, it also looks at your website’s overall theme and focus. A site that consistently publishes content within a specific niche is more likely to be deemed relevant for related queries.

For example:

• A fitness-focused website will rank better for “best workouts for weight loss” than a general lifestyle blog that only occasionally discusses fitness.

Link relevance

Inbound links are a huge part of SEO, especially for competitive keywords. However, it’s not just about quantity, or quality, it’s also about relevance. Links from authoritative websites related to the same keyword will signal to Google that your content is relevant to that keyword. 

For example:

• A backlink from a leading tech blog to an article on “The 10 best budget laptops” will be a major boost to the page’s authority and relevance to keywords related to laptops.

Brand mentions and online presence

Mentions of your brand, even without a direct link, contribute to topical authority. This includes reviews, social media discussions, and mentions in news articles. For instance:

• A mention of a laptop brand in a BBC article about top laptops can enhance the relevance for that brand in searches related to “best laptops.”

Contextual signals

Google also considers additional factors, such as:

• User Location: Prioritising local results when applicable.
• Personalisation: Tailoring results based on users’ past searches and behaviour.
• Related Terms: Understanding synonyms and related phrases to match user intent effectively.

How to assess relevance

Competitor analysis plays a key role in determining how relevant your website needs to be for your pages to rank for your target keywords. For example, if you want to rank for the keyword ‘budget laptops’, then you need to analyse the websites already ranking on page one for this keyword. You will need to assess:

• How many pages they have relevant to the keyword: We can assess this by conducting a site search that looks at how many pages their website has that contain the keyword in the title, headings, body text and URLs. If they have 100 pages relevant to budget laptops, then we may need to have around the same number to be able to compete.

• How many links they have from relevant websites, and how many links containing the keyword in the anchor text: Anchor text in particular is one of the biggest relevancy signals, however this has a history of abuse within SEO, which led to the infamous Pengiun update in 2012. However, if a website has links from other websites that contain the keyword in the anchor text, for example ‘best budget laptops‘ then this will provide a huge advantage. Similarly, if these links come from websites that are also relevant to budget laptops, then it will provide an even bigger raking signal. We can analyse anchor text and backlink profiles with tools such as SEMrush and Majestic.

• How many brand mentions they have in context with the keyword: This is related to Google’s E-E-A-T algorithm and counts for people as much as it does brands. If a brand is mentioned within an article about budget laptops, whether it has a link or not, then Google will still apply weight to this mention. Similarly, if a person associated with your website has mentions, or has been featured on other websites in the context of laptops, then their name will add additional weight to the relevancy of your page to the keyword.

How to optimise for relevance

To maximise relevance and improve ranking positions, you need to look at the full picture and not just individual pages. If you’ve completed your competitor analysis, then you will have a target to aim for. For example, if you’re trying to rank top for the keyword ‘budget laptops’, then your analysis may show that you need 150 pages on your website relevant to budget laptops. You may need 50 links from relevant websites and 10 that contain the exact match anchor text. Your website may also need to be associated with a person who has been featured on multiple industry websites related to laptops, or budget tech equipment.

Content relevance

Google first looks at the page title to determine what a page is about. It will then look at the main heading (H1), and then at other headings and the body content. You should include your keyword throughout all these areas, however, increasing relevance doesn’t just apply to text. When assessing the relevance of a page, Google says:

We also use aggregated and anonymised interaction data to assess whether search results are relevant to queries. We transform that data into signals that help our machine-learned systems better estimate relevance. Just think: when you search for “dogs,” you likely don’t want a page with the word “dogs” on it hundreds of times. With that in mind, algorithms assess if a page contains other relevant content beyond the keyword “dogs” – such as pictures of dogs, videos, or even a list of breeds. – Relevance of content by Google

This means the more relevant content you can add to the page, the better, which includes images and video. It doesn’t stop at individual pages however.

For example, if website A has 100 pages on dogs, and website B only has 1, which website do you think Google will show higher when a user searches for dogs?

It would be logical to conclude that website A is more relevant, because it has more pages relevant to the term. This is why it’s essential to analyse competitors to see how many relevant pages they have, and you should aim to create as many, if not more.

If after your analysis you find you have a target of 150 pages, then ideally you would have 150 pages that contain the keyword within the title, headings and body text as well as within imagery and videos.

There are multiple ways to add this type of relevant content. For example, if you have an e-commerce website and have 150 budget laptops for sale, then you will already have 150 product pages that are relevant to the search term. You just need to ensure the keyword is in all the relevant places on these pages.

If you don’t have that many products available, then you will need to put together a content strategy. This could include informational blog posts, comparison reviews, how to’s, FAQs or opinion pieces around specific laptops. The more content you add related to budget laptops, the more relevant your entire website will be to this search term.

Link relevance

Gaining relevant links is more difficult and will require networking, outreach and promotional brand awareness. Google says:

Effectively promoting your new content will lead to faster discovery by those who are interested in the same subject, and also by search engines. You can do this in many ways:

• Social media promotion
• Community engagement
• Advertisement, both offline and online
• Word of mouth, and many other methods

Promoting your website – Google

You can start by compiling a list of all websites and blogs that are relevant to your keyword. These websites may create content around your keyword and this would provide an opportunity for your brand to get mentioned. Link building is a long term process and more in-depth that I can cover here, however these are the top ways of gaining relevant backlinks

• Outreach for guest posting opportunities
• Journalist monitoring on tools like Cision and Response Source
• Creating high quality content that other websites want or need to link to. This could be unique research or definitive guides.

Brand relevance

Similar to link building, brand awareness is a long term process that grows over time. The more well known your brand is, the more relevant Google will see your brand when it comes to searches related to your products and searches. You can build brand awareness through content marketing, networking, social media marketing and any form of advertising that maximises your brand’s reach.

The bottom line

If you want your website to rank on Google then it’s going to need a high degree of relevance to the user’s search query. This is why keyword research is fundamental to SEO, because you need to know which search queries you are targeting. If you want to rank in first position for a specific keyword, then you need to analyse the websites already ranking highly, and determine how much content, links and mentions they have relevant to the keyword. This will give you an idea of where your website stands, and how much work you need to do to ensure your website is the most relevant result out of all your competitors.