Are you wondering why your website is not the first result in Google or Bing? This blog will help you understand what ‘Relevancy and Authority’ means and how these factors are really helping search engines find your page.
Search engines play an essential role in finding information. But have you ever wondered how search engines like Google find the most relevant pages for a search query?
Search engines use complex algorithms to analyse and rank pages based on various factors.
Two crucial factors that help search engines find relevant pages are domain relevancy and authority.
First, let's look at what Google says it does for the user of the search engine?
"To give you the most useful information, Search algorithms look at many factors and signals, including the words of your query, relevance and usability of pages, expertise of sources, and your location and settings. The weight applied to each factor varies depending on the nature of your query. For example, the freshness of the content plays a bigger role in answering queries about current news topics than it does about dictionary definitions." Google
So what the flip is your site's ‘Relevancy’?
To understand how a search engine decides what content is relevant and what isn't, let's dive a little deeper. ‘Relevancy’ refers to the extent to which your page matches the search query that the person is typing in. Search engines aim to deliver the most relevant pages to the user's search query. They do this by analysing the content of the page and comparing it with the search query.
Several factors influence your page's Relevancy.
Keywords mentioned in the text and headings
The topic that is being discussed
Content quality, does it answer your users questions?
For example, if someone searches for "best restaurants in Adelaide," search engines will look for pages that contain those keywords and also any that are relevant to the topic. However, it's not just about including the right keywords on the page. Search engines are getting smarter and more sophisticated in their algorithms.
As Google says in their documentation they analyse the context, intent, location and overall quality of the content to determine relevancy.
Our quick tip for improving your websites Relevancy.
What is your website's ‘Authority’?
Authority refers to a website's popularity on the internet. Search engines assume that the more popular a website is, the more valuable its content is to readers. Therefore, they tend to rank pages from 'authoritative' websites higher in the search results.
You will notice for example that you may always get your local online news at the top of your searches your own city. News sites have a lot of traffic and can get high website authority scores.
Several factors contribute to a website's Authority, including:
The number of backlinks - how many people link to your page.
Social media shares - how many people are sharing your page.
User engagement - how long do people hang out there and a few other factors that identify an engaged user.
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. Search engines consider backlinks as a vote of confidence from other websites. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, the more authoritative it is considered.
Social media shares and user engagement are also important indicators of authority. If a page has high engagement and social media shares, it indicates that people find the content valuable and worth sharing with others.
What are the best practices for improving your websites Relevance and Authority?
To get your site pumping with relevance and authority, here are some tips you can follow:
Research and use relevant keywords in your copy: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to research keywords that are relevant to your niche or industry. Use these keywords strategically in your content, titles, meta descriptions, and headers to help search engines understand the relevance of your site.
Produce high-quality content: Content is king when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO). Create original, informative, and engaging content that provides value to your audience. Use relevant keywords throughout your content, but don't stuff them unnecessarily.
Optimise your site structure: Make sure your site is easy to navigate and has a clear structure. Use descriptive URLs, add a sitemap, and ensure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
Build high-quality backlinks: Backlinks are a crucial factor in determining a site's authority. Build high-quality, relevant backlinks from reputable websites in your industry or niche. Use tactics like guest blogging, broken link building, or social media promotion to attract more backlinks.
Engage with your audience: Engage with your audience on social media and other platforms. Encourage comments and feedback on your content, and respond promptly to any queries or comments. The more engagement your site has, the more authority it will gain.
Monitor and analyse your site's performance: Regularly monitor and analyse your site's performance using tools like Google Analytics. Keep track of your search engine rankings, traffic, and other metrics to identify areas for improvement.
Final thoughts?
You will notice that this is not just a super simple "throw some money at it" answer. There is several contributing factors that search engines are looking at for ranking your site. Sending great advertisements to a slow or uninformative site is going to be really affecting your customers journey.
But you can always be improving it so don't give up! We are always working to improve these factors on our clients' websites wherever we can because we see in the data how much difference it makes to how search engines respond once it's improved.
Our working philosophy is Kaizen, which translates to english as "good change" and there is a lot of good change you can make on your website to improve it's relevancy and authority score.
So what are you waiting for?