Remember the early 2000s when websites would just stuff their pages with random links and articles about everything under the sun to get more traffic? It was pretty wild. You might find a real estate site in Florida filled with random articles on knitting or even entire articles copied from Wikipedia about lemurs.
Back then, it was all about packing in as much content as possible, no matter how random, to trick search engines into sending more visitors their way.
But search engines have gotten way smarter since those days. They’ve developed better ways to sift through content and prioritize information that’s actually useful and relevant to what we’re searching for.
One big way they do this is by looking for “topical relevance.” This means that if your page is about a specific topic, it better dive deep into that topic and maybe even related subjects. Search engines love when a page has lots of text, relevant keywords and helpful links because it shows that the page might be a reliable source of information on that topic.
When search engines scan a page to see if it should pop up in your search results, they’re checking if the page is an authority on the topic. They use a bunch of criteria but it mostly comes down to backlinks, keywords and how much detailed content is on the page.
Backlinks
Backlinks are like gold in the SEO world. They’re basically other websites saying, “Hey, this page knows what it’s talking about.” If reputable sites link to your page, search engines take it as a big thumbs up, recognizing your page as a credible source on the subject. It’s one of the best ways to climb higher in search rankings.
Gone are the days when you could cheat the system with link farms—those sketchy sites that were just endless lists of links, tricking search engines into thinking a page was more popular than it actually was. Now, search engines are on the lookout for the quality of links. They check if the links are legit and lead to trustworthy sites with relevant and substantial content, not just some random e-commerce store selling unrelated stuff.
They also keep an eye on links to make sure they’re not coming from spammy sites or from pages that are overly optimized with too many links. It’s all about keeping things honest and ensuring that links on a page genuinely enhance the information and help users, rather than just being there to game the system.
Keywords
When search engines try to find content that really hits the mark on a topic, one major thing they look at is keywords. These keywords are crucial because they keep your content on topic in the vast world of search engines. It’s not just about throwing in random keywords, though. When your content includes relevant keywords that closely relate to the main subject and even includes synonyms of these keywords, search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! really take notice.
It’s very helpful to think about which keywords will actually boost your content’s relevance. Some keywords are like magic keys that unlock the treasure of topical relevance, while others… not so much. When you pack your content with synonyms and related terms, it signals to search engines that you’re really diving deep into the subject. I mean, why else would you use a bunch of closely related terms, right?
Say you’re running that Florida Real Estate page we talked about. Keywords you might use could include ‘mortgage,’ ‘interest rates,’ ‘home appraisal,’ ‘housing market,’ and so on. Taking it a step further, making some keywords bold or otherwise standing out from the regular text also flags to search engines that your content is sticking closely to the topic.
Content Length
Let’s talk about how much you write—content length. More content is usually better but only if it’s the right kind of content. An article that’s packed with relevant text will generally rank higher on search results pages than another page with the same traffic but less substantial content. Why? More words can indicate to search engines that your content provides more information and deeper insights on a topic.
To put this into perspective, research by marketing company SEMrush found that the top-ranked pages on Google had an average of 1,890 words. So, more is usually better but don’t just stuff your article with fluff to hit a word count. Your content needs to be engaging, relevant and actually useful to your audience.
While the length of your content is important for SEO, be careful not to fall into the trap of writing long but irrelevant posts. Now that we’ve explored what matters to search engines, let’s look at how you can boost your topical relevance. There are loads of tools out there, both free and subscription-based, that can help you craft your content to be more attractive and SEO-friendly.
Google Trends
Google Trends is a straightforward tool that’s really handy for checking out how popular certain search terms are. Just type in a keyword, like “Florida Real Estate,” and Google Trends will show you a graph illustrating when that term has been searched for more or less frequently.
For example, searches for “Florida Real Estate” spike during the winter months and dip in the summer when it’s hot and humid. You can also filter the data by different regions worldwide and explore related topics. In a sample search, “Real Estate” hit the top score of 100, while “Real Estate Broker” only got a 15.
MarketMuse
MarketMuse is tailored for those looking to boost their content’s topical relevance. This service offers a custom content blueprint that helps marketers, content creators, agencies and publishers figure out how to craft content that’s not only relevant but also optimized for search engines. Unlike free tools like Google Trends, MarketMuse requires a subscription but it provides extensive support in identifying optimal keywords and crafting strategies to use them effectively.
MarketMuse doesn’t use instant online widgets. Instead, interested people need to enter a term on their site and then wait to get an email from a sales rep. For subscribers, MarketMuse offers a comprehensive set of tools, including semantic search optimizations, which aid in everything from planning content to optimizing site navigation and enhancing internal linking.
The whole process involves a site audit, a content audit and a content analyzer to ensure every base is covered.
SEO Gadget Content Generator by Builtvisible
Recently updated to its third version to include more features from social media, news sites and content aggregators, the SEO Gadget Content Generator is a favorite among content marketing professionals aiming to improve topical relevance. This tool uses Google spreadsheets to act as an idea generator, pulling together information related to your input keywords.
It searches major web engines like Google and Bing to find what people are looking for related to your keywords, including the sites they visit. It also scours social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit to gather a comprehensive set of related terms.
All this data is then compiled into a neat document, helping you overcome any writer’s block and providing a jump start on keyword-related work for new content ideas. This tool is especially useful because it saves you time on keyword research, letting you focus more on creating great content.
LongTailPro
Long Tail Pro is a tool that gives your keywords a score to show how competitive they are, which is very helpful when you’re trying to impress Google. They use their own special algorithm to rate your keywords on a scale from 0 to 100.
Related: Understanding the Full Environment of the Search Landscape
What’s cool about this is that it simplifies things. You don’t have to juggle a bunch of complicated factors—just look at a single number. The higher the number, the better the keyword. Like many other paid services, they also do thorough analyses on both the domain and page levels.
NTopic
If you subscribe to nTopic, you can enter the content and keywords you’re thinking of using and it’ll give you feedback and suggestions. One of the best features is that they’ll also tell you which words might hurt your SEO efforts. This way, you can steer clear of those when you’re writing about a particular topic.
They claim that following their advice and using the recommended nTopic words can boost your traffic by 4%. This tool isn’t just for new content, either; it can help you tweak existing content to better match what people are searching for online. They even rate each keyword with a number to show how effective it might be in search engine results.
SEMRush
SEMRush is like the Swiss Army knife of SEO tools—it’s got pretty much everything you need. Besides the typical keyword search tools, it lets you compare your keywords with those of your competitors to see how you stack up.
This tool provides a broad range of keyword insights and displays them in graphs to show how popular they are over time. This helps you figure out if they’re trending or not. You can also use it to check backlinks with a special tool that analyzes a link’s authority, origin and anchor text.
Apply What You Know
Now that you’ve got some insider tips on boosting your topical relevance, why not try out some of these tools? Remember, by understanding where your links are coming from, picking the right keywords and keeping an eye on your content length, you’re well on your way to enhancing your relevance and drawing in a bigger audience.
