Digital News

The relevance of relevance

Internet search engines seek the foremost authority on a given subject. That’s what they exist for. They want the most reputable sites and those that know the most on a particular topic to match a given query with the most appropriate return. In short, search engines live for relevance.

In the pursuit of relevance, engines apply highly complex and top secret algorithmic formulas by which they assess queries and match them to (hopefully) the most relevant returns. Google uses over 200 individual ‘signals’ in its search criteria. These algorithms are the search company’s capital, their core business differential and the means by which they claim their competitive advantage over each other. A search engine’s ability to deliver relevance and decrease the number of times searchers are left disappointed is crucial in fending off attacks from competitors, maintaining user loyalty and working the advertising gold mine that search now represents.

The most rewarding approach when seeking to legitimately raise your Internet presence, attract visitors and deliver calls to action is not to ask what search engines can do for you, but what you can do for search engines. How can you best highlight your site’s relevance in relation to search queries that might apply to your business or organisation?

“Ask yourself what creates value for your users,” Google says. It’s not up to the search engines to make your site relevant. Identifying and applying relevance is the task of the site owner and achieved through smart and organised SEO. The engines simply work to identify it. Your best strategy is to make it easy for them.

In principle, this is straightforward enough - clean, light, tight, spider- friendly code showcasing high quality on-page copy and text related content. Engines can’t read images or graphics or Flash – it’s down to well-written and expertly applied text. Off page it’s the links from authoritative sites inspired by that copy and content that reveal relevance.

Of course to an extent relevance is a subjective matter. The search engines use a variety of metrics to help identify sites of worth to match them with queries. They see relevance in numerous forms.

Well-written copy and original interesting content attracts repeat visits – and that’s an extremely important criterion when it comes to assessing relevance, especially when regularly updated giving the clear impression that the site is well tended and ‘live’. Content doesn’t have to be ‘professional’ in the traditional context: just look at the popularity of sites that incorporate Web.2 technologies, for example the UGC (user generated content) on aggregator sites like Youtube. What it does need to do is add value to the user experience. It needs to be useful to visitors, relevant to their needs. It doesn’t take long for worthy content to be recognised by the engines and ranked accordingly.

High quality, regularly updated content inspires inbound links; these are now THE major determinant of ranking position for any particular page. It’s hard to fake popularity over the long term. Reputation built on authority bestowed by other reputable sites is invaluable in achieving high profile search returns. Authority equates to relevance and relevance equates to profile. Relevance really is the key when it comes to a successful web presence. The skill though, is in creating it.