In today’s world of smart search engine technologies, staying topically relevant is crucial for ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs). With search engines getting better at matching content to searchers’ keywords, how can brands ensure their content stays on top—or even climbs higher—in the rankings?
This guide will break down how to create topically relevant content for your website, social media, and other digital assets to keep (or start) ranking well in search results.
Why is Topical Relevance Key to Digital Growth?
In the early days of search engines, brands boosted their web traffic by simply increasing the amount of content they produced. Since older search engines couldn’t really understand the type of content on a page, it didn’t matter if the content was relevant to the site’s purpose or the author’s expertise. So, sites filled their pages with lots of (often irrelevant) content to try to rank higher.
Search engines are much smarter now. They use advanced methods to find the relevant, high-quality content users are actually looking for. One of these methods is identifying “topically relevant” content and giving it search priority. To achieve this, a site must:
- Cover subjects related to the keyword in-depth.
- Cover closely related topics to establish authority.
- Include a high volume of copy and links related to keyword topics.
When search engines evaluate your content, they check if your page is an authority on the search subject and rank it accordingly. Numerous factors impact the algorithm (and paid SEM strategies can certainly influence ranking), but backlinks, keywords, and content length signal to search engines that a page offers valuable, relevant information.
The Building Blocks of Topical Relevance: Backlinks, Keywords, and Volume
Let’s break down these core elements—backlinks, keywords, and content volume—and see how each one can impact ranking.
Backlinks
Backlinks are links on one site that lead to another. They’re like citations in an essay; they show:
- Credibility: Linking to other relevant pages shows the algorithm you’ve done your homework.
- Expertise: If the algorithm sees that your page offers expert knowledge, it’ll rank it higher.
This works in reverse too. When other high-traffic sites link to you, search engines see this as a stamp of approval. Modern search engines also look for:
- The relevance of the links to the topic.
- The quality of the content at those links.
Algorithms check the accuracy and relevance of outbound links and avoid known spam sites or over-optimized sites with too many links.
Keywords
Keywords are crucial for search ranking. Proper keyword research keeps your content topically relevant. When your content includes relevant keywords, algorithms take notice. However, it’s essential to choose keywords that accurately match your target audience’s search intent.
For example, a brand selling hair tools might use keywords like:
- Hair tools
- Hair care
- Hair brushes
- Combs
- Hair spray
- Shears
When someone searches “Hair care products for women,” the algorithm might recognize the brand’s keywords and rank it accordingly. Brands must choose keywords that align with their audience’s search intent through proper keyword research.
Content Length
The last aspect of topical relevance is content length. Longer content usually signals more detailed information, which can help a page rank higher. However, the content volume must correlate with keywords and backlinks to truly embody topical relevance:
- Keywords must appear in a reasonable concentration.
- Backlinks, anchor text, and keywords must be on the same topic.
- High-volume content must demonstrate topical focus to rank well.
Tools Powerful Brands Use to Build Topical Relevance
Brands can use several online tools to support their strategies for creating topically relevant content.
Google Trends
Google Trends shows how often a particular keyword search term is used over time, based on location, and across various search platforms. This helps brands understand how search interest changes and plan their content accordingly.
MarketMuse
MarketMuse helps create and optimize topically-relevant content. It provides custom content blueprints for marketers, content creators, digital marketing agencies, and media publishers. It also helps find the right keywords and strategizes their use for new content.
SEMRush
SEMRush is a comprehensive tool for guiding optimized content. It allows users to search keywords, compare keywords, and examine the content of multiple brands. SEMRush identifies a wide array of keywords and shows their popularity over time. It also checks backlinks, examining their authority, origin, and anchor.
Building Topically Relevant Content Step-by-Step
Here’s how brands can create topically relevant content that ranks:
- Determine Relevant Topics
- Choose topics related to your brand. For a hair products brand, topics might include hair styling, hair care, hair tools, and hair products.
- Choose Keywords
- For a brand focusing on curly hair, keywords might include:
- Curly hair styling
- Curly hair products
- Curly hair tools
- Curly hair care
- Curly haircuts
- Curly vs. straight styling
- How to find your curl pattern
- How to prevent frizz in curly hair
- For a brand focusing on curly hair, keywords might include:
- Develop a Linking Strategy
- Source backlinks from topically relevant and high-authority sites like cosmetology schools, regulatory agencies, and salons.
Build Topical Relevance and Grow Your Brand
Experimenting with keywords, backlinks, their concentration, and the overall volume of content can help brands achieve an effective organic search strategy—one that consistently draws in new visitors and paying customers.
At Power Digital, our expert team combines technical and marketing knowledge to drive rapid and sustainable brand growth. Our partner brands grow 2.4 times faster than the industry average, thanks to our high-fidelity tools and strategies that deliver positive results every time.
