Link Relevancy

Popularity and relevancy are the two concepts that make up the bulk of Search Engine Optimization theory.

In the previous tutorial we have discussed about The Secrets of Relevancy

Now we will understand Link Relevancy.

As search engines matured, they started identifying more metrics for determining rankings. One that stood out among the rest was link relevancy.

The difference between link relevancy and link popularity is that link relevancy does not take into account the power of the link. Instead, it is a natural phenomenon that works when people link out to other content.

Let me give you an example of how it works. Say I own a blog where I write about whiteboard markers. (Yes, I did just look around my office for an example to use, and yes, there are actually people who blog about whiteboard markers. I checked.) Ever inclined to learn more about my passion for these magical writing utensils, I spend part of my day reading online what other people have to say about whiteboard markers.

On my hypothetical online reading journey, I find an article about the psychological effects of marker color choice. Excited, I go back to my website to blog about the article so (both of) my friends can read about it.

Now here is the critical takeaway. When I write the blog post and link to the article, I get to choose the anchor text. I could choose something like “click here,” but more likely I choose something that it is relevant to the article. In this case I choose “psychological effects of marker color choice.”

Someone else who links to the article might use the link anchor text “marker color choice and the effect on the brain.”

People have a tendency to link to content using the anchor text of either the domain name or the title of the page. Use this to your advantage by including keywords you want to rank for in these two elements.

This human-powered information is essential to modern-day search

engines. These descriptions are relatively unbiased and produced by real people. This metric, in combination with complicated natural language processing, makes up the lion’s share of relevancy indicators online.