Relevance – #1 Ranking Factor

Relevance is the number one ranking factor in search engine optimisation. Although the algorithm changes every week, the one factor that remains and always will remain constant is relevance.

Relevance can really simplify the way to do SEO. Simply be pertinent. You will never rank for every keyword out there. Just pick the search phrases that are relevant to your business and work on them.

How to be relevant?

Create the best content you can for your website. Think about your users. Or better, think you’re a searcher looking for a “restaurant in Port Louis” for example. Which website will most likely draw your attention? Which website will you trust? And which ones you’ll contact?

To be relevant, you need to understand the searcher’s intent first. For the above search phrase, someone is looking for a place to eat in Port Louis. The search intent of this query is high, meaning that this person really needs a restaurant proved by the location modifier at the end of the keyword.

Now think about the best content you can create to help this searcher (find you). You’re the best person to write about this. So create a page on your website to explain that. Make sure that your page has:

Great content explaining your services. Insert real-life photos of your restaurant and add customer reviews. This help build trust in your business. Also, don’t limit yourself to just that. If you provide further services such as take away or order, list those as well.

At the end, add your contact details, phone number and directions to your location. To make it short, do you best to simplify the life of the searcher.

Now that you’ve created the best content you could for your searchers, it is now time to optimise the page for search engines. Make sure you create a clear title tag and meta description for your page. Go further and optimise your page with structured data and use alt text on all your images.

With all these positive signals, the algorithm will understand that your page is talking about your restaurant in Port Louis and rank you for that keyword. The bottom line is despite all the other ranking factors, the relevance of your content and the way you structure and present it to searchers and search engines is the most important thing to do in SEO.